Jamie Raskin hammers GOP after Kevin McCarthy's district hits higher crime rate than D.C.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) refuted Republican lawmakers on Thursday by noting that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) district has a higher crime rate than Washington, D.C.

During a debate over GOP legislation to partially strip D.C. of its limited self-governance, Raskin took the podium to dispute statements by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA).

"I want to push back against some of the distortions I just heard from the distinguished gentleman from Louisiana," Raskin stated. "First of all, carjacking is — as I understand it from this act, and I'm willing to stand corrected — is not legal in the District of Columbia. On the contrary, it can be punished by up to 24 years."

Raskin pointed out that carjacking is not a statutory offense in Kentucky, where suspects can be charged with armed robbery.

"He said that crime was out of control in Washington, D.C.," he continued. "Well, the crime rate is higher in Bakersfield, California, which is represented by the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and a major city, New Orleans, in the gentleman's home state — quote from Fox News — closed 2022 with sky-high homicide rate not seen in decades. Horrific."

"But we don't need to have some kind of race-to-the-bottom Olympics in terms of which state or which city has the worst crime rate," Raskin added. "We should get together to deal with the problem of gun violence, which is why I invite our colleagues to join us and more than 90% of the American people who support a universal violent criminal background check. But they oppose it; they are locked in the stranglehold of the N.R.A."

Raskin concluded by accusing Republicans of using crime rates "as a political club to take away other people's rights."

Watch the video below from C-SPAN.