[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 154 (Thursday, November 6, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H10110-H10111]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                CONGRESS SHOULD ENACT D.C. APPROPRIATION

  (Ms. NORTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, if this were a court, I would be forced to 
throw myself on the mercy of the court. Congress has an obligation to 
allow the Capital of the United States to spend its own money by 
enacting our appropriation.
  Did my colleagues know that the District no longer gets a Federal 
payment under the rescue plan? Almost every dollar in the D.C. 
appropriation was raised in the District from the people I represent. 
Without an appropriation, there should be no appropriation 
subcommittee.
  Did my colleagues know that there is no dispute over money? First 
there were vouchers. Now Republicans are fighting among themselves over 
an authorizing measure outside the jurisdiction of the appropriators. 
Ominously, the District's chief financial officer is

[[Page H10111]]

warned of $100 million of fast cuts that will be necessary if the 
District of Columbia has to spend at last year's levels much longer. 
That will stop the city cold.
  The majority has an obligation to get 13 appropriations passed every 
year. The majority speaks often of its special authority over the 
Nation's capital. Exercise that authority. Let the District spend its 
own money. Save the Nation's Capital.

                          ____________________