Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Tom Carper want to strip President Trump of authority to control DC National Guard
and to federalize MPD
https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/ARM20850.pdf
U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Tom Carper (D-DE) have introduced legislation to strip the President’s authority to control the District of Columbia National Guard and to federalize the Metropolitan Police Department. These measures have proven all the more necessary after the President’s recent use of force against peaceful protesters in DC The bills have been previously introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), but have never before been introduced in the Senate.
“The President’s use of force against peaceful protestors in DC was a gross violation of their First Amendment rights. No governor would allow the President to march troops into their state without express approval – and yet, the District of Columbia is denied that basic right. It’s clear from Trump’s recent actions that the President must be immediately stripped of this authority. As we continue working to secure statehood for the District of Columbia, this basic principle of self-governance must also be addressed,” said Senator Van Hollen.
“The fact that the President of the United States deployed the National Guard against peaceful protestors in the District of Columbia for a photo-op is abhorrent to me – not just as someone who has served in the military, but just as a human being. And the only reason the President was able to carry out that order is because DC is not a state – and therein lies the problem,” said Senator Carper, who introduced the first Senate DC statehood bill in 2013. “This most recent incident has made clear that, while we work on the important issue of DC statehood, the District of Columbia should be granted control over its National Guard and Metropolitan Police Department – autonomy that every single state enjoys. The bills I am introducing today with Senator Van Hollen would give the mayor of DC the same control over its National Guard that all 50 states have and fix a law that currently allows a power-hungry President to take control of the city’s police department. If we are to have a healthy democracy, we cannot let what happened to peaceful protestors in Lafayette Square happen again.”
The District of Columbia National Guard Home Rule Act would name the Mayor of Washington, DC as Commander-in-Chief of the DC National Guard, giving the Mayor the same control over the DC National Guard that the governors of the states and the three territories with National Guards have over their respective National Guards. As exemplified recently, under current law, the President is Commander-in-Chief of the DC National Guard. ###
Robert Vinson Brannum
Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner
President Emeritus, DC Federation of Civic Associations, Inc.
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