White House threatens to veto GOP bills reversing D.C. police reforms, restricting transgender athletes

President Joe Biden opposes two GOP-led measures that would roll back D.C. policing reforms and ban transgender women and girls from playing on sports teams — and he would veto both measures if they reach his desk, the White House said on Monday.

The policing reform rollback would violate D.C.’s right to improve public safety and deprive its police force of resources needed for “effective, accountable community policing,” according to a new statement of administration policy.

A second statement blasted Republican efforts to limit transgender students’ participation in sports that match their gender identity, warning it would further stigmatize and discriminate against transgender children.

The bill “targets people for who they are and therefore is discriminatory,” the White House’s Office of Management and Budget wrote. “Politicians should not dictate a one-size-fits-all requirement that forces coaches to remove kids from their teams.”

The statement notes that local schools, coaches and athletic associations are already working on participation rules for transgender children. A national ban would disrupt that more nuanced process, it said.

The threats come ahead of House Republicans' plan to bring the two proposals to the floor as early as this week in their latest bid to advance agenda items that force congressional Democrats into politically tough votes.

House Democrats had sought strongly worded veto threats from the administration, particularly when it came to the transgender sports bill, several Hill aides said.

Democrats are also trying to avoid a repeat of the confusion over Biden’s position on GOP-led bills that prompted many lawmakers to vote against an earlier policing reform rollback in February — only to see Biden decide to support the measure weeks later.

Jennifer Haberkorn contributed to this report.