WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden told Senate Democrats that he will not veto a Republican-led resolution blocking Washington, D.C.’s criminal code revisions, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Thursday.
Washington, D.C.’s city council passed the first major overhaul to its criminal code in decades, after overriding a veto from Mayor Muriel Bowser, who said that despite her opposition to the changes she did not want congressional involvement.
Congress’ oversight of Washington is written into the U.S. Constitution, but the government’s ability to veto laws passed by the city is rarely used.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives rejected the changes to the criminal code, which included lowering the maximum penalties for burglary and carjacking.
(Reporting by Moira Warburton and David Morgan in Washington; Editing by Andy Sullivan and Matthew Lewis)
