Norton Introduces Bill to Authorize D.C. to Spend Its Local Funds When Congress Fails to Pass Budget
Norton Introduces Bill to Permanently Authorize D.C. to Spend Its Local Funds When Congress Fails to Pass Budget
March 9, 2011
WASHINGTON, DC -- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced the District of Columbia Local Funds Continuation Act, a critical measure to permanently protect the District's 600,000 residents from federal government shutdowns by always allowing the District to spend its local funds for the remainder of a fiscal year if Congress has not approved the District's local budget by the start of that fiscal year. In her statement, Norton said, "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 Congresswoman's full introduction statement follows.
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Statement of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton on the Introduction of the District of Columbia Local Funds Continuation Act
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.