Congress Advances Plan To Crack Down on Crime in DC

Congress advanced a bill to coordinate more law enforcement and beautification efforts in Washington, DC, a priority for President Donald Trump.

The House moved a bill on Wednesday to create the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful Commission. The measure, passed 218-206 mostly along party lines, carries both efforts for more cleaning and more law enforcement, particularly immigration.

The bill follows an executive order Trump signed last year with a similar task force. He's said he wants to spend $2 billion revitalizing the city.

Trump ordered the National Guard to DC and has since extended the deployment, which he said was an effort to deter crime.

Bill will also restore monuments and memorials

The bill establishes a federal commission under the control of the executive branch to advise on criminal and immigration matters in the district. Commission seats will be filled by representatives from the U.S. Attorneys' offices in DC, Maryland, and Virginia, along with other federal entities.

It also creates a program to coordinate the cleaning and maintenance of some commonly visited areas of the city. That includes sidewalks, parks, transit areas, and monuments.

The Department of the Interior will clear graffiti and maintain these sites. But it will also restore monuments and memorials "that have been damaged or defaced or inappropriately removed or changed."

"Washington, DC, is where Americans come to connect with their history," said Indiana Rep. Erin Houchin, a Republican, in a debate. "The condition and safety of our capital matters, not just for those who live there, but for the country as a whole."

The district elects a mayor and council, but it remains subject to federal oversight and relies on the federal government for a portion of its budget. Those competing priorities have been a target of the Trump administration.

DC's sanctuary status in question

But the first object of the bill's law enforcement measure directs the commission to "direct the maximum enforcement of Federal immigration law" and also to monitor the district's sanctuary city status. That's a measure the city passed in 2020 to reduce cooperation with immigration authorities.

There are also some measures to help struggling parts of DC's law enforcement apparatus, including the Metropolitan Police Department and DC's forensic crime laboratory, which lost accreditation from 2021 to 2025 over the alleged mishandling of evidence.

It also seeks to speed up processing concealed carry licenses in the district. Other criminal priorities include cracking down on fare evasion in the region's Metro stations and facilitating "the deployment of a more robust Federal law enforcement presence" around popular areas.

The debate on the bill mostly involved competing political priorities for Republicans and Democrats, with the former disagreeing with the DC Council's local legislation, and the latter pushing the city's long-sought statehood movement.

"The only solution to this undemocratic treatment is to grant DC statehood," said Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district's nonvoting representative to Congress.

Affordability slowly improves in D.C.

The Realtor.com® State-by-State Housing Report Card gave Washington, DC, a C- due to its limited new construction, sky-high costs, minimal space to build, and deep structural barriers.

But the city's housing prospects have also begun to thaw. Trump's efforts to purge the federal workforce led to more home listings coming on the market. Rents fell to $2,118 in January 2026, a year-over-year decline of 1.4%.

Trump also sought to leave his architectural mark on the metropolitan area. He's demolished the East Wing of the White House and plans to build a $400 million ballroom. He also proposed a $200 million renovation of the Trump Kennedy Center on the National Mall. Both proposals are in court.

Trump also wants to build an arch across the Potomac River in Arlington, VA.