WASHINGTON — Editor's note: The above video is from March 31, 2021.
Lawmakers announced Thursday that an amendment has passed the House that would give D.C.'s mayor control of the D.C. National Guard.
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), and Congressman Anthony Brown (D-MD) sponsored District of Columbia National Guard Home Rule Act, which passed Wednesday as an amendment to the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Currently, the President of the United States controls the D.C. National Guard, while the governors of the states and territories control their National Guards.
This is the second time in history either chamber of Congress has voted to give the mayor this authority. The House did so in 2021, as well.
Members in support of the bill said giving the mayor authority to control the D.C. National Guard may have ended the January 6 Capitol siege earlier than it did.
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The D.C. National Guard is the only National Guard unit that reports directly to the president. One of the reasons the president can deploy so many federal forces in D.C. is because there is no statehood separating D.C. from the president's power. As a territory and not a state, the president doesn't have to consult and communicate with certain local officials.
This resulted in a delay of nearly three hours to deploy the D.C. National Guard on January 6 that came under fire almost immediately following the Capitol riot.
House members say the D.C. National Guard Home Rule Act would simply give the mayor the power afforded other state leaders.
“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,” the members said in a statement Thursday. “The D.C. National Guard Home Rule Act simply gives the District’s chief executive the same authority afforded to governors of states and territories over their Guards. This bill might have ended the insurrection hours earlier on January 6th, and would afford D.C. a critical element of home rule as it moves toward statehood. We will fight to include this provision in the final fiscal year 2023 NDAA.”
It now heads to the Senate for approval.