[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 116 (Thursday, September 9, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H8003]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 VOTE NO ON THE D.C. CONFERENCE REPORT

  (Ms. NORTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, in one of the great ironies of this 
session, I am forced to ask for a no vote on the D.C. conference report 
that will come before us later today. My appropriation is actually a 
local budget with the old federal payment now abolished. Though the 
budget comes balanced, replete with tax cuts and a surplus, it has 
proved needlessly contentious here, dragging Members into local matters 
that most want to avoid as somebody else's business about which Members 
necessarily know little.
  The new Mayor, revitalized City Council and I cannot live with back-
door approaches to weakened self-government. Take it straight from D.C. 
itself. We all ask for a no vote on the D.C. conference report.

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