[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 74 (Thursday, May 23, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H5552]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 RESIDENTS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

  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, I recognize that the day has been much 
devoted to a discussion of the minimum wage. This member is trying her 
best to make certain that more than minimum wage residents continue to 
live in the District. I have just come back from the other body, where 
Senator Connie Mack, the chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, has 
just introduced the DC Economic Recovery Act on the Senate side, the 
bill I introduced on April 15 on the House side, in order to give a tax 
reduction to the residents of the District of Columbia, who are fleeing 
in awesome numbers.
  The District does not have a State, so any tax incentive--tax cut 
will have to come from this body. The alternative to a tax cut to help 
to keep middle-income residents in the city is annual increases of a 
very significant magnitude in the Federal payment. The reason that 
would be necessary is that the Constitution requires the Congress of 
the United States to maintain the Capital of the United States. For 
over 200 years, it is the residents of the Capital of the United States 
who have maintained the capital, but their flight in great numbers and 
the insolvency of the city put the capital of the United States at 
risk.

  No one can doubt that this is the case if you look at the chart 
before us. The tax base is already gone. Eighty-three percent of tax 
filers have an income of less than $50,000. To quote Senator Mack:

       Washington's situation is desperate. Middle-income 
     residents have been fleeing the city in startling numbers.

  Senator Mack was not alone in introducing this bill. Senator Joseph 
Lieberman, a Democrat, became the cosponsor today, as well, and both 
spoke at this press conference. What I did not know until I walked into 
the press conference was that yet another Senator had on this very 
first day of the introduction of the bill come on, Senator Spencer 
Abraham.
  Mr. Speaker, I sent my ``dear colleague'' letters out yesterday to 
Members of the House, and I am pleased to say that they are beginning 
to come on. Mr. Armey has become a cosponsor today, and I am very 
grateful for that. The Chairs of both caucuses, Republican and Democrat 
in this House, support the bill.
  Why is there such support for this bill? In large part, it is because 
the District is trying to do it the old fashioned way. This tax break 
will not come to the Government of the District of Columbia but to the 
residents, who with their own money, will revive their own city.
  The District is the only city in the United States that pays for 
State, county and municipal functions. When it was a city of 800,000 
people, as it was when I was a kid growing up in this town, it could do 
that. Now it is a town of half a million people, and it simply cannot 
pay for Medicare, cannot pay for a State prison, cannot pay for a State 
university all by itself.
  The District is the only city in the United States that is barred by 
the Congress of the United States from enacting a commuter tax, so all 
the commuters come here, use the services my residents provide and do 
not leave one thin dime.
  The District is the only jurisdiction that flies the American flag, 
where Federal income taxes are paid by the residents, but they have no 
voting representation in the House or in the Senate. That, my friends, 
I am sure you will agree, is un-American.

                              {time}  1615

  We would still pay Federal income taxes under my bill, but we would 
not be second per capita in Federal income taxes, as we are today. When 
you join our local taxes with our Federal taxes, the residents of the 
District of Columbia are the highest taxed residents in the United 
States.
  The District does not say ``Give me some more money.'' The District 
says, the House and the Senate, the Democrats and the Republicans, yes, 
and the administration, all have their versions of tax cuts. If taxes 
are to be cut, let the cutting start in the capital of the United 
States, which does not have full representation, and therefore is taxed 
without representation, in the capital of the United States, which is 
spiralling downward, and needs to give people an incentive to remain in 
this beautiful city.
  This will not be the capital we are all proud of if we let it 
continue to go down. Please sign on to the DC Economic Recovery Act, as 
three Senators have today.

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