[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 190 (Thursday, November 30, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H13846-H13847]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       D.C. FISCAL PROTECTION ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from the District of Columbia [Ms. Norton] is recognized 
for 5 minutes.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, this is day 16 of my countdown to December 
15. I will be here every day we are in regular session.
  Next Wednesday, there is a hearing on the D.C. Fiscal Protection Act. 
I am here to protect the District of Columbia from another shutdown on 
December 15. I am here to protect 600,000 residents who are not parts 
of a Federal agency but tax-paying citizens of the Capital City of the 
United States, who got shut down in the last shutdown, even though they 
had no part in the struggle between the Congress and the Executive.
  I thank the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Davis], who is a cosponsor 
of the D.C. Fiscal Protection Act which will get its hearing next 
Wednesday. The act has been well named; fiscal protection because the 
District of Columbia needs to be protected from any further blows to 
its fiscal health. Surely I do not need to tell my colleagues that the 
District is in delicate condition. There is a control board which is 
seeking to help the District return to financial solvency.
  A shutdown of the District for the second time simply puts the city 
in the hospital. The Congress wants the opposite. If it indeed expects 
the opposite to occur, it must take action to make sure there is no 
shutdown.
  Mr. Speaker, when the Federal Government shut down, for most 
Americans there was no direct hit, even though there was very direct 
inconvenience; and where there might have been something approaching a 
direct hit, the Congress took action to protect Americans and, I might 
add, to protect Members from the wrath of Americans, such as the 
exceptions that were passed to allow workers on Social Security to come 
to work.
  The District of Columbia, on the other hand, was hit in three direct 
ways, three direct hits. First, the District Government was shut down. 
Second, District residents had their vital services wiped out and could 
not receive them. Finally, Federal employees who work in the District 
had to remain home.

[[Page H13847]]

  Let me say a word about Federal employees today. I have not talked 
about them as much in past days. This is a home of the Federal 
Government. Of course, it follows that our largest employer is the 
Federal Government and, therefore, we have a disproportionate number of 
employers, about 60,000, who were forced to stay home on forced 
administrative leave. These are some of the most stable employees. We 
are trying hard to keep them.
  Imagine what they might be thinking now: ``At least if I lived in the 
suburbs, if they shut down the Federal Government, my vital services 
would still be available to me.''
  Please help us keep our tax-paying residents. If we have to shut 
down, give us an exception for D.C. employees. Let me say what has 
happened to these employees. The effect on them is simply intolerable. 
Because of the District's financial crisis, they have already given 
back 12 percent of their income to the city last year and took 6 
furlough days. This year our unionized employees will give back 3 
percent to the city and have 6 more furlough days. Would my colleagues 
like to tell folks like that that they might risk not getting their pay 
or that they probably will get their pay but they have to stay home and 
let backlogs of work build up?
  What about my cops, the cops who are now working straight time, not 
overtime, on the weekends and at night? These sacrifices are being made 
by D.C. employees at a time when the American standard of living has 
been stable or going down for two decades. Front-line services, from 
trash collection to day-care centers that happen to be in libraries, 
were closed because libraries were closed.
  There was a plethora of services that were closed for business, vital 
services, services that keep the residents alive and going. One of the 
most vital actions that was closed down, however, had to do with the 
multiyear plan which is due here in early February, the plan that is 
central to reviving the District. If we missed that deadline, there 
will be howls throughout this body.
  Virtually all Members directly involved recognize that something has 
to be done, and I thank them all. I thank the Speaker for recognizing 
it and telling me that he thought something special should be done for 
the District if we shut down the Federal Government. I thank Mr. Davis 
for the hearing coming up and for his cosponsorship of my bill. The 
gentleman from New York, [Mr. Walsh], our subcommittee chairman, 
recognizes it as well. He is now with the President heading a 
bipartisan delegation, as he is in this House, Chair of Friends of 
Ireland. I applaud that. I have no objection to his going and applaud 
opportunities for Members to work together like this in a bipartisan 
line.
  I hope he comes back not only as a friend of Ireland but as enough of 
a friend of the District of Columbia so that we can guarantee that the 
city will not be closed down December 15.

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