The Leader’s Floor Lookout: Wednesday, November 19, 2025

Currently, the District of Columbia has a cashless bail policy that prohibits using cash bail as a condition for pre-trial release. This reckless policy allows soft-on-crime progressive judges to release dangerous criminals onto the streets of D.C. with only a promise to not re-offend and show up for their future court date, resulting in multiple arrests and putting public safety at risk.

We cannot allow dangerous criminals to roam the streets freely and threaten the safety of everyone in our nation’s capital while they await trial. It’s past time for D.C. to abandon its soft-on-crime policies and make sure those charged with committing violent crimes remain behind bars to ensure the safety of law-abidding Americans. 

Today, House Republicans are continuing our fight to make D.C. safe for visitors and residents by bringing forward legislation that keeps violent and dangerous criminals off our streets. 

Our bill would amend the current D.C. Code to mandate the detention of individuals charged with violent and dangerous offenses and implement cash bail for crimes that threaten public safety, such as aggravated assault and obstruction of justice. This legislation codifies Executive Action taken by President Trump to clean up D.C. crime and make our nation’s capital safe again. 

Rep. Elise Stefanik’s legislation, H.R. 5214, the District of Columbia Cash Bail Reform Act, amends D.C.’s pre-trial release and detention processes to require mandatory pre-trial detention for defendants charged with violent crimes and for cash bail or bail bonds for defendants charged with certain crimes concerning public safety and order.

Our nation’s capital should set the standard on combatting crime and be safely accessible to the American people – House Republicans are working with President Trump to ensure that’s the case. 

While crime skyrocketed in our nation’s capital, Democrats went after the police working to protect the community instead of the criminals putting Americans at risk. In 2022, the D.C. Council passed their Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022, imposing harmful restrictions and requirements on the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) rather than supporting our men and women in uniform. 

The D.C. Council’s Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022 allows police officers to be targeted by protestors, bans officers from watching body-camera footage when writing initial incident reports, demands a jury to consider if an officer consulted with mental health, behavioral health, or social workers prior to the use of deadly force, dismisses officers and police union representatives from the Police Complaints Board, and strips officers of collective bargaining rights regarding discipline. 

Under the D.C. Council’s emergency legislative powers, these harmful policies have been in place since 2020; meanwhile, D.C. police staffing reached the half-century low as homicides rose to their highest number since 1997. Additionally, juvenile crime in the District has reached historic levels while truancy grows.  

Congress has a duty to oversee the governance of D.C. and make sure the MPD is able to effectively fight crime and keep Washingtonians and visitors safe. President Trump has taken significant strides to clean up D.C. streets and make our capital safe again, and House Republicans are likewise committed to restoring law and order in the District. Today, we are bringing forward legislation to reverse dangerous anti-police measures in the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022 to deliver the support our law enforcement needs.

Rep. Andrew Clyde’s legislation, H.R. 5107, the Common-Sense Law Enforcement and Accountability Now in DC (CLEAN DC) Act, repeals the D.C. Council’s Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022 which placed harmful and burdensome requirements on the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.

House Republicans will always stand with our men and women in uniform who risk their lives every day to keep our communities safe. Who will Democrats stand with: the police or the criminals?