D.C. Mayor Hits Obama on Deal

D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray – fresh from a night in jail to protest federal cuts to local funding – is demanding to know why President Obama didn’t give him a head’s-up that a ban on abortions was a central part of Friday night’s $38.5 billion budget compromise.

“I feel like the White House could have done more,” Gray told WTOP radio early Tuesday.

“I want to hear from the White House,” added Gray, who has spent his first few months in office dealing with questions about his hiring practices. “I would have appreciated a call if the district was being included in these negotiations. ... I want an answer.”

An email to the White House press office wasn’t immediately returned.

Gray saved his harshest criticism for congressional Republicans who have been aggressive in using their authority over the district to leverage policy changes on schools, guns and reproductive issues.

The Capitol Police arrested Gray on Monday for blocking an entrance to a Senate office building in protest of the deal, which prevents D.C. officials from using their funds – even locally generated revenue to subsidize abortions for low-income women. The agreement also re-funds a popular school voucher program praised by conservatives but opposed by many Democrats.

“All we want to do is spend our own money,” Gray told reporters on Monday. “Why should women in the District of Columbia be subjected to a set of rules that no other woman is subjected to? ... If we want a school voucher program, we should choose it ourselves."

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http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0411/touch_of_gray_8 08963be-1aef-45af-9c53-50dadd80fe7a.html

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