(Headline USA) House Democrats passed a bill this week to give Washington D.C.’s mayor the authority to deploy National Guard troops in case of an emergency.
The measure, which was inspired by the events of the Jan. 6 Capitol uprising, according to its authors, was a part of the House’s annual defense policy bill.
It would give Mayor Muriel Bowser the same powers afforded to state governors to mobilize the local National Guard.
“The District of Columbia mayor is the chief executive for D.C. and has the best knowledge and most reliable expertise about when to deploy its own National Guard,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C. “This bill might have ended the insurrection hours earlier on Jan. 6, and would afford D.C. a critical element of home rule as it moves toward statehood.”
President Donald Trump has noted that he offered National Guard support in advance of the rally but was refused by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., apparently out of concern for the optics of a large police presence.
The policy passed on a party-line vote, 218–209.
Republicans opposed the amendment, arguing that it would undermine the president’s authority, since he currently has the sole power to deploy the District’s National Guard.
“I can’t believe this even has to be said, but the D.C. mayor is not the governor of a state,” said Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga. “And the District of Columbia, which houses our federal government, is not and should never become a state.”
Democrats, however, argued that D.C.’s mayor should be treated the same as a state governor.
“This is no different from the division of authority today between a governor and the president, in the event of a large-scale attack on a federal facility,” Norton claimed.
