“But even more important, the citizens of DC should be afforded the same right to choose their elected representatives and have those representatives determine criminal laws, just like any other state in the union,” Warren said.
Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland called the resolution “an attack on the democratic rights of the people of the District of Columbia.”
“Its residents, its citizens, are fully capable of deciding their own law and deciding their own future. Congress should not override the will of the people of DC,” Van Hollen said on the Senate floor.
republican reaction
The Republicans saw an advantage in the division among the Democrats. “Led by the president, the Democrats are in full retreat on the issue of DC criminal law,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters Tuesday.
House Republican Leader Tom Emmer, R-Minnesota, told reporters Wednesday morning that Democrats are “fighting back” and that Democrats who voted against the resolution in the House “now have to explain to their constituents what they are like in the most radical, pro-criminal members of their party.”
