Norton Preparing to Fight for D.C.’s Budget Autonomy Referendum on the House Floor, Next Week

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced that H.R. 5233, a bill to repeal a referendum ratified overwhelmingly by District of Columbia voters in 2013 that granted the District budget autonomy, is scheduled to go to the House floor next week. The bill, introduced by Representative Mark Meadows (R-NC), would also prohibit the District from passing any budget autonomy legislation in the future. Norton said she will file an amendment to the bill to grant D.C. budget autonomy by an act of Congress.

“The fight on the Republican-controlled floor may not be winnable in the House, but we will not just give back D.C.’s budget autonomy,” Norton said. “Republicans are not entitled to a free ride in trampling on 83% of our voters. We are already hard at work to keep the House bill from showing up on the Senate floor.”