Norton Statement on House and Senate Markups of D.C. Appropriations Bills

WASHINGTON, D.C. ––  After the House and Senate Appropriations Committees each marked up their versions of the fiscal year 2024 appropriations bill that funds D.C. yesterday, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said that although she was able to get some victories for D.C., she is very disappointed with the anti-home rule riders in both bills, but especially the House version.

The Senate bill, as reported out of committee:

• Increases the annual award limit for the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant Program (DCTAG) from $10,000 to $15,000 and the lifetime award limit from $50,000 to $75,000. DCTAG makes up the difference for D.C. residents between in-state and out-of-state tuition at public institutions of higher education in the United States.
• Maintains the existing abortion rider, which prohibits D.C. from spending its own local funds on abortions for low-income women.
• Maintains the existing marijuana rider, which prohibits D.C. from commercializing the sale of marijuana.

The House bill, as reported out of committee:

• Prohibits any funds from being used to carry out D.C.’s 2022 policing reform law.
• Repeals D.C.’s Death with Dignity Act.
• Permits anyone with a concealed carry permit from any state or territory to carry a concealed handgun in D.C. and on WMATA.
• Maintains the existing abortion rider, which prohibits D.C. from spending its own local funds on abortions for low-income women.
• Maintains the existing marijuana rider, which prohibits D.C. from commercializing the sale of marijuana.
• Prohibits D.C. from using funds to enact or carry out any law that prohibits motorists from making right turns on red, including the Safer Streets Amendment Act of 2022.
• Prohibits D.C. from using funds to carry out its automated traffic enforcement law.
• Repeals a portion of D.C ‘s Anti-Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) law that currently exempts the D.C. government.
• Requires D.C. to report on its enforcement of the Partial Birth Abortion Act.
• Requires D.C. to report on maternity care access.
• Prohibits D.C. from using funds to carry out the Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Act.
• Provides $40 million for DCTAG.
• The bill exempts D.C. from federal government shutdowns in fiscal year 2024. Norton has gotten annual shutdown exemptions enacted every year since the 2013 federal government shutdown.
• The bill provides $8 million for D.C. Water for ongoing work to control flooding in D.C. and to clean up the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers and Rock Creek.
• The bill provides $28 million for the Emergency Planning and Security Fund, which 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.
• The bill provides $600,000 for the Major General David F. Wherley, Jr. District of Columbia National Guard Retention and College Access Program.
• The bill provides $4 million to combat HIV/AIDS in D.C.

"While I am pleased at some of the provisions reported out of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees yesterday, I am outraged by the anti-home-rule riders included in both bills,” Norton said.

Norton is disappointed that both versions of the bill allow new students to enroll in the D.C. private school voucher program, instead of only permitting current students to remain in the program. Congress imposed the voucher program on the District, which is the only federally funded or created voucher program, even though Congress has rejected a national voucher program. Norton says the program does not deserve federal funding because, among other things, it has failed to meet its own goal of improving academic achievement, as measured by math and reading test scores.

Norton said she will fight to remove the anti-home-rule riders in the bill, which Republicans try to attach to the annual D.C. spending bill to exert control over local D.C. matters, despite their positions as elected officials representing districts far from D.C.

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