The tug-of-war between the Hill and Washington D.C. saw a dramatic resolution on Wednesday as the Senate voted overwhelmingly to block the D.C. City Council's rewrite of the capital's criminal code. The resolution, which passed 81-14 with 31 Democrats voting with Republicans, now heads to President Biden's desk and will overrule the liberal Washington's new criminal code, with his surprise announcement last week that he would not veto the measure.

The D.C. bill is the product of a years-long review that involved various stakeholders in the criminal justice system, and passed the D.C. Council unanimously. However, Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, vetoed it, and the bill's soft stance on crime at a time when rates of homicides and car thefts are rising in the city, according to police data, heightened concerns and exposed divisions within the Democratic party.