Congress Weighs Action on DC Police Takeover, Funding

Congress is weighing its next steps after President Trump ordered a federal takeover of the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department. The initial period of federalized control is 30 days and when Congress returns it will need to consider whether to extend the takeover. 

Already, two Congressional Democrats introduced resolutions that would end federal control of the DC police department. However, such resolutions have little chance of passage in the Republican-controlled Congress. In the resolutions, Democrats cite statistics showing DC crime at a 30-year low and blasted the takeover as a “raw power grab.”

“(President) Trump was AWOL when the District of Columbia actually needed support from the National Guard to protect it from an insurrectionist mob on Jan. 6,” said Senate sponsor Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). “His current takeover is an abuse of power and nothing more than a raw power grab.”

The resolutions come after the DC local government filed a lawsuit challenging the takeover saying that the administration exceeded the scope of its authority under the Home Rule Act, a 1973 law that granted DC a limited degree of self-government. 

Meanwhile President Trump said he may circumvent Congress to keep federal control of the DC police, past the 30-day period.

"Well, if it's a national emergency, we can do it without Congress. But we expect to be before Congress very quickly. And again, we think the Democrats will not do anything to stop crime, but we think the Republicans will do it almost unanimously. So we're going to need a crime bill. That we're going to be putting in, and it's going to pertain initially to DC. We're going to use it as a very positive example,” said President Trump at a news conference at the Kennedy Center. 

Funding Fight on the Agenda

The federal takeover will be just one topic when Congress returns from recess after Labor Day.

Also on the agenda is dealing with funding for fiscal year (FY) 2026. The government faces a September 30 deadline to avert a shutdown and a continuing resolution (CR) keeping funding at current levels is expected.

Republicans may include “community project funding” otherwise known as earmarks, into any short-term resolution, to break their usual impasse between moderates and fiscal hawks. 

In fact, Freedom Caucus Chair and appropriations cardinal Andy Harris (R-MD) is now promoting earmarks alongside a CR to avoid the passage of a larger, full-year passage at higher funding levels. 

“Allowing earmarks on a CR is a hell of a lot cheaper than an omnibus if that’s what it takes to keep spending at least flat,” said one Republican to Politico. 

But over in the Senate, fiscal hawks are much more skeptical about bringing earmarks back in a big way. 

“Hopefully we have time to review the bills [and] not get rushed into votes on these things,” said Senator Rick Scott (R-FL). “We’ve got to understand we have a $2 trillion [annual] deficit, so we’ve got to get spending under control. That’s what I’m going to try to do, and there are a lot of people in the same camp that I am.”