Although Congress has always had the constitutional authority to govern the nation's capital district, that power has largely been delegated to the local government of Washington, D.C., for the past 50 years -- but that may change soon.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested that discussions were ongoing about a possible federal takeover of D.C., in part to reduce crime and to run the city more efficiently, Breitbart reported.

Coincidentally enough, there is already legislation drafted in the House and the Senate that would end D.C.'s so-called "Home Rule" and restore congressional control of the capital district.

Trump floats idea of D.C. takeover

During Tuesday's Cabinet meeting at the White House, President Trump was asked about the New York City mayoral race, in which the leading candidate is Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, whom Trump and others have denounced as a radical far-left "communist" who must be prevented from gaining power over the important city.

"I’ll say it again. We’re not going to have -- if a communist gets elected to run New York, it can never be the same," Trump asserted. "But we have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to. We could run D.C. We’re looking at D.C. We don’t want crime in D.C. We want the city to run well."

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles "is working very closely with the mayor, and they’re doing all right, I mean, in the sense that we would run it so good, it would be run so proper," he continued. "We’d get the best person to run it; the crime would be down to a minimal -- it would be much less."

"We’re thinking about doing it, to be honest with you. We want a capital that’s run flawlessly. And it wouldn’t be hard for us to do it," Trump added. "And we've had a good relationship with the mayor. We're testing it to see if it works. But New York City will run properly. We're gonna bring New York back. I love New York.

BREAKING: Trump considers a Federal take over of governance of Washington DC: “We have tremendous power at The White House to run places when we have to. We could run DC. We're looking at DC ... we would run it so good... we're thinking about doing it, to be honest with you” pic.twitter.com/LPxCPTurLp

— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) July 8, 2025

Congress has constitutional authority over D.C.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) shared a clip of President Trump's remarks about a takeover of Washington, D.C. on X, and wrote, "As President Trump seems to be contemplating, it’s time to repeal 'DC Home Rule,' and have DC’s laws made by Congress -- consistent with Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 of the Constitution."

The Utah senator added, "I have a bill, the BOWSER Act, that would do precisely that. Make DC Safe Again!"

As Lee asserted in the post, the U.S. Constitution granted Congress the "exclusive" legislative authority over any "such District" that would become "the Seat of Government of the United States," which is Washington, D.C., though the actual day-to-day governance of the nation's capital city -- which has taken various forms over the past two centuries -- has been largely delegated to local officials, most recently with the so-called Home Rule Act of 1973.

Legislation to end D.C.'s Home Rule ready to go

Last year, the Daily Caller reported on joint legislation proposed in both chambers of Congress by Sen. Lee and Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) that was titled the Bringing Oversight to Washington and Safety to Every Resident (BOWSER) Act, named after the current Democratic D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.

"The corruption, crime, and incompetence of the D.C. government has been an embarrassment to our nation’s capital for decades," Lee told the outlet at that time. "It is long past time that Congress restored the honor and integrity of George Washington to the beautiful city which bears his name."

"The radically progressive regime of D.C. Mayor Bowser has left our nation’s Capital in crime-ridden shambles. Washington is now known for its homicides, rapes, drug overdoses, violence, theft, and homelessness. Bowser and her corrupt Washington City Council are incapable of managing the city," Ogles said. "As such, it seems appropriate for Congress to reclaim its Constitutional authority and restore the nation’s Capital. The epicenter of not only the United States Federal Government but also the world geopolitics cannot continue to be a cesspool of Democrats’ failed policies."