Steve Burns
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON – (WMAL) The House of Representatives is set to vote today on D.C.’s latest attempt at gaining a sliver of independence from Congress’ rule. District officials were angling to submit their budget without Congressional approval for the first time, arguing a referendum was supported by 80% of District residents, and a D.C. Superior Court ruling in 2015 ruled the move lawful. The House Rules Committee, however, saw it differently on Tuesday.
“I do not believe the budget Autonomy Act has ever had the force of law, as the council and the Mayor has no authority to enact the legislation,” Congressman Mark Meadows (R-NC) told a Rules Committee hearing Tuesday afternoon. “Obviously, the District does not have the authority to simply adjust federal law as it sees fit.”
D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton said Congress is denying District residents a “seminal right” to spend locally-raised money.
“It is a bold-faced contradiction of your own most-cited principle about containing federal power,” she told the Committee. “We raised it on our own. No wonder we want to control it on our own.”
Much of the debate centered around the legitimacy of a D.C. Superior Court ruling nullifying an earlier Appeals Court ruling finding budget autonomy unlawful.
“The final statement on law comes from the Superior Court, and that Court said ‘implement the Budget Autonomy Act,” Norton said.
“Well, I would disagree with my good friend from the District,” Meadows responded. “There was a court ruling, but it was not a mandate to implement the law.”
Meadows said letting a local jurisdiction interpret federal law sets a dangerous precedent, but Norton responded that the Superior Court had already done so.
“It’s difficult to understand what makes Congress so nervous,” she said.
Congressman Alcee Hastings (D-FL) said Congress was only blocking the move based on a power grab.
“I just find it ironic that we are here talking about the District of Columbia’s budget autonomy,” Hastings said. “And we haven’t been able to pass a budget here in the United States House of Representatives.”
The Rules Committee ultimately voted to advance a bill that blocks the District’s move. President Obama is threatening to veto it.
District leaders, at the same time, have been angling to promote the budget autonomy move as a step toward statehood. The District plans to submit a draft constitution this summer.
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