[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 7 (Tuesday, January 22, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E48]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  INTRODUCTION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA BUDGET AUTONOMY ACT OF 2013

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 22, 2013

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, District of Columbia residents raise 
billions of dollars annually for their local budget, and, like 
Americans everywhere, regard the right to control the funds they 
themselves raise to support their city as fundamental to their American 
citizenship. Therefore, today I introduce the District of Columbia 
Budget Autonomy Act of 2013, the second bill I have introduced this 
Congress, to allow the District's local-taxpayer-raised budget to take 
effect immediately when passed by the city, without being subject to 
congressional approval.
  Control over the dollars raised by local taxpayers is central to 
local control, the oldest American government principle. Beyond this 
core principle, permitting the city's local budget to become law 
without congressional approval would have multiple practical benefits 
for both the city and Congress. For the city, a timely budget means 
eliminating the uncertainty of the congressional approval process, 
which has a negative effect on the city's bond rating, adding 
unnecessary interest costs for local taxpayers; significantly improving 
the District's ability to make accurate revenue forecasts; and reducing 
the countless operational problems that result because the city's 
budget cannot be implemented until Congress approves it. Also of major 
importance is that the bill would allow the District to use the typical 
state and local government fiscal year (July 1-June 30), allowing ample 
time to prepare for the opening of schools in September, instead of the 
federal fiscal year (October 1-September 30). Moreover, the D.C. local 
budget consumes valuable subcommittee, committee, and floor time in 
both houses of Congress, the most inefficient and redundant annual 
process in the Congress, yet the D.C. budget is of interest only to 
those members who use it to promote their own issues, violating a 
principle of local self-government that they value for their own 
districts and states.
  Increasing recognition of the hardships and delays caused by the 
congressional approval process has led Congress to begin freeing the 
city from many congressional constraints. I appreciate that my bill to 
avoid a D.C. government shutdown when the federal government shuts down 
is in the Senate Appropriations Committee-passed fiscal year 2013 
Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill. 
President Obama included this provision in his fiscal year 2013 budget, 
and the Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee indicated 
in its report accompanying its fiscal year 2013 Financial Services and 
General Government Appropriations bill that legislation to avoid D.C. 
shutdowns was necessary. In addition, several years ago, I negotiated 
an agreement with a Republican-led appropriations committee that 
ensures that the city's local budget is approved in the first 
continuing resolution (CR) if the D.C. Appropriations bill has not been 
approved by the start of the fiscal year. This approach ended the 
annual nightmares of lengthy delay of the budget of a big city until an 
appropriations bill was passed, often months after the start of the 
fiscal year. As a result, under CRs, the city has been able to spend 
its local funds at the next year's funding level, even though federal 
agencies must spend at the prior year's funding level. We are 
appreciative that this process, which eliminated serious problems for 
the functioning of the D.C. government, has continued.
  We nearly secured budget autonomy for the District in the last days 
of the lame-duck session in the 111th Congress. I used an unusual 
procedure, getting the House authorizers to agree to the inclusion of 
budget autonomy in the fiscal year 2011 Financial Services and General 
Government Appropriations bill, which was passed by the subcommittee. 
Unfortunately, Congress passed a CR instead of regular appropriations 
bills in the lame duck.
  Most important, we gained critical support for D.C. budget autonomy 
in the 112th Congress. In an Oversight and Government Reform Committee 
hearing in May 2011, Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) endorsed budget 
autonomy. Since that time, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and 
Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell (R) have both indicated their support 
for budget autonomy.
  Even if the District of Columbia Budget Autonomy Act of 2013 were 
enacted, Congress would still retain jurisdiction over the District of 
Columbia under article I, section 8, clause 17 of the U.S. 
Constitution. Because this authority allows Congress to make changes to 
the District's budget and other laws at any time, it is unnecessary to 
require a lengthy repetition of the District's local budget process in 
Congress. The time is overdue to permit the city to enact its local 
budget, the single most important step Congress could take to help the 
District better manage itself.
  Members of Congress were sent here to do the business of the nation. 
Members have no reason to be interested in or to become knowledgeable 
about the local budget of a single city. In the past, the House and 
Senate have more often than not passed the District's budget as is. Our 
bill takes the Congress in the direction it is already moving in. 
Congressional interference in one of the most vital rights of self-
government should end this year by enacting the District of Columbia 
Budget Autonomy Act of 2013.

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