District of Columbia Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014

Floor Speech

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Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, if I could yield my time to the gentlelady from the District of Columbia, she would probably say these words better than I can. But Eleanor, thank you; thank you for your impassioned speech.

Mr. Speaker, the District of Columbia is different. Every Member, who in just a few minutes will vote on this piece of legislation, has the right to vote because we are from States. And every State in the Union is continuing to collect revenue and spend it as we fiddle.

Here in the District of Columbia, it is different. The District of Columbia is the only place here in the United States in which full citizens--undeniably citizens of the United States, with every right and privilege, including voting in every Presidential election--find themselves shut down if we don't pass a budget, if we don't pass appropriations.

Now, I heard the gentleman from New York, regrettably, lump in this bill with his opinion as though all three were the same. First of all, this is not a Tea Party bill. This is a bill inspired by both the majority and minority, under Ms. Norton's leadership, to come up with a solution similar to what we came up with 17 years ago for the District. This is also inspired by a similar bill that is sitting in the Senate that wants to accomplish the same thing.

This is not Tea Party. As a matter of fact, the easiest thing to do, if you want to be strident, would be in fact to shut down the District. But every one of us who knows that, back home, our States and our cities continue to operate with their own funds knows that we have an obligation to allow the District of Columbia to spend their own funds.

I want to thank the chairman of the subcommittee, Mr. Crenshaw, and the chairman of the full committee for bringing this quickly to the floor.

Some months ago, we passed H.R. 2793, which would address this on a permanent basis, finding a way for--anytime this happens--the District of Columbia to continue spending its own money, and to plan their budget around the possibility that they would be offering jobs to teachers and so on during a time different than our budget year. I hope to have that bill on the floor in the reasonably near future.

But today, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, Chairman Darrell Issa, Ranking Member Elijah Cummings, and all of us on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform have already voted for this and more. And the Senate has supported this and more.

So you're not looking at the same as the other bills. Not one penny of appropriated funds actually is being determined today. We're talking about the money from the parking meters. We're talking about the money from property taxes. We're talking about the work that Mayor Gray and the city council do every day like the mayors of our city.

I talked to the mayor today, and he said: I don't know what you're going to do, but please do something. Mayor Gray deserves to have his funds overseen--because it's a Federal city? Yes. But kidnapped? No.

This is a narrow bill; it is not what I want to achieve for the District of Columbia. But it is in fact what gets us from now to December.

So I ask my friends on both sides of the aisle--and I will work my side of the aisle, and Eleanor, I know you're not leaving the floor on this one--we have to pass this overwhelmingly because we're talking about the same right to spend their own money as every city in America has, every country in America, and every State in America. And as Americans, we can do no less for the people of the District of Columbia.

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Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I know I've already spoken, but as I talked to my friend, Eleanor Holmes Norton, the delegate made an impassioned plea to me, and it needs to be said.

We need to pass this. We need to pass this to show that we can in fact--maybe not agree on everything, maybe not agree on appropriations, but we need to pass this because the District deserves not to be held hostage in our fight. I will whip every Republican to vote ``yes'' on this bill.

I can't say that I'm going to intervene in everything that we do, but this one is important. I would ask all of us to really search our soul and say: Is the District of Columbia and their own funds the place we should be having an argument, or can we at least admit that if we get above the fray here today--the Senate has already gotten above it.

A similar bill has already been hot-lined. This is not where the House and the Senate disagree and, as a result, it should not be where we fail to come together.

I ask all my friends to join with Eleanor Holmes Norton and me and pass this bill.

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