No D.C. Appropriations Subcommittee in Senate and House Paves Way- January 5, 2007
No D.C. Appropriations Subcommittee in Senate and House
Paves Way for Norton's Budget Autonomy Bill
January 5, 2007
Washington, DC-Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today expressed her appreciation to Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-WI) for agreeing to her earlier request to keep D.C. appropriation matters folded into a larger House subcommittee with government agencies for this session rather than returned to its own subcommittee, as she prepares a bill to secure freedom of D.C.'s local budget from congressional oversight. Norton said that she was delighted that the Senate had adopted a similar realignment, representing a change from the 109th Congress, when the Senate maintained a separate D.C. appropriations subcommittee. In an attempt to reduce interference and oversight of the District's budget, two years ago in the 109th Congress, Norton strongly endorsed the abolition of the House D.C. appropriations subcommittee, and its placement in a subcommittee that also had oversight over federal agencies. Norton supported this change because it meant members would be focusing on a number of federal agencies rather than placing D.C. finances under the magnifying glass.
Norton said that incoming House Appropriations Chair Obey has been a strong supporter of home rule-even occasionally declining to cast a vote on the D.C. budget because he did not believe it was Congress' business. She said that Obey had acted on principle to resist the temptation to make another "cardinal" or subcommittee chair for a 13th appropriation, as had been the case for most of the city's existence.
Budget autonomy is Norton's top home rule priority, part of a major effort she will undertake to return most matters now under congressional authority in the Home Rule Act to the District. "Pending statehood, home rule should mean what the term says - rule at home by the local self government," said Norton. "I will move aggressively to ask the Democrats, who deserve credit for giving D.C. significant home rule in 1973, to now complete the job. The Appropriations Committee decision will help speed us on our way."