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A House Republican wants to allow President Donald Trump to extend his takeover of Washington, D.C.’s police force for as long as he wants.
Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., is working on a resolution that would rewrite the Home Rule Act, the law that Trump is using to take control of the district’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and do away with barriers that limit just how long the president can oversee the local police agency.
Ogles charged that “the only way to save it is to federalize the District.”
“President Trump has already stepped up — using the emergency powers granted under the D.C. Home Rule Act — but the 30-day limit in current law is nowhere near enough to undo the chaos Democrats have unleashed,” he told Fox News Digital. “My resolution will give the President all the time and authority he needs to crush lawlessness, restore order, and reclaim our capital once and for all.”
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A House Republican wants to allow President Donald Trump to extend his takeover of Washington, D.C.’s police force for as long as he wants. (Tasos Katopodis)
Trump on Monday declared a crime emergency in the nation’s Capitol and invoked a section of the Home Rule Act that governs the district to give himself the authority to take control of the local police.
He has since sent in National Guard troops, alongside FBI and DEA agents, to patrol the streets of Washington D.C.
But the provision, known as Section 740 of the Home Rule Act, only allows for the president to effectively federalize the local police force for up to 30 days unless Congress, through a joint resolution, grants him an extension.
And Ogles’ resolution seeks to change that by removing the 30-day time limit.
Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., arrives at the U.S. Capitol on April 10, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Instead, the president would have to notify the House Oversight and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees each time he wants to extend his control of the police force — something Trump had to do already to prevent his grip on the MPD from lapsing after 48 hours.
And that authority would continue unless Congress passed a joint resolution calling for an end to his control of the D.C. police.
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President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Aug. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Ogles’ legislation is part of his broader push to repeal the Home Rule Act. Indeed, he and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, have a bill called the Bringing Oversight to Washington and Safety to Every Resident (BOWSER) Act, named after D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, that would repeal the decades-old law and return control of the city to Congress.
Meanwhile, Trump has already floated leapfrogging Congress to extend his hold on the police given that a joint resolution would likely require at least 60 votes in the Senate to pass.
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While some Republicans have come out in support of the president, Senate Democrats are ready to push back against granting Trump more control over the district.
“No f‑‑‑— way,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told podcaster Aaron Parnas on his show, “The Parnas Perspective.”
“We’ll fight him tooth and nail.… He needs to get Congress to approve it, and not only are we not going to approve it, but there are some Republicans who don’t like it either,” he continued.
