The Common Denominator Online: Bill Mosley

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Commentary
	Oct. 1 looms again with no budget (Published September 20, 2004) By BILL MOSLEY

As Oct. 1 – the start of the government’s fiscal year – approaches, D.C. residents once again must wonder how long they’ll have to wait for the District of Columbia’s annual budget to be approved.

The delay is not the fault of the D.C. government, which finished work on the fiscal 2005 budget in May. No, as it does every year, the blame lies with Congress, which has yet to take final action on the budget after more than four months. The House of Representatives approved the budget in July, but the Senate has yet to act.

The holdup is not necessarily a vendetta against the District, as Congress seldom passes any federal appropriations bill on time. The flaw in the system is that Congress must review the D.C. budget at all. The District is the only jurisdiction in the United States whose budget must be approved by Congress, stemming from the U.S. Constitution’s granting Congress "exclusive jurisdiction" over the District. No state has to endure such federal interference, nor do any of the other U.S. "colonies" – even Puerto Rico and Guam have more control over their own budgets and laws than we do.

Year after year, the District’s old budget expires without a new one to take its place. As a result, the District cannot spend new local funds on vital programs such as schools, public safety and health care. An especially pernicious side-effect of our budget being part of the federal appropriations process is the ability of members of Congress to add "riders," provisions which restrict how locally raised funds are spent or impose policies on the District without our consent. Riders currently in effect include a ban on needle exchange programs to fight HIV/AIDS and on implementing the 1998 voter initiative on the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Even though more than 75 percent of the District’s budget is derived from locally raised money, Congress has control over both the local AND federal portions of our budget. In effect, we have to give our local money to Congress, and wait for months for them to give it back – with new rules on how we spend it.

For over 200 years, D.C. residents have fought against federal interference in our local affairs – not only for control of our budgets and laws, but also control of our criminal-justice system and the right to have voting representation in Congress. Only in 1961 did we win the right to cast a vote for president of the United States. In the early 1970s the District won the right to a locally elected mayor, council and school board – whose actions were, as always, subject to approval by Congress – and a non-voting delegate in the House of Representatives.

As D.C. citizens have fought for full democratic rights, the campaign for voting representation in Congress has received the lion’s share of attention in recent years. To be sure, the denial of voting rights in one’s national legislature is a violation of one of the most fundamental tenets of democracy (as a panel of the Organization of American States recognized last year in finding that the United States’ denial of voting representation for the District violates international human rights standards). Yet control of one’s own budgets and laws is no less critical to full democracy. The United States was founded on a principle of state’s rights and keeping government close to the people. As taxpaying U.S. citizens, residents of the District of Columbia seek only the constitutional rights that all other U.S. citizens enjoy.

And so, on Oct. 1 – "Fiscal New Year" – District residents will march to Capitol Hill to highlight our lack of, and the critical need for, budget autonomy. An 8:30 a.m. rally outside the Capitol South Metro station will be followed by scheduled visits to congressional offices. This year’s effort continues a long struggle for local control of the D.C. budget. Last Oct. 1, a delegation of activists lobbied three congressional offices – the final one being that of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, where seven petitioners (including myself) were arrested for "unlawful entry." (A recent letter to Hastert from the Budget Autonomy for the District Day Coalition politely asking for a meeting this year triggered an official auto-reply that the Speaker would respond only to residents of the 14th District of Illinois, which he represents. The reply suggested the coalition contact our representative – not much help to those who don’t have one).

But there is movement on budget autonomy. Last December, the Senate passed a bill to remove the District’s budget from the congressional appropriations process. The bill has languished in the House, despite expressions of support by a number of influential members, including Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia – the District’s chief overseer in the House.

Will this finally be the year we free D.C.’s budget? The more bodies and voices that join the effort, the better the chances. Visit www.standupfordemocracy.org or call (202) 232-2500 ext. 1 for more information on Oct. 1 activities.

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Bill Mosley is a member of the Stand Up! for Democracy in D.C Coalition. Contact him at billmosley@starpower.net.