Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, the District of Columbia, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006

TRANSPORTATION, TREASURY, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, THE JUDICIARY, THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, AND INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2006 -- (House of Representatives - June 30, 2005)

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Ms. NORTON. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for doing so.

I rise to claim my time in opposition, but I do not intend to oppose because I believe when we are finished with this colloquy that the amendment will be withdrawn because of assurances from me and from the responsible officials in the District of Columbia.

If I may, I want to thank the gentleman for the way in which he handled this matter. First, I want everyone to know that the gentleman did not come to the floor first. The gentleman called the District of Columbia, and I want to apologize to the gentleman that the staff who handled this did not tell me that a Member of Congress had done them the courtesy of calling about a matter so that I might have become a part of this beforehand because the gentleman did exactly the right thing.

The gentleman from Mississippi went to the source of the problem to see if he was really reading correctly that disabled people who came here, for example in a wheelchair, might have to go to the DMV in order to take advantage of the same free parking that someone in a wheelchair here would have.

The staff involved simply told him the reason for the policy. The reason for the policy is sometimes rather flagrant abuses by residents and nonresidents. Usually, the nonresidents live a whole lot closer to us, I say to the gentleman, than his own constituent from Mississippi, and as a result, this matter was not resolved, and the Member did what one might expect. This was the chance then that he had to do it. It came to my attention only last night.

At that point, I thought I ought to go upstairs and talk to not the staff who apparently had been involved but to the Mayor, the chair of the City Council and the chair of the committee that has jurisdiction.

The Mayor was getting on a plane. I did not have time to talk to him in depth, but he said something to the effect, you know, Eleanor, this is the mecca of equal opportunity; I cannot imagine how we can have unequal treatment of that kind. I told him about the DMV, and he is famous for jokes about the DMV.

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Ms. NORTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I will in a moment yield to the gentleman from Mississippi for him to respond. I just wanted to explain myself because frankly I am embarrassed by the fact that the gentleman had to call our officials.

Needless to say, everyone has gone out of their way to assure the gentleman from Mississippi and to thank him frankly for bringing the matter to our attention. I just want to read one part of the letter on behalf of the Mayor from the city administrator, the top person under the Mayor.

``We were seeking to curb abuses, not create difficulties for disabled visitors to our city. We are especially proud to be an important tourist destination receiving 20 million visitors annually. We also take pride in our policies regarding equal treatment for disabled people. I would very much appreciate your courtesy in giving me the opportunity to work with Public Works and the Environment Committee Chair Carol Schwartz and our City Council to correct the flaws you have found in this statute.''

Ms. Schwartz, who is the committee chair, by the way the only Republican on the City Council, wrote, and she said that, ``this was always our intent, but I also recognize that there may have been some unintended consequences.'' She has spoken directly to the gentleman from Mississippi, and I am grateful that she herself spoke with him.

Again, could I invite all Members, when you see something like this, maybe we can get it done, maybe we cannot, but if you would follow the example of the gentleman from Mississippi and go directly to the source, but by the way, always tell me so I can hammer them, too; then we will try to correct such matters, to keep them from taking up the time of the House.

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Ms. NORTON. Mr. Chairman, I want to assure the gentleman that they have represented to me, and I believe that they are sincere, that they meant no discrimination between the disabled out of state and the disabled here. Therefore, citing the precedent the gentleman himself has indicated, I will represent to him that there will be no disabled out-of-state tickets given during the time that this matter is being straightened out.

Let me also represent to the gentleman, because Members are accustomed to coming to me about tickets that should not have been issued, Members under certain circumstances may not get tickets in the District of Columbia. They sure know how to find me. I want my colleagues to know if they have any constituent who is ticketed during this interim period, they should find the Congresswoman from the District of Columbia so she can see that those tickets are not outstanding, and I represent that to the gentleman from Mississippi.

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Ms. NORTON. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman, again, for the way in which he has handled this matter, and may I say as well that I thank him for bringing it to our attention. This is a tourist destination and is frankly embarrassing that this matter was not taken care of beforehand.

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