Current:Home > FinanceBiden signs bills to reverse D.C. criminal code changes and declassify info on COVID-19 origins-LoTradeCoin
Biden signs bills to reverse D.C. criminal code changes and declassify info on COVID-19 origins
View Date:2024-12-23 21:09:24
Washington — President Biden signed a pair of bills into law Monday that reverse an overhaul of the District of Columbia's criminal code and require the declassification of information about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The measure disapproving of a D.C. Council bill to revise criminal penalties in the nation's capital received bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress. The bill to declassify information about the origins of the coronavirus, including any connection to a lab in Wuhan, China, passed both chambers unanimously. Both were adopted earlier this month.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Biden issued the first veto of his presidency, rejecting a Republican-led measure regarding a Department of Labor rule for investment managers.
The president took many Democrats by surprise when he voiced his support for the Republican-introduced criminal code resolution. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, had vetoed the D.C. Council's bill, and the council overrode her veto. House Republicans then crafted a resolution to block the measure. Congress has oversight of the district under the Constitution and federal law.
The D.C. Council's measure sought to shorten maximum sentences for some crimes, like carjacking, burglary and robbery, while lengthening them for others. It also would have eliminated nearly all mandatory minimum sentences, except for first-degree murder. Supporters of the congressional disapproval resolution suggested that shortening any sentences while crimes like carjacking have been on the rise sends the wrong message.
The president told Senate Democrats that he would not veto the Republican-backed resolution, should it reach his desk. The vote in the Senate in early March was 81-14, after 31 House Democrats joined all House Republicans in passing the resolution.
"I support D.C. statehood and home-rule — but I don't support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the mayor's objections — such as lowering penalties for carjackings," the president tweeted on March 2. "If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did — I'll sign it."
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre explained in a press briefing that "the president wants to make sure that communities, even in D.C., Americans in D.C., feel safe."
The president's support of the GOP-backed resolution took some House Democrats aback because the White House had previously issued a statement of administration policy saying it opposed the congressional disapproval resolution.
- House Democrats unhappy with White House handling of D.C.'s new criminal code
"The administration opposes H.J. Res. 24, Disapproving the Action of the District of Columbia Council in Approving the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022 and H.J. Res. 26, Disapproving the Action o the District of Columbia Council in Approving the Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022," the White House's statement in February said.
The bill regarding COVID-19 requires Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines to declassify any information about links between the origins of the pandemic and the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the controversial viral research laboratory in the city where the SARS-CoV-2 virus first emerged.
The intelligence community has not definitively agreed on the origins of the pandemic. A report in 2021 reflecting the findings of intelligence community was inconclusive, and determined two theories were "plausible" to explain how the virus emerged: "natural exposure to an infected animal and a laboratory-associated incident." The Department of Energy recently concluded, with "low confidence," that it was plausible that the virus originated from a lab, a theory supported by the FBI.
The White House had not previously indicated whether the president would sign the bill on COVID origins.
- In:
- Washington D.C.
Kathryn Watson is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital based in Washington, D.C.
veryGood! (9486)
Related
- Tesla issues 6th Cybertruck recall this year, with over 2,400 vehicles affected
- Steve Irwin's Son Robert Irwin and Heath Ledger's Niece Rorie Buckey Made Red Carpet Debut
- From mini rooms to streaming, things have changed since the last big writers strike
- Q&A: The Activist Investor Who Shook Up the Board at ExxonMobil, on How—or if—it Changed the Company
- Kentucky governor says investigators will determine what caused deadly Louisville factory explosion
- Financier buys Jeffrey Epstein's private islands, with plans to create a resort
- Amid a child labor crisis, U.S. state governments are loosening regulations
- A brief biography of 'X,' the letter that Elon Musk has plastered everywhere
- We Can Tell You How to Get to Sesame Street—and Even More Secrets About the Beloved Show
- Proponents Say Storing Captured Carbon Underground Is Safe, But States Are Transferring Long-Term Liability for Such Projects to the Public
Ranking
- As the transition unfolds, Trump eyes one of his favorite targets: US intelligence
- Two US Electrical Grid Operators Claim That New Rules For Coal Ash Could Make Electricity Supplies Less Reliable
- New Study Identifies Rapidly Emerging Threats to Oceans
- In North Carolina Senate Race, Global Warming Is On The Back Burner. Do Voters Even Care?
- Over 1.4 million Honda, Acura vehicles subject of US probe over potential engine failure
- Activists Laud Biden’s New Environmental Justice Appointee, But Concerns Linger Over Equity and Funding
- The debt ceiling deadline, German economy, and happy workers
- A Republican Leads in the Oregon Governor’s Race, Taking Aim at the State’s Progressive Climate Policies
Recommendation
-
South Carolina to take a break from executions for the holidays
-
Adidas finally has a plan for its stockpile of Yeezy shoes
-
In the Philippines, a Landmark Finding Moves Fossil Fuel Companies’ Climate Liability into the Realm of Human Rights
-
Jesse Palmer Teases Wild Season of Bachelor in Paradise
-
New wildfires burn in US Northeast while bigger blazes rage out West
-
An Energy Transition Needs Lots of Power Lines. This 1970s Minnesota Farmers’ Uprising Tried to Block One. What Can it Teach Us?
-
Proteger a la icónica salamandra mexicana implíca salvar uno de los humedales más importantes del país
-
In An Unusual Step, a Top Medical Journal Weighs in on Climate Change