[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 20 (Tuesday, February 13, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H296-H297]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 THANKING CONGRESS FOR HELPING THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA GET OUT OF THE 
                                  HOLE

  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 come to the House to report periodically 
when significant events occur in the District of Columbia.
  I know for new Members, the first impression might be well, that is 
not none of my business, Congresswoman. It really should not be, but it 
turns out to be because matters affecting the District of Columbia 
which, for every other district, would not be seen on this floor do 
come here.
  Today's Washington Times has a headline of interest to the Members of 
the House, Control Board Prepares to Reinstate Local Fiscal Authority. 
This matter is of interest to the House, because the control board was 
formed pursuant to a statute passed by this House when the District of 
Columbia encountered fiscal problems in the mid-'90s. It encountered 
those problems, because it is the only city in the United States that 
had to bear State, city and municipal functions.
  I am pleased that this House offered some relief when it took over 
the most costly State functions, the rest of it was hard work from the 
District of Columbia, and, of course, the good economy.
  The Times reports that on tomorrow, the control board will certify 
that the District has had its last of four clean audits, meaning that 
the control board period is over, and the control board itself will go 
out of existence on September the 30th. It is in a phase-out mode.
  The District has had nothing short of a spectacular turnaround. It 
had to dig itself out of the worst kind of fiscal crisis. Any city in 
the United States that had to pay for State functions would have been 
in that kind of crisis long ago. Philadelphia had a control board. New 
York had a control board. Cleveland had a control board long before the 
District did, and they have a State to back them up.
  The District is an orphan city all by itself carrying those functions 
with the kind of diminishing tax base that every

[[Page H297]]

large city in the United States has. What the control board now finds 
is that the District has had 4 years of balanced budget with a surplus 
and a large reserve, and this has occurred 2 years ahead of time. At 
the same time, the District is in the throes of a complete overhaul of 
its city government, including every form of service delivery. We have 
surpassed the wildest expectations of this body.
  The same page of the Washington Times reports, Hill Chairman To Keep 
Riders Off of City Budget. This will be very good news to most Members 
of the House who have had to consider the D.C. appropriation year after 
year.
  I appreciate that the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Knollenberg) does 
not want the smallest budget in the House to take virtually the most 
time. This year I had to get unanimous consent.
  I really thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert) who helped 
me get unanimous consent to get the District's budget out 6 weeks late, 
even after it was balanced and had a surplus, but the fact is that it 
caused a tremendous hardship to have our budget out 6 weeks ago ahead 
of time. This should not have come here in the first place. This is the 
District's money raised by the District's taxpayers. This is a terrible 
anomaly that that the budget comes here.
  The hard work that both sides of the aisle put in still makes the 
Congress look bad because it takes so long to get the matter out. The 
District of Columbia has shown that it is prepared to uphold its end of 
the bargain with balanced budgets, with surpluses.
  We recognize that the work is not done. This is a city that has had 
to put itself together again like Humpty Dumpty. I appreciate very much 
what the Mayor of this city and the revitalized city council has done 
to make this happen. Nevertheless, this is a city without a State.
  I will have not some revenue, but bills on the floor for Members, but 
rather some notions that allow the District to build back its own tax 
base. Among the payment solutions I will put forward will be a tax 
credit that will allow the District to pay for the services that 
commuters use. Eight out of 10 cars in the District of Columbia come 
from Maryland and Virginia and outside the District. They tear up our 
roads and leave a diminished tax base to pay for them.
  They call our fire. They call our police. They use our water and do 
not leave anything here. A tax credit based on the services commuters 
use which cost commuters nothing is the way to approach this. My 
colleagues do not want the District to go back down the drain, even 
given all the streamlining and hard work it has done to pull itself out 
simply because, unlike your cities and counties, we have no State to 
back us out.
  We are not out of the woods yet, but we are way out of the hole. I 
come to the floor this evening to thank the Congress for what they have 
done to help the District get out of the hole. I think that the 
Congress would want to thank Mayor Anthony Williams and would want to 
thank the counsel of the District of Columbia for pulling themselves up 
by their own bootstraps.

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