WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said he’d sign Republican legislation barring the government in Washington, D.C., from making changes to its own criminal code, reversing his earlier position in a move that will surely anger statehood advocates and others in the heavily Democratic city.
At least three Democrats — Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania — are joining with all Senate Republicans in backing the resolution, giving it enough support to clear in a Senate vote that could come as early as next week.
“He said that very clearly and, we heard it very loud and clear,” Manchin said of Biden’s announcement Thursday during a closed-door meeting with Democrats on Capitol Hill that he won’t attempt to block the measure. “And I clapped very loudly because I feel the same.”
