 |
Will Congress trample D.C. sovereignty again this year?
| Source: |
|
Washington Post (DC) |
| Date: |
|
Friday, December 9, 2011 |
| Author: |
|
Editorial |
THE YEAR-END horse-trading in Congress to pass an omnibus spending bill is a dangerous time for the District of Columbia. Democratic leaders, who profess to support the District and its democratic aspirations, need to stand their ground in preventing interference in the city’s interests.
Closed-door negotiations over the 2012 omnibus bill center on riders that will produce the bipartisan support needed to win passage in the House and Senate. “We’ve got to thread that needle,” House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) told Roll Call. He was referring to the need to include policy provisions that will attract Republican votes in the House to a spending bill without driving away Democrats who, as past budget battles demonstrate, will be critical to the measure’s passage.
That has put in play a Republican-backed rider restricting the District’s ability to spend its own tax dollars on abortions for low-income women. There is even talk of resurrecting a ban on the use of local monies for needle exchange, a critical program that has had undisputed success in HIV prevention. Over the years, the District’s ability to subsidize abortions for low-income women — a decision that all states are able to make for themselves — comes and goes, depending on which party is in control. A ban is now in place because of concessions President Obama made last spring to reach a budget deal, a decision that sorely underscored the District’s status as political pawn.
Democrats are positioned to protect D.C. interests, if they care to do so. They control the Senate, and the GOP won’t be able to pass a budget in the House without Democratic votes. D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) cited that “unprecedented leverage” in a Dec. 2 letter urging House Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Steny H. Hoyer (Md.) to prevent the abortion rider from being re-imposed. As Congress rushes to finish a deal before the current continuing resolution expires Dec. 16, it will be instructive to see if Democrats will use their power to stand up for the District or if their support for the District is just so much talk.
###
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/will-congress-trample -dc-sovereignty-again-this-year/2011/12/09/gIQAoWNBjO_story.html
Print Friendly 
|
|
