[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 132 (Monday, September 28, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H9087-H9088]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




CONGRESS SHOULD PASS D.C. APPROPRIATION BILL SO CAPITAL CAN CONTINUE TO 
                             MAKE PROGRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997, the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. 
Norton) is recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, October 1st is fast approaching, this 
Thursday,

[[Page H9088]]

and we will be at the end of the fiscal year, with miles to go and much 
to do in order to fulfill our most basic responsibility, and that is to 
pass 13 appropriations bills.
  As co-chair of the Women's Caucus, along with the gentlewoman from 
Connecticut (Mrs. Nancy Johnson), I am pleased that the House has 
gotten through four of the seven priority bills chosen by the Women's 
Caucus. That brings credit to this House. I hope that the House also 
will bring itself credit by the way its treats the capital of the 
United States.
  The District's appropriation is one of those left hanging and 
unresolved. The city is not a Federal agency, and when it is on 
tenterhooks wondering whether its appropriation will go through or, as 
in the case of the CR, held to last year's spending limits, a living, 
breathing city suffers.
  The problem with our bill comes from 10 hours during which 
attachments of every kind were put on our bill, attachments at war with 
the democratically voiced views of the residents of the District of 
Columbia: Adoption forbidden for unmarried couples, even though we have 
children languishing in foster care; vouchers once again put on our 
appropriation, although the President had not 3 months prior vetoed 
such a bill; a police helicopter of the Park Service funded out of D.C. 
funds; advisory neighborhood commissions defunded entirely, though they 
are the lifeline of neighborhood life in the District of Columbia to 
keep the services coming at the neighborhood level. The District 
deserves better.
  This Friday, the District is about to break ground on a new 
convention center funded entirely by the private sector. Most such 
centers in this country are funded with public funds.
  The schools have shown enormous progress. We now have perhaps more 
charter schools per capita than any other jurisdiction in the United 
States. We had a magnificent summer school called Summer Stars. To make 
sure that we eliminate social promotion, children went not only to 
catch up but to get ahead. Test scores were up significantly on the 
Stanford 9 even before summer school--scores up in every grade.
  We have a new vigorous control board that is keeping the District's 
feet to the fire and preparing the District for the return of home 
rule. This is a city that has come back. We have just had an election 
with fresh leadership promised next year, vigorous new leadership 
committed to getting the city's House in total order, even more than is 
being done now.
  This is the kind of progress that one would think that the Congress 
would want to encourage. Ten hours of attachments to our appropriation 
did just the opposite. It dispirited residents who have suffered 
greatly in the past few years and have taken great pride that their 
city is coming up and coming alive.
  This is a time for the House and the Senate to encourage the capital, 
it is not the time to punish the residents of the Nation's capital. By 
October 1st we hope that this body will have shown that it does indeed 
take pride in the progress the Nation's capital is beginning to make.

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