Violent attack reignites BOWSER Act debate as Trump floats federal takeover of DC

A Senate Republican renewed his push to federalize Washington, D.C., following an attack on a former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer and President Donald Trump's threat to put the District under federal control.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has long called for control of Washington to fall under Congress, going so far as to introduce the Bringing Oversight to Washington and Safety to Every Resident (BOWSER) Act, named after D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, in an effort to combat crime in the District.

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The bill, which Lee introduced alongside Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., has not made it out of committee since being dropped in February. But Trump's highlight of an attack against former DOGE staffer Edward Coristine, also known as "Big Balls," has resurrected the discussion.

"The Constitution already federalizes D.C.," Lee said on X. "We just need Congress to do its job - and reassert its lawmaking power over our nation's capital city. My bill, the BOWSER Act, would do that."

Fox News Digital reached out to Lee for further comment.

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Lee's bill would effectively repeal the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, a law passed in the 1970s that established a city council and mayor and reduced the amount of oversight that Congress has over the city and its affairs.

But calls have grown by lawmakers over the years to increase Congress' oversight of the city, largely centered on concerns over increased crime and criticisms of attempts to rewrite the District's criminal code.

And Trump jumped into the discourse, too, threatening that if "D.C. doesn't get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City."

"Perhaps it should have been done a long time ago, then this incredible young man, and so many others, would not have had to go through the horrors of Violent Crime," Trump said on his social media platform, Truth Social. "If this continues, I am going to exert my powers, and FEDERALIZE this City."

Fox News reached out to Bowser's office for comment but did not immediately hear back.

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Zack Smith, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a former prosecutor, told Fox News Digital that in the past, the D.C. council has pushed "policies that have made it much more difficult for law enforcement, for prosecutors, to do their jobs and keep citizens safe."

Bowser and the D.C. Council have, for several years, worked to update the District's criminal code. However, changes to the code that would have severely lowered sentencing for a variety of crimes that were at first vetoed by Bowser were on the precipice of becoming law before Congress and former President Joe Biden overrode the reforms.

Smith noted that Congress still has the authority to legislate the District, meaning that lawmakers and the federal government are "still the backstop," and that both Trump and Lee were right to call for a "reevaluation of the District's status."

"That's why Congress was able to step in and overturn that proposed radical rewrite of the Criminal Code," he said. "And so what the BOWSER Act would actually do, if it repeals home rule, it would essentially change the way the local D.C. government functions. It might involve Congress and the Federal Government taking a more direct role."

"I think there is broad and in some ways bipartisan consensus that the current system in D.C. is not working as it should," he continued.