[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 196 (Monday, December 11, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H14251-H14252]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 D.C. FISCAL PROTECTION ACT: CONTINUED

  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 5 of my countdown to help avoid 
a shutdown of the Federal Government and the District of Columbia and, 
in addition, to help avoid a month-to-month congressional resolution 
that would apply to the District of Columbia--because on a month-to-
month basis, Mr. Speaker, one cannot run a large, complicated, 
financially troubled city. There is very promising news carried in this 
morning's papers across the country that there may be $100 billion more 
money than expected, that the program of the administration has worked 
and that we are seeing the fruits come in. We are told that the 
President has made a phone call to the Republican leadership and may be 
coming together with them in the next few days. In any case, Mr. 
Speaker, they are very close together. There is not a lot of difference 
between the two.
  In particular, the Republican majority said to the President, give us 
a 7-year plan. Guess what? He did. Now the only way to arrive at an 
agreement is to get to the details, get the numbers and nobody, surely, 
would shut down the Government or put the District on a continuing 
resolution while you are doing the necessary work of getting to the 
numbers now, that you both have plans.
  This morning the President is quoted as saying,

       We ought to be able to agree on one thing: Nobody, nobody 
     should threaten to shut down the Government right before 
     Christmas.

  I cannot believe there is a single Member who would disagree with 
that. We in the District are not relaxed, though, because a month-long 
or a 6-week-long or a 2-week-long continuing resolution will not help 
us run the District, which is in grave financial distress.
  Who would want to shut down the District when the appropriation that 
is stuck up here is 85 percent raised from District of Columbia 
taxpayers? It is indefensible to do anything but release that money so 
that the District of Columbia can begin to systematically plan and 
spend for its reform. That is what this body has tried to get the 
District to do for years. That is why with a control board in place, we 
must be set free to do that.
  I have sponsored, with strong bipartisan support, the D.C. Fiscal 
Protection Act, which will be marked up on Wednesday and Thursday. The 
gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Davis], the chair of the D.C. 
Subcommittee, is strongly for this act because it would simply release 
the District to spend its own money. It is bad enough not to have full 
representation in this Congress, but to shut us down with our own money 
is nothing that any Member would want to defend.
  When the markup occurs, the bill will be brought swiftly here. We 
believe it could be passed swiftly in the House. Do not condemn us to 
the waste of a month-to-month CR. The last shutdown forced us to pay 
our employees, in any case, for not working, because they were forced 
into administrative leave by the Congress of the United States. The 
waste and inefficiency involved for Federal agencies is unpardonable 
for a city in financial distress. It simply cannot be tolerated. The 
waste and inefficiency involved in a month-to-month continuing 
resolution will set the District back in a recovery that has hardly 
begun.
  There are responsibilities that the District must take on. This body 
is correct to make sure that the District takes on those 
responsibilities. But who can deny that there is also a responsibility 
for this body. Only this body can pass a continuing resolution to free 
up the District to spend its own money. Even if our appropriation comes 
through, this bill must be passed, because the District must never face 
this possibility again. Already it has delayed our ability to go back 
into the market because now the market says ``You can never know when 
they may be shut down,'' and that has all kinds of repercussions on 
Wall Street. We must improve the District's standing. The only way to 
do that is not even through our appropriation, not even through a 1-
month CR. It is through an act, the D.C. Fiscal Protection Act, which 
we will mark up Wednesday and Thursday, which would broadcast to the 
markets that no matter what happens, if the D.C. appropriation has not 
been signed at the end of a fiscal year, the District can spend its own 
money. It can pay its debts.
  That is the way to go at making the D.C. government more efficient. 
Let the example be set here in this body. Keep our feet to the fire. 
Let this body keep its own feet to the fire and do the right thing. 
Help us to start the District, finally, late in this fiscal year, with 
the efficiency that would obtain if we were able to spend our money to 

[[Page H14252]]
begin the systematic planning and spending that will once again make 
the District whole.

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