Why Congress is blocking DC’s crime bill

The Senate blocks updates to the DC crime bill; NATO says Bakhmut, Ukraine, could fall in days.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

The bipartisan attack on DC's crime bill

 Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

• Wednesday, the Senate is set to approve a GOP-led resolution blocking changes to Washington, DC’s criminal code. [CNN / Clare Foran, Ted Barrett, and Ali Zaslav] 
• GOP lawmakers and some Democrats have argued that the policy is “soft on crime.” Supporters of home rule for DC say the updates put DC in line with criminal codes in other states. [NBC News / Sahil Kapur and Frank Thorp V]
• DC’s city council overrode a veto from Mayor Muriel Bowser to pass the updates, which remove mandatory minimum sentences and change penalties for some offenses including carjacking and armed robbery. [AP News / Mary Claire Jalonick]
• Though DC has some measure of home rule, Congress retains the ability to overturn its laws, given the city’s status as a federal district. The decision to invalidate the law has renewed calls for statehood. [Vox / Li Zhou]
• The resolution of disapproval passed the House with bipartisan support. It needs a simple majority to pass the Senate before heading to President Joe Biden, who’s expected to sign. [CBS News / Melissa Quinn]

Russia could soon capture Ukraine's Bakhmut 

• NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday said the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut could fall to Russian forces within days. [Deutsche Welle]
• Russia and Ukraine have suffered heavy losses in the six-month battle for the city, which held a population of 70,000 people before the war. [AP / Hanna Arhirova]
• Wednesday, Russia’s mercenaries in the Wagner Group claimed they took control of eastern Bakhmut. A victory would be a symbolic win for Russian President Vladimir Putin after a series of strategic setbacks. [Reuters / Olena Harmash]
• Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for extending the deal allowing grain exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports to avert a global food crisis. [CBS News / Pamela Falk]

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A bipartisan bill granting the commerce department power to take action against technology from foreign adversaries could lead to a TikTok ban. [Vox/ Sara Morrison]

• To raise awareness, Australian conservationist Bindi Irwin revealed her painful struggle with endometriosis, a disorder that affects the uterus. [BBC / Tom Housden]
• The US Justice Department on Wednesday said the Louisville Metro Police Department regularly uses excessive force against Black people in a report ordered after the killing of Breonna Taylor in 2020. [CNN / Hannah Rabinowitz, Devan Cole, and Evan Perez
• President Biden will on Thursday release a proposal to increase taxes on the wealthy; the White House claims the taxes will reduce the deficit by $2 trillion over the next decade. [The Hill / Alexander Bolton]

"The only thing Congress is voting on is to overturn the local decision-making of 700,000 people.”

[Bo Shuff, the executive director of DC Vote, on this Congress’s actions / Vox]

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