Congress moves to restore D.C. control over its own police department
H.J.Res. 115 — Terminating the emergency determined by the President on August 11, 2025, in the Executive Order titled "Declaring a crime emergency in the District of Columbia". · Filed by Jamie Raskin (D-MD) · 103 cosponsors · Introduced Aug 15, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This joint resolution terminates a presidential emergency declaration issued on August 11, 2025, that claimed a crime emergency in Washington, D.C. and sought to federalize the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. The resolution argues that violent crime in D.C. has actually declined to a 30-year low, that the President lacks legal authority to federalize the police under D.C. law, and that the federal government is simultaneously blocking D.C. from spending $1 billion in locally-raised revenue on public safety—making the emergency declaration contradictory and pretextual.
Why we flagged it
This is a joint resolution under the Reorganization Plan Review Act / standard congressional review authority, terminating a presidential emergency declaration. It is a procedural check on executive power, not substantive legislation creating new law.
What the text implies
- Termination of the emergency declaration may trigger legal challenges from the administration, potentially creating litigation over the scope of presidential emergency powers under D.C. Home Rule Act § 740.
- If the resolution passes, it removes federal authority to direct D.C. police for federal purposes under the claimed emergency, but does not address whether the President retains emergency powers under other statutes (National Emergencies Act, Insurrection Act, etc.).
- The resolution's assertion that D.C. crime is at a 30-year low and that the federal government is blocking $1 billion in local spending creates a factual dispute that may become a flashpoint in broader debates over D.C. autonomy and federal control.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
D.C. residents regain democratic control over their own police department and the city regains $1 billion in locally-raised revenue for public safety, schools, and emergency services. The resolution restores local self-governance and removes a federal override that the bill argues was legally baseless and contradicted by declining crime rates.
Named in the bill
District of Columbia, Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), D.C. Home Rule Act § 740, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, Rep. Mike Garcia
Where it stands
103 cosponsors: 103 Democrats.
- Aug 15, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Aug 15, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. Those filings disclosed $10,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 114 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Jamie Raskin, the sponsor, reported $412,639 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- National Council of Jewish Women — $10,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jan 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,073 characters) on May 19, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jan 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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