Current Status: On January 22, 2026, Representative Tom Barrett (R-MI) and Representative Rick Crawford (R-AR) introduce H.R. 7196 in the U.S. House of Representatives. This bill would amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to prohibit the Council of the District of Columbia from enacting any law that permits medical aid in dying.

If enacted, this change to the Home Rule Act would not just repeal D.C.’s existing Death with Dignity law , it would also bar the D.C. Council from ever passing a similar law in the future unless Congress changes federal law again.

H.R. 7196 is referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and remains in the early stages of the legislative process

What’s happening next? H.R. 7196 must be considered and approved by committee, then pass the full U.S. House and Senate and be signed by the President before it could take effect.

Opponents in Congress have again targeted Washington, D.C.’s Death with Dignity law by proposing a rider in the House Appropriations Committee’s budget bill.

As of November 2025, the latest draft no longer includes language to repeal D.C.’s law, but the bill still must move through several committees and both chambers before it can become law.

On February 3, 2026, Congress passed and the president signed the appropriations package to fully fund the federal government for Fiscal Year 2026 through Sept. 30, 2026.

We faced continued opposition in Congress, where members of the House Appropriations Committee attempted to repeal Washington D.C.’s Death with Dignity law through a rider in the appropriations bill.

In response,
we generated 2,636 grassroots letters of opposition to the Senate, urging them to reject any proposal that undermined D.C.’s law.

Finally, President Biden issued a veto threat for any appropriations bill that included partisan policy riders.

Federal Attempts to Interfere with D.C. Law

The 2019 federal budget proposal from the U.S. House of Representatives again contains a rider attempting to repeal the D.C. Death with Dignity Act. The rider does not make it into law, and the Act remains fully intact.

Death with Dignity Passes in Washington D.C.

The District of Columbia is the sixth jurisdiction in the U.S. to enact an assisted- dying statute. The D.C. Death with Dignity Act goes into effect on February 18, 2017 with implementation starting in June.

Federal lawmakers opposed to the D.C. law attempt to repeal it through a budget rider. Senator James Lankford (R-Oklahoma) and Representative Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) introduce companion resolutions, HJ Res. 27 and  SJ Res. 4, disapproving of D.C.’s law. They were joined by 55 Representatives and 3 Senators. 

The House version of the proposed 2018 federal budget contained a rider repealing the Act. The rider was left out of the Senate companion bill, and the budget passed without the rider.

Poll Shows Strong Support for Death with Dignity

D.C. Councilwoman Mary Chen introduces a Death with Dignity bill for the first time, backed by a poll showing 67% of Capitol residents in support. 

Conducted by Lake Research, the poll asked voters if they supported or opposed a bill “that would allow a terminally ill adult patient to obtain a physician’s prescription for drugs to end his or her life, voluntarily, and with informed choice.” 

The poll found 67% in favor while only 27% opposed. 51% strongly favored the measure.

The poll showed even stronger support for statements including:

• 77% believed “patients should be allowed to die in as humane and dignified manner as they see fit.”
• 76% believed “it’s my body and my choice to make the best medical decisions for myself in consultation with my doctor, my family, and my faith, including my end of life decisions.”

Commissioned by Death with Dignity, the poll was a key factor in the eventual passage of D.C.’s law in 2017.