[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 13593]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   THE INTRODUCTION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN 
                         AVOIDANCE ACT OF 2013

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 12, 2013

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to offer the District of 
Columbia Government Shutdown Avoidance Act of 2013 to eliminate the 
prospect of a District of Columbia government shutdown on September 30, 
2013, or ever again. This bill is essential because a new fiscal year 
is upon us and D.C.'s local, balanced budget, which has been approved 
by the House and Senate Appropriations committees, has not reached the 
floor in either house. Frequent shutdown threats to the local D.C. 
government have been costly and disruptive to the city government, its 
employees and its residents, including many federal officials and 
employees who reside in the District. This bill would add to existing 
authorities the city has long had to spend its local funds by 
permanently authorizing the District government to spend its local 
funds in the event of a Federal Government shutdown and therefore 
remain open.
  Because of the uncertainty and adverse effects on the city caused by 
increasingly frequent shutdown threats, I am taking several actions to 
try to prevent a D.C. government shutdown at the end of the month. I 
begin by introducing this bill. I must take action now because some 
Republicans are threatening to block a new spending bill when the 
current bill expires on September 30 unless the new bill defunds the 
Affordable Care Act, which could lead to a shutdown of both the Federal 
and District governments, and because the House is scheduled to be in 
session for only five days before September 30. In case my bill is not 
enacted in time, I will also offer an amendment to the fiscal year 2014 
short-term continuing resolution (CR) (H.J. Res. 59) to authorize the 
District government to spend its local funds for all of fiscal year 
2014, and not only until the expiration of the CR on December 15, 2013, 
so that the city does not face a shutdown threat again when the CR 
expires in December.
  The D.C. government should never have to wonder whether it will be 
shut down. I do not believe 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. Indeed, there is bicameral, bipartisan support 
for preventing D.C. government shutdowns. In July, both the Republican-
led Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Democratic-led 
Senate Appropriations Committee approved larger bills that contained 
the provision in this bill that would permanently authorize the D.C. 
government to spend its local funds during a Federal Government 
shutdown. The President's fiscal year 2013 budget also contained the 
shutdown-avoidance provision. The report accompanying the Republican-
led House Appropriations Committee-passed fiscal year 2013 Financial 
Services and General Government Appropriations bill also acknowledged 
the harm of District government shutdowns.
  The bill would permanently protect the more than 600,000 residents of 
the District of Columbia and the Federal Government from an unintended 
catastrophe in any future Federal Government shutdown. The District of 
Columbia raises and manages an $8 billion local budget, but Congress 
technically appropriates these funds back to the District, an 
anachronistic holdover and throwback from the pre-home-rule era. 
Several years ago, Republican appropriators and I reached a bipartisan 
agreement to approve the District government's local budget in CRs, 
until the expiration of those CRs, allowing the District government to 
spend at next year's level, if the District government's regular 
appropriations bill has not been signed into law by the start of a 
fiscal year. We are grateful that this agreement has been honored 
through Democratic and Republican Congresses and administrations. This 
agreement has enabled District officials to operate complex, big-city 
functions more effectively than during the many years when the city's 
local budget was approved by Congress months after the start of a 
fiscal year. However, last Congress, we saw the limits of even this 
helpful agreement when the Federal Government almost shut down on 
multiple occasions, and we are facing a shutdown again this year.
  If the District government shuts down, in addition to the vital 
municipal services that would cease, the District could default under 
certain financing agreements and leases. Tourists to this city, your 
constituents, not to mention federal officials, federal buildings, 
foreign embassies and dignitaries and businesses, rely daily on the 
city's services. Furthermore, forcing D.C. to operate under successive 
CRs greatly hinders the operations of the District government. Not only 
do successive CRs 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. These are not results the Congress envisions or desires as we 
approach the end of the fiscal year. Our bill would once and for all 
remove the Nation's Capital from the entanglement in federal matters 
and disputes for which the city has no blame or involvement.
  I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

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