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Norton Blasts Gosar-Meadows Bill, Attack on D.C. Home Rule and Statehood, Exercise in Futility

October 3, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said today that residents of the districts represented by Congressmen Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Mark Meadows (R-NC) did not send them to Washington to waste their time on local issues concerning the District of Columbia, as they introduced a bill that would extend the congressional review period for legislation passed by the D.C. Council and expand the fast-track procedures to disapprove such legislation. The bill, Norton said, would be worthless because the review period for D.C. legislation has become an anachronism, long sidelined by Republicans themselves. Republicans typically prefer to use the appropriations process to try to meddle in local D.C. affairs and repeal D.C. legislation. Norton said that the bill would not help Republicans much. A disapproval resolution must be passed as a stand-alone bill by both houses while appropriations bills are must-pass bills. The bill also includes a provision, already rejected by the House, expressing the sense of Congress that D.C. statehood would require a constitutional amendment, and, in any case, D.C. should never become a state. This provision appears as the House prepares to pass H.R. 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act, this Congress. Norton noted that D.C. ranks first in the nation in per capita federal taxes paid to support the federal government, compared to Gosar's Arizona, which ranks 43rd, and Meadow's North Carolina, which ranks 35th.

"Voted into the minority in the House, Gosar and Meadows must have a lot of time on their hands," Norton said. "When I was in the minority, though, I consistently got bills passed that helped my constituents, and their constituents expect them to do the same. As the House proceeds with the markup of H.R. 51, these two Members are stuck in the anti-home-rule era, which passed into the night even before passage of H.R. 51. Members of Congress sponsoring legislation that deprecates American citizens are unworthy of their office. I will stop this latest gratuitous bill in its tracks."

The Gosar-Meadows bill, the so-called District of Columbia Home Rule Improvement Act, would double the congressional review period for legislation passed by the D.C. Council from 30 days to 60 days, expand the expedited parliamentary procedures for disapproving D.C. legislation, and clarify that Congress can disapprove of individual provisions of D.C. legislation. Under the Home Rule Act of 1973, most D.C. legislation takes effect after a 30-day congressional review period, unless during that period a resolution of disapproval is enacted into law. D.C. bills affecting certain criminal law titles of the D.C. Code are already subject to a 60-day review period. During the congressional review period, Members of Congress can use fast-track procedures to bring a disapproval resolution to the floor. The Gosar-Meadows bill makes it even easier for a Member to bring a disapproval resolution to the floor. Finally, under the express terms of the Home Rule Act, a disapproval resolution applies only to legislation. The Gosar-Meadows bill, however, clarifies that a disapproval resolution can be used not only to disapprove legislation, but also any provision thereof.