Biden Tell Democrats to “Get Tough” on Crime, in a Departure From Liberal Policy

(RepublicanDaily.org) – President Joe Biden “bucked” the liberal policy in a recent speech, instructing Democrats to “get tough” on crime, NBC reported. The president reportedly made a decision on February 28 to allow Congress to “overrule” the D.C. Council if a Republican-backed effort to overturn a lenient crime bill passes the Senate.

Biden’s decision not to veto the Republican-led bill is a departure from his party, which has enforced a more lenient crime policy since the 1990s during the Clinton administration.

The president expressed his decision to Democratic Senators in a private luncheon on February 28, which was later confirmed publicly by Senator Chuck Schumer (D. NY), NBC reported.

The House bill reportedly will block revisions to the D.C. metropolitan’s crime legislation. The Republican-led bill was called the first “salvo” in what political analysts stated would be a “long-running feud” with the District of Columbia over the district’s petition for self governance.

The president explained that, while he supports D.C.’s petition to self-govern, he opposed some of the provisions in the crime bill, including the leniency of penalties toward “car-jackings,” Forbes reported. Biden also tweeted that he did not support some of the changes the D.C. Council put forward over the D.C. Mayor’s objections, and if the Senate voted to overturn it, he would sign it in a tweet posted on March 2.

Biden was met with criticism from his party over his decision. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) stated that the president should “respect” the “people’s government” of D.C. Ocasio-Cortez argued that if the president supported D.C.’s right to statehood he “should govern like it,” in a tweet posted on March 2.

The White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended Biden’s decision despite criticism from the left, stating that Biden had supported the D.C. statehood bill, while also arguing that the D.C. crime bill had provisions for reducing sentences for crimes of homicide, armed robberies, and even some sexual assaults, Forbes reported.