Members withdraw support of Schiff’s anti-violence bill

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) had a rough October.

{mosads}In the wake of fierce opposition from Turkey and the White House, House leaders recently backed off on their commitment to a floor vote on Schiff’s Armenian genocide bill.

On Tuesday, five lawmakers formally withdrew their support of Schiff’s anti-gang bill, which seeks to increase law enforcement resources for investigations and prosecutions related to gang crime.

Reps. Sanford Bishop Jr. (D-Ga.), Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), David Scott (D-Ga.) and Albert Wynn (D-Md.) initially co-sponsored the bill but no longer back the legislation.

Eriade Hunter, Wynn’s press secretary, said Wynn has two major concerns with the bill: “One of the provisions might make it easier to charge juveniles as adults, and he had a problem with the definition of ‘gang.’ ”

The other members who withdrew their support did not comment by press time.

Schiff said that his bill takes “concrete steps in fighting gang violence” and that he is working with his colleagues “to address some of their concerns and to ensure we can move this critical legislation forward.”