U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) is the House sponsor of legislation that would repeal home rule in Washington, D.C., effectively returning governing powers over the nation’s capital to the U.S. Congress.
Ogles introduced the legislation alongside Senator Mike Lee (R-UT). First unveiled by The Daily Caller, the Republicans titled their bill the Bringing Oversight to Washington and Safety to Every Resident (BOWSER) Act, named after the city’s controversial mayor, Muriel Bowser.
The Tennessee Republican wrote in a post to the social media platform X that the experiment of local governance in the city was “disastrous,” calling Washington “unsafe.”
“It’s time Congress end the disastrous Home Rule of DC and clean up the woke policies that have made the city unsafe,” wrote Ogles.
He specifically referred to Bowser’s “radically progressive regime” when describing the necessity of the bill.
“Washington is now known for its homicides, rapes, drug overdoses, violence, theft, and homelessness. Bowser and her corrupt Washington City Council are incapable of managing the city,” said Ogles to The Daily Caller. “As such, it seems appropriate for Congress to reclaim its Constitutional authority and restore the nation’s Capital. The epicenter of not only the United States Federal Government but also the world geopolitics cannot continue to be a cesspool of Democrats’ failed policies.”
Lee similarly told the outlet the bill was submitted after the city’s “corruption, crime, and incompetence” became “an embarrassment to our nation’s capital for decades.”
The Home Rule Act was passed in 1973, allowing the nation’s capital to elect its own mayor and capital. The city was previously allowed to vote in presidential elections in 1963.
Ogles previously introduced similar legislation in 2023, and last year introduced a budget resolution that would have blocked federal funding for the New Columbia Statehood Commission, which exists to coordinate the district’s efforts to make Washington, D.C. the nation’s 51st state. It also would have blocked federal funding for senate elections in the district.
Polling conducted in 2022 found just 41 percent of Americans approved of making the capital into the 51st state.
– – –
Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Rep. Andy Ogles” by Rep. Andy Ogles.
Remove and replace the local appointed police with elected Sherriffs /Deputies … From other STATES !
Use a lotto method, and they are patrolling for 6-12 months, then go home with a federal merit badge to proudly wear on the uniform. Then ALL DC residents and representatives will be treated EQUALLY, and according to the law.
I think that U. S. Representative Ogles’ bill is an excellent idea. This bill, if enacted, would provide the legal framework to more easily prevent and stop a lot of the lawless ‘stuff’ that we all saw in the streets of Washington, D. C. in 2020 and up to the present years.
Let me give a very brief history lesson summary.
On July 9, 1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River. Under the Residence Act, the exact location was to be selected by President Washington, who signed the bill into law on July 16, 1790. Formed from land donated by Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring 10 miles on each side and totaling 100 square miles.
Congress passed the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801, which officially organized the district and placed the entire territory under the exclusive control of the federal government. The District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801 (6th Congress, 2nd Session, chapter 15, 2 Stat. 103, February 27, 1801), was enacted by the United States Congress in accordance with Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution. It formally placed the District of Columbia under the control of the United States Congress.
I think that control by the Congress over the District of Columbia worked well for approximately 170 years.
A locally elected mayor and 13-member council have governed the district since 1973. The District of Columbia Home Rule Act is a United States federal law passed on December 24, 1973, which devolved certain congressional powers concerning the District of Columbia to a local government, furthering District of Columbia home rule. In particular, it includes the District Charter (also called the Home Rule Charter), which provides for the aforesaid elected mayor and the Council of the District of Columbia. My personal opinion is that this was all part of a democrat plan to ultimately give the District of Columbia the equivalent of statehood status with two democrat members in the U. S. Senate and democrat members in the U. S. House of Representatives with full status voting rights.
Based upon what we have all recently seen, I agree with U. S. Representative Ogles that complete control of the District of Columbia should again revert to the U. S. Congress.
There no doubt will be critics who will oppose this reversion and the end of District home rule, and to this I would say, if there really is a demand for full political voting rights by the residents of the District, large residential areas of the District can be returned by the U. S. Congress to the State of Maryland from whence said areas originally came (just as the U. S. Congress in 1846 returned to Virginia all of the part of the District south of the Potomac River which originally came from Virginia) thus retaining only the governmental areas of the District expressly designated by the U. S. Congress in a revised District of Columbia. Then those residents of the former District area can be represented in Congress by Maryland’s U. S. Representatives and U. S. Senators. And of course, a U. S. Constitutional amendment will likely then be needed to deal with the existing XXIII Amendment to the Constitution. But that will be the end of the democrat skullduggery scheme to gain additional democrat members in the U. S. Congress and in the U. S. Senate and in the Electoral College in U. S. Presidential Elections.