Democrat-led House votes to give DC mayor authority over city's Guard unit, in Jan. 6 aftermath

The Democrat-controlled House on Wednesday adopted an amendment to Congress' annual Defense spending bill to give the mayor of Washington, D.C., authority over the city’s national guard unit – in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 riot when such authority became an issue.

Governors have control over their respective state’s Guard units, but the president controls the one for the nation’s capital. 

Trump told Fox News in March that he requested 10,000 National Guard troops be deployed in the nation’s capital before the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. 

Maj. Gen. William Walker, the commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, testified in March 2021 that Trump’s Defense Department took roughly three hours to authorize the force to send personnel to the Capitol during the riot.

At the Jan. 6 select committee’s first public hearing last month, Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, vice chairwoman of the panel, said former Vice President Pence urged the National Guard to go to the Capitol and that Trump never issued the order, according to The Hill newspaper. 

The House vote Wednesday was 218-209, largely along party lines, and will be added to the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act.

The House is expected to pass the full Defense authorization this week. The lower chamber will then go into conference in the Senate, where the amendment could be taken out, The Hill also reports.