A deadly shooting in Washington took the life of one National Guard member and has another fighting for their life, which has reignited conversations as to whether there needs to be more of a federal hands-on approach in the nation’s capital.

Republicans have said since the takeover, they’ve heard nothing but praise from visitors who now feel safe to walk the streets of Washington, pointing to statistics showing that the district saw a decrease in violent crime and an uptick in arrests. Many D.C. Metro stops now have three to four National Guard troops outside or inside the station after the district saw a rise in violent crime and crimes perpetrated by juveniles in neighborhoods just a mile from the Capitol over the summer.

Last week, Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal allegedly shot and killed Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and critically injured Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24. The shooting has sparked outrage among some who blame Biden-era immigration policies and others who say the guard shouldn’t have been activated in the first place.

Trump activated the National Guard during his takeover of Washington, which began Aug. 11 and lasted 30 days. The takeover included a federalization of the Metropolitan Police Department. During the takeover, the National Guard has been pictured cleaning parks, clearing trash, and helping to protect landscaping as part of the administration’s “beautification” efforts for the district.

Some critics of Trump’s deployment of the National Guard have argued on social media that the shooting wouldn’t have happened if troops hadn’t been deployed in the district.

“This is so tragic, so unnecessary, these poor guardsmen should never have been deployed,” said Jane Mayer, a staff writer at the New Yorker. “I live in DC and watched as they had virtually nothing to do but pick up trash. It was for political show and at what a cost.”

Republicans, in turn, have blasted Democrats for their rhetoric, as many have called the administration’s use of law enforcement and the National Guard “authoritarian” and an effort by Trump to “play dictator.” They’ve pointed to comments from Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), who said in an interview on ABC News’s This Week that the rise of military use in the United States “makes me incredibly nervous” that “that we’re about to see people in law enforcement … get nervous, get stressed, shoot at American civilians.”

Republicans, alongside Trump, have praised the takeover as a necessary success, while Democrats continue to accuse the president of overstepping his powers and extending an authoritarian-like reach over the district. But now, eyes are on Congress to see whether it will take charge of future efforts to tamp down on crime, or if that power will remain with the executive branch while Trump is in the White House.

The takeover expired in September. Extending the takeover beyond 30 days would have required approval from Congress, and it never came up for a vote on the floor. However, as of now, National Guard troops are authorized to remain in the district at least through February 2026. 

In the aftermath, the House of Representatives immediately slated several crime bills and held hearings on the district’s handling of crime. Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) said Washington is “our city,” pointing to bills that would crack down on accountability for repeat offenders or provide an appropriate time for juveniles who commit crimes.

“The average murderer in D.C., I think, had been released from jail, what, seven times? The average person. We corrected that. We went after those sort of things,” McCormick said.

But, he added, there’s more to be done, and it should fall under the House’s hands, not the president’s.

“The safety of this populace is in our hands,” McCormick said. “We are an equal branch of government, not an inferior branch. We’re equal. We need to grab that power back. We need to assert what’s good for the American people. It shouldn’t always be driven by the executive branch. It’s the easiest way to do it, but not the best way to do it.”

When asked how to regain power, McCormick pointed to the REINS Act, which has previously passed the House and Senate in separate years but has not reached a president’s desk. The bill would require legislative approval of major federal agency rules before the regulations could take effect.

Actions taken by Congress would be more difficult to overturn compared to a president’s executive orders. McCormick said he thinks it would be prudent for the House to take action, given that the next commander in chief could come along and undo all of the things Trump did for Washington and in other areas.

“I want to make sure we limit presidential power, so that when we’re not in power, it’s not burdensome to the American people,” he said. “Because there’s a lot of bad presidents out there in the next few generations that are gonna happen, we want to make sure we don’t have a tyranny of a president who does the wrong things.”

House GOP Conference Vice Chairman Blake Moore (R-UT), who called the shooting a “tragedy,” agreed that it’s “always” the job of Congress to make sure that it is working in a coequal manner with the executive branch.

“There’s a lot of things that we do that the administration is deferring to us, and hopefully some things that are more traditionally our responsibility that the executive branch is doing, we push that even more,” Moore said, adding that having control over the oversight of Washington is “no different” than other areas. 

Other Republicans believe the president is handling the district effectively, and if Congress needs to intervene, it should do so at a later date. Rep. Mark Harris (R-NC), who recently called on his own state to activate the National Guard in Charlotte, said he thinks the “takeover” of Washington could be revisited at the end of February, when Trump’s National Guard activation is set to expire. 

But for now, Congress should let the president handle things, Harris said, adding that he believes the deployment of the National Guard has “proven successful.”

“I think for a short-term fix, this is the route we’ve gone, and I’m very grateful for the guard providing the support they provide so that the police can really do their job, to focus on getting the bad guys out,” Harris said.

Though Congress hasn’t been at the forefront of the takeover, the legislative body has exercised its power over the district more over the last few years than it has in decades. In 2022, then-President Joe Biden signed a law that overturned the D.C. Council’s overhaul of the criminal code that would reduce penalties for homicides, robberies, and carjackings — the three areas that the district suffers from the most. It was the first time in 30 years that Congress repealed a local law passed by the council.

Earlier this year, the latest spending deal reduced the district’s funding by $1 billion, reverting to Washington’s 2024 budget as congressional Republicans began cracking down on spending. That $1 billion was later restored in the short-term spending deal disputed over the record-breaking, 43-day government shutdown. 

Rep. Troy Downing (R-MT) said he is in full support of the president’s actions, adding that moving forward, he wants to see a real emphasis on law and order.

“We have a lot of laws on the books that, you know, seem to be haphazardly pursued,” Downing said. “I think that what we can do is start looking at how we can strengthen or compel folks that are charged with administering the law, of actually administering the law.”

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) said “absolutely” when asked if there needs to be more federal involvement in Washington, noting that his home state of South Carolina is sending hundreds more troops to the district.

What’s “not helping things,” he said, are the six Democratic veterans in Congress who appeared in a video urging members of the military and intelligence to not comply with illegal orders from the administration.

Trump has accused the lawmakers of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!,” but then later said he was “not threatening death.” Norman said he agreed it was sedition and it “ought to have consequences.”

“I’m very disappointed that the Democratic Party has taken that line,” Norman said. “It’s so unfair to the troops, and innocent volunteers in the National Guard, and with our police force, who do what they do because they want to protect this country and protect the people. And to get shot, and to have Congress urge that to happen, it’s not right.”

Though unlikely, eyes are also on Republicans and their bills that want to take away Washington’s autonomy altogether. Due to the rules of the D.C. Home Rule Act, both the House and Senate would need to pass a joint resolution authorizing an extension of Trump’s executive order federalizing the takeover. 

Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN), who is sponsoring the BOWSER Act in the House to repeal Washington’s home rule, said that while the deployment of the National Guard was “a justified use of executive power,” congressional action is “still required” despite the president’s efforts to bring down crime.

“The soft-on-crime policies penned by the city council and the corrupt judiciary of the district can only be fixed by Congress,” Ogles said. “DC has proven it can’t rule itself, and therefore repealing Home Rule is the ONLY option for lasting prosperity in DC. We can and must pass The Bowser Act ASAP.” 

Lauren Green and Sydney Topf contributed to this report.