House Republicans go after DC home rule

NY Times -  After a heady few years for the District of Columbia’s longtime aspirations of self-governance, with a statehood bill even passing in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2021, the temperature between Congress and the city it sits in has plummeted to new lows. On Thursday, the House voted by large margins for two disapproval resolutions that would overturn a pair of laws passed by the Council of the District of Columbia, invoking its rarely used powers to weigh in on D.C. legislation. The measures now go to the Senate.

It was the latest congressional salvo against the city’s government since Republicans took control of the House last month for the first time since 2019. Some have been minor: Under the House’s new rules package, the mayor of D.C. was stripped of her privileges to access the House floor. But some have verged on the existential: In the boldest broadside against the city in years, some Republicans have called for an outright repeal of the 50-year-old Home Rule Act, which allows the 713,000 residents of the District to elect a mayor and council.