Senator Lee Introduces Bill to Stop Secret Meetings of DC Council

Senator Lee Introduces Bill to Stop Secret Meetings of DC Council
April 10, 2025
Legislation to reverse DC city council’s action exempting themselves from Open Meeting Act to avoid public scrutiny
WASHINGTON
– Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced a bill to repeal a
recent action by the city council of the District of Columbia
which established secret planning meetings away from the oversight of Congress and the American people. The DC Council took this action with the expressed purpose of working around President Trump’s recent executive order to stop crime in Washington and clean up the city.
“Our nation’s capital should be safe and beautiful, but after President Trump created a task force to achieve exactly that, DC City Councilmembers used an emergency process to exempt themselves from a sunshine law mandating open meetings”
said Sen. Lee.
“Council Chairman Phil Mendelson explicitly said that he was “tired of having to defend against the challenges from the press.” The DC Council should be enthusiastically cooperating with the President of the United States in cleaning up Washington and fighting crime, not ducking accountability to make plans in secret. My bill reverses their wrongheaded policy.”
Failures of governance in the District of Columbia include:
A long history of official corruption, including the recent
federal bribery charges
against Councilman Trayon White
Repeated
armed carjackings and violence
by teenage gangs, including
vicious filmed beatings
on public transit
Assaults and robberies on
Congressional staffers
and
Members of Congress
Soft-on-crime policies
encouraging criminals to victimize innocent Americans
Allowing non-citizens to
vote in local elections
Oppressive,
backwards regulations
leading to a high cost of living
You can read the bill text
HERE
.
You can read President Trump’s Executive Order
HERE
.
You can read the Washington Post’s exclusive coverage
HERE
.