Norton Joyful as House Passes D.C. Appropriation and Eliminates the Hated Rider (6/28/07)

Norton Joyful as House Passes D.C. Appropriation and Eliminates the Hated Needle Exchange Rider
June 28, 2007

Washington, DC- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) was jubilant at achieving her most important victory in the D.C. appropriation when the House today passed the FY 08 D.C. appropriation and dropped a longstanding rider banning the use of city funds on needle exchange programs by a vote of 216 to 208. Norton also got the House to lift another harmful rider barring the District from using its own funds to lobby for voting rights. The $608 million federally funded D.C. bill includes significant appropriations for several of Norton's priorities for the District: just over $35 million for the Tuition Assistance Grant program (DCTAG); $12 million to control sewer overflow, which contributes significantly to pollution in the Anacostia River; $10 million for the city to help build a forensic lab that will battle the backlog of unsolved crimes; and $26 million for public and charter schools that Norton got when a voucher program was forced on the District.

Norton fought back an amendment brought to the floor by Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) to return the needle exchange rider to the D.C. bill after she got the Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government and the full committee to remove the offensive ban earlier this month. Significantly, Norton was able to cast a no vote against an amendment because the Democrats restored the delegate vote on amendments in the Committee of the Whole when they took control of the House. Although needle exchange was not popular with all Democrats, Norton was able to convince her colleagues that the program is an effective way to reduce HIV infection rates among intravenous drug users, saves lives, and does not promote drug use. She argued that injection drug use is directly responsible for more than one third of all AIDS cases and more than half of AIDS cases in D.C. are women. Norton said, "Needle exchange is directly responsible for the outrage that D.C. has the highest HIV/AIDS rate in the country. The time was way overdue for Congress to step back from barring us from saving the lives of our own residents." The District has had a privately-run needle exchange program, but most of the 200 needle exchange programs across the country receive state or local funds. The Congresswoman is holding a series of town hall meetings to help turn around the alarming incidence of HIV/AIDS in the District. The next town hall meeting will focus on women and is scheduled for July 16 at the Ronald Reagan Building.

^{Norton also was pleased to eliminate the rider that prohibited the use of local funds for lobbying for D.C. voting rights. Although the D.C. voting rights bill is awaiting Senate consideration, following Senate committee passage on June 13 and House approval April 19, Norton said that the victory would have come "easier and perhaps earlier had the city government been allowed to put the full weight of local resources behind the mostly grassroots lobbying campaign." Much to Norton's regret, another damaging rider banning the District from using its own money for abortions for poor women remains on the city's appropriation, but she believes she will be able to eliminate this rider in the near future. She thanked Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY), the new Chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee, and full committee Chair Dave Obey (D-WI) for their skill and commitment in today's progress.}

Norton also worked with a good friend, Appropriations Committee Ranking member Jerry Lewis, to save $500,000 Lewis got added for Barracks Row.