Balk Like an Egyptian

A bit of hyperbole from Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton: “Seeing a revolution succeed in Egypt before our eyes should give D.C. heart as Republicans pile on like the new autocratic rulers of the District.”

John Boehner as Hosni Mubarak? No, we’re not Egypt. We may not have a full vote, but we don’t get locked up for complaining about it.

Norton is steamed over a bill from Arkansas Rep. Mike Ross that would “would repeal the D.C. semiautomatic gun ban, restore the right of self defense in the home, authorize D.C. residents to purchase firearms and ammunition, repeal overly-restrictive registration requirements and ensure that firearms may be transported and carried for legitimate purposes,” according to Ross’s office.

Meanwhile, Mayor Vincent Gray will meet today with South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy, the new head of the House oversight subcommittee dealing with D.C. affairs -- D.C.’s House “overlord.”

The New York Times is riding to the rescue. In a Saturday editorial, the Times said the “district’s hard-won home rule came under assault from day one” of the new House session, with the “overreach…rationalized by cynically redefining the city as just another part of the federal government. These hobbles smack of the very evil denounced by the Tea Party newcomers -- wholesale federal intrusion into the precincts of local government.”

But the Republican leader of the U.S. Senate came out in favor of a constitutional amendment to give D.C. full congressional representation… three decades ago. D.C. for Democracy’s Keith Ivey found this old Washington Star story online.

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http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/politics/DMV-Daily-Balk-Li ke-an-Egyptian-116159029.html

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