In a major rebuke to measures passed by the District of Columbia city government under home rule, the House of Representatives will consider three bills this week that would repeal local laws passed by the D.C. Council.
One of the bills seeks to repeal a local law that gave illegal aliens and other noncitizen D.C. residents the right to vote in local elections in the District of Columbia. HR 884 would repeal the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022, which enabled noncitizens to vote in D.C. elections.
The local law, which went into effect on Feb. 23, 2023, formally amended the definition of eligible electors to include noncitizens living in the District of Columbia. That means noncitizen D.C. residents became eligible to vote for the mayor, chairman or member of the D.C. Council, attorney general, members of the D.C. State Board of Education, members of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, and D.C. ballot measures. It also allowed noncitizens to run for elected office in the D.C. government, including for the top job, mayor.
Congressional Republicans have attempted to undo the D.C. Council’s laws in the past, and were joined by as many as 42 of their Democrat colleagues in the effort. However, their effort did not pass muster in the Senate. (D.C. laws are subject to an initial review by both chambers of Congress). A legal challenge was also not able to undo the D.C. law. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an appointee of President Barack Obama, dismissed a lawsuit in 2024 that had attempted to challenge the law, saying the plaintiffs did not have standing to sue.
“Free and fair elections are a prerequisite for a healthy republic. The radical D.C. Council’s decision to allow noncitizens—including illegal aliens and foreign agents—to vote in local elections dilutes the voting power of the citizen voter,” Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, the sponsor of the legislation in the House, told The Daily Signal.
“That power must be defended and anyone against H.R. 884 is for the transfer of political power away from legal voters. Congress has the authority to overrule this in Washington, and 25% of the Democratic caucus agreed and voted for this bill—a strong bipartisan vote,” the Texas congressman continued.