‘Leave us alone!’ — D.C. leaders fight congressional efforts to limit their power
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Version 0 of 1. “Leave us alone!” That’s the message city leaders and their progressive allies brought to Congress on Monday as part of an annual news conference to decry what they see as lawmakers’ meddling in D.C. business. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the city’s nonvoting representative, both Democrats, are fighting efforts to block District laws that govern legal marijuana, firearms, assisted-suicide, abortion for low-income women and sewer-clogging disposable wipes. City supporters say they are accustomed to assaults from Congress, but the stakes are higher than ever with President Trump in office. Before he was elected, the city relied on President Barack Obama as a backstop against laws limiting the city’s powers of self-determination. “I expect the president to sign whatever comes before him,” Norton said. “Have we discussed this with Donald Trump? That must be a rhetorical question. We like in the Congress to ride below the horizon. The president hasn’t paid a lot of attention to the District of Columbia and we hope that he won’t.” Under Trump’s budget proposal, released in May, the District would be barred from spending its own tax dollars to implement its assisted-suicide law, known as Death With Dignity. “We were disappointed that he chose to comment on the Death With Dignity bill and future conversations with the White House will emphasize that he doesn’t need to get involved on that conversation,” Bowser said. The mayor’s December meeting at Trump Tower with the then-president elect was only an introductory meeting and she has no plans to meet with him again. Late last year, Bowser signed legislation to make the nation’s capital the seventh jurisdiction where it is legal for doctors to prescribe fatal medication to terminally ill residents. [To wipe or not to wipe? Some in Congress eye D.C.’s ‘flushability’ law.] Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who recently resigned from Congress, introduced a measure to block the bill, but it never made it to a vote on the House floor. As the influential chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Chaffetz relished needling the District over a host of issues. Another frequent District antagonist, Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), has said he will try to block the assisted-suicide bill through the appropriations process, as well as a bill intended to prevent wet wipes from causing backups on the city’s sewer system. Harris sits on the House Appropriations Committee. A subcommittee with jurisdiction over the District will meet Thursday to discuss its budget bill. Its chairman, Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ga.), declined to comment on Norton’s news conference. He has said he hopes the full House can pass a governmentwide spending bill before the August recess — a goal Congress has not achieved in years. Including Monday, the House is in session for 13 full and partial days before taking a break. Norton and Bowser were joined Monday by supporters who said they hope to leverage constituencies within the city and around the country to fight what they see as congressional overreach. “Part of what is helping to protect D.C. is the fact that [Death With Dignity is] authorized in six other jurisdictions,” said Kim Callinan, chief program officer at the national group, Compassion & Choices. “If Congress infringes on D.C.’s right, they could do the same thing to their right.” |