Norton Calls Anti-Home Rule Riders on Committee-Passed D.C. Appropriations Bill “Irresponsible” and “Condescending”

September 4, 2025

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The full House Committee on Appropriations marked up and passed the fiscal year 2026 (FY 26) Financial Services and General Government (FSSG) Appropriations bill, which Norton said includes an outrageous and irresponsible number of anti-home rule riders. Republicans try to attach the riders to the annual D.C. spending bill to exert control over local D.C. matters, despite their positions as federal officials who do not represent D.C. residents. Significantly, the bill would halve funding for DCTAG, a program established by a 1999 Norton bill. DCTAG makes up the difference for D.C. residents between in-state and out-of-state tuition up to $10,000 at public institutions of higher education in the U.S.

“Now, when there are more frequent Republican attacks on D.C. home rule than any time since the 1990s, it is unsurprising that the D.C. appropriations bill reported out of the Republican-controlled Appropriations Committee contains numerous and extensive riders that would condescendingly overrule the expressed will of D.C. residents, who the Republicans on the committee hypocritically regard as less worthy of having a voice in their own local affairs than their own constituents,” Norton said.

“I am particularly appalled by the irresponsible 50% cut in funding for DCTAG, a program created in 1999 by a bill I authored that simply helps pay for students who are D.C. residents to attend college. Republicans in Congress have recently focused on crimes in D.C. committed by young people, yet denying opportunities for educational advancement to D.C. students only contributes to the problem.

“To my fellow lawmakers across the aisle: I commit to reminding you at every opportunity that D.C. residents are equally worthy of deciding their own local affairs as your own constituents. The 700,000 people who live in the nation’s capital are no less worthy of the benefits of democracy than any other American, and I will use every tool at my disposal to see that they receive as many of those benefits as possible.”

As reported out of committee, the bill would:

Provide $20 million for the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant Program (DCTAG), a 50% decrease from the current funding level.
Permit anyone with a concealed carry permit from any state or territory to carry a concealed handgun in D.C. and on WMATA.
Prohibit D.C. from spending its own local funds on abortion services for low-income women.
Prohibit D.C. from using local funds to carry out its Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act of 2014.
Repeal D.C.’s Death with Dignity Act and prohibit enacting any similar act.
Require D.C. to submit a report on its enforcement of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act.
Prohibit D.C. from spending its own local funds to enforce its vehicle emission standards.
Would prohibit D.C. from using local funds to carry out its automated traffic enforcement law.
Prohibit D.C. from using its local funds to enact or carry out any law which prohibits motorists from making right turns on red.
Repeal the provision of D.C.’s Anti-Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation law, or Anti-SLAPP law, that exempts from that law any claim brought by the D.C. government.
Prohibit D.C. from using local funds to implement its law allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections or on activities related to enrolling or registering noncitizens into voter rolls for local elections.
Prohibit D.C. from using local funds to implement its Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022.
Repeal parts of the Youth Rehabilitation Amendment Act of 2018 that allows courts to use sentencing alternatives for a person who was sentenced as an adult but was under the age of 24 at the time the person committed a crime, changing that age back to 22.
Prohibit the use of D.C. funds to implement, administer, or enforce any COVID–19 mask or vaccine mandate.
Prohibit the use of D.C. funds to commercialize recreational marijuana.
Prohibit the use of D.C. funds to implement the Insurance Regulation Amendment Act of 2024, which relates to reproductive health care and gender-affirming care.
Prohibit the use of D.C. funds to implement or enforce provisions of the Consumer Protection Act against oil and gas companies for environmental claims.
Changes D.C.’s SOAR Act formula on funding to public, private and charter schools in the District.
Prohibit the use of D.C. funds for D.C. to enter into sister activities between D.C. and any city within China.
Prohibit the use of D.C. funds to carry out parts of its Human Rights Sanctuary Amendment Act, D.C.’s shield law.

Despite Republican control of the House, Norton secured several key victories for D.C., including the first increase in the annual and lifetime award caps for DCTAG recipients since the program was created in 1999.

"The bill that passed out of the Appropriations Committee maintains several wins I secured for D.C., including increasing the DCTAG yearly cap from $10,000 to $15,000 and lifetime award cap from $50,000 to $75,000, a change I have requested for many years. Even in the face of funding for the overall program being cut by half, these increases are a positive for DCTAG recipients. I will continue to work to secure full funding for DCTAG.”

The bill also maintains the provision to exempt the D.C. government from a federal government shutdown in FY 2026, a provision Norton has gotten enacted every year since FY 2015. It also approves D.C. to spend under its FY 26 local budget.

Norton secured the following victories in the bill:

Increasing the yearly cap on DCTAG to $15,000 from $10,000 and increasing the lifetime cap from $50,000 to $75,000.
Requiring ratably reducing the amount of tuition and fee payment of each eligible DCTAG student who receives more than $10,000 for the award year if there are insufficient funds.
Exempting D.C. from federal government shutdowns in FY 2026.
Providing $5.7 million for D.C. Water Clean Rivers Project.
Providing $70 million for the Emergency Planning and Security Fund. The fund pays for the unique public safety and security costs the District incurs as the nation's capital, and is designed to cover the District's costs upfront so D.C. does not need to expend local funds and then seek an appropriation to be reimbursed for such costs after the fact.
Providing $600,000 for the Major General David F. Wherley, Jr. District of Columbia National Guard Retention and College Access Program.
Providing $4 million to combat HIV/AIDS in D.C.

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