The District of Columbia Council has renamed two bills so far, according to the Washington Post.

The former Foundation Fund for Reparations and Task Force Act, which would create a study group focused on reparations to the Insurance Database Amendment Act, and the Advancing the Range of Reproductive Options for Washingtonians Amendment Act, which would require insurance companies to cover vasectomy procedures. and related services, was replaced by the Act to amend the regulations of insurance.

D.C. Council Speaker Phil Mendelson, a Democrat, along with two other city officials, told the outlet that the changes were part of a strategic effort within city government to take a more neutral stance on some sensitive issues in hopes of avoiding a backlash from Republicans.

“I am not afraid of President Trump. I would like the Council to work with him, the government to work with him,” Mendelson said. “I want to be more careful that what we talk about is issue-focused.”

Mendelson said part of the naming approach stemmed from an impasse last year between the City Council and Congress over an overhaul of D.C.’s penal code. The House and Senate voted to overturn Washington, D.C.’s local legislation for the first time in more than 30 years.

The political fight has been accompanied by a series of tough hearings with congressional Republicans, using the state of crime in Washington to portray Democrats nationally as soft on crime.

Mendelson said: “The Council has lost control of the messaging on this issue.

“Lesson learned,” he said. “We need to be sensitive to messages.”

Before the election, Councilman Kenyan McDuffie’s reparations bill, co-introduced by nine other lawmakers, seemed likely to pass easily through the council until it came up for discussion.

Mendelson said he participated in discussions “where people discussed whether the idea of ​​reparations was controversial.”

​​By November 18, according to a committee report, the name of the law had changed. McDuffie focused on reparations during his tenure, telling the outlet that the council would change the names of the bills fairly regularly and that the new names “were chosen in consultation with my colleagues to more accurately reflect the intent of the measures “.

“It’s important to recognize the ever-changing political landscape and understand when to pick a fight and when to be strategic and not pick a fight,” McDuffie said. “It’s a very delicate balance, which the council needs to be aware of.”

Councilor Robert White Jr. had planned to pass a bill that would increase the size of the Washington Council, but he told the Washington Post he had halted his efforts for fear that a “slow news day” might make D.C.’s local government expansion a centerpiece of negotiations and put an end to it.

“The District needs to be strategic about not throwing red meat in front of the Republicans when they control the House, the Senate and the White House,” he said.

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Since leaving office in 2021, President-elect Donald Trump has harbored a distaste for Washington, D.C. and its governance. During his election campaign, Trump repeatedly vowed to “take over” the city and, in doing so, bypass local government.

“We will take back our nation’s horribly managed capital, Washington, D.C., and clean it up, renovate it and rebuild our capital so that there will be no more nightmare of murder and crime,” Trump said in July. “But it will instead become the most beautiful capital in the world. Now if you’re leaving Florida, let’s go, honey. Let’s look at the Jefferson Memorial, let’s look at the Washington Monument. Let’s go see some of the beautiful scenes, and you end up getting shot, assaulted, raped.