With help from Rishika Dugyala, Jesse Naranjo and Teresa Wiltz
What up, Recast family! Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is released from the hospital after receiving treatment for a concussion following a fall last week, and the FBI releases updated hate crime statistics. They’re sobering. And it’s Equal Pay Day! First we focus on Democrats’ incoherent messaging on crime.
In the era of divided government, a bill receiving overwhelming bipartisan support is typically hailed by Democrats and Republicans alike as a major legislative achievement.
But only one party is gloating.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, flanked by his members of his caucus, nearly all of whom were white, boasted: “We’re sending a message to every city, every county, every state that no longer will Washington be soft on crime. No longer are we defunding the police. No longer are we softening sentences.”
This victory lap came after the Senate’s resounding 81-14 vote, with 33 Senate Democrats joining the GOP-led effort to nullify Washington, D.C.’s proposed overhaul of its municipal criminal code last week. President Joe Biden vowed to sign the bill, blocking D.C.’s law from being enacted, citing the proposal’s call to lower penalties for crimes such as carjacking.
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