[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 35 (Wednesday, March 9, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E439]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 INTRODUCTION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA LOCAL FUNDS CONTINUATION ACT

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 9, 2011

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to offer the District of 
Columbia Local Funds Continuation Act, to permanently protect both the 
600,000 residents of the District of Columbia and the Federal 
Government from an unintended catastrophe in any future Federal 
Government shutdown. The bill would allow the District to spend its 
local funds at the start of a fiscal year if Congress has not approved 
the District's budget by such time and thereby avoid a District 
government shutdown if the Federal Government shuts down. Although the 
District raises and manages its own $8 billion budget, Congress 
technically appropriates these local funds back to the District, a 
holdover and throwback to the pre-home-rule period. Several years ago, 
Republican appropriators and I reached a bipartisan agreement to 
approve the District's local budget in the first continuing resolution, 
CR, allowing the District to spend at next year's level, if Congress 
has not passed the District's regular appropriation bill by the start 
of the fiscal year. We are grateful that this agreement has held 
through Democratic and Republican congresses and administrations. This 
agreement has enabled the District to operate its complex big-city 
functions more effectively than during the many years when the city's 
local budget was only approved months after the start of the fiscal 
year.
  However, this year we see the limits of even this helpful agreement. 
As I speak, if the Federal Government shuts down when the current 
fiscal year 2011 CR expires on March 18, 2011, the District government 
would shut down as well, even though the city's local budget was 
forwarded to Congress on time last year. I am working with our Senate 
allies to permit the District to spend its local funds for the 
remainder of fiscal year 2011, but, regardless of whether the Federal 
Government shuts down this year, a permanent solution has become 
necessary to avoid disruptive, unintended consequences. The District of 
Columbia Budget Autonomy Act, to end the anti-democratic anachronism of 
Congress appropriating to the District its own local funds in the first 
place, is, of course, the best long-term solution, but today's bill is 
a critical stopgap measure.
  The District urgently needs relief now because even more is at stake 
than the cessation of vital municipal services. If the District shuts 
down, it could default under certain financing agreements and leases. 
When Congress cannot reach agreement on regular appropriation bills, it 
often operates under successive CRs to avoid a Federal Government 
shutdown. However, successive CRs greatly hinder the operations of the 
District. Not only do they make it difficult for the city to plan its 
activities for the year, successive CRs greatly increase the city's 
costs of doing business. The city's partners, from Wall Street to small 
vendors, may charge it a risk premium due to the uncertainty created by 
successive CRs.
  Members who were not here during the last Federal Government shutdown 
are probably unaware that the District government was forced to shut 
down, too. The District government had passed its budget months 
earlier, but Congress had not yet voted for final approval. I am 
grateful that after the first of several government shutdowns and 
partial shutdowns, Speaker Newt Gingrich and I worked together to 
ensure that the District remained operating.
  Disputes over the Federal budget have nothing to do with the 
District's local funds. I do not believe that any Member wants to shut 
down the D.C. government and bring a large, complicated city to its 
knees because of a purely Federal matter. Moreover, D.C. residents are 
not alone in relying on vital District services. Federal officials, 
including the President, Federal buildings, foreign embassies and 
dignitaries, and businesses rely daily on the city's services, as well.
  It is time we remove the District and the multiple, unintended 
consequences of a District government shutdown from Federal Government 
shutdown controversies. I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

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