>Sender: >To: >X-Original-Message-ID: <00ad01bf35aa$d7bd67d0$9acf69cf@pacbell.net> >From: "Peter McWilliams" >Subject: The end of democracy >Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 04:04:06 -0800 >X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 >X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 > > > >http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/20/123l-112099-idx.html > > >Senate Sends District Budget To President >Enactment of Divisive Plan Likely > >By Stephen C. Fehr >Washington Post Staff Writer >Saturday, November 20, 1999; Page B04 > > >Four months of bickering over the District's budget ended yesterday when >the Senate approved the city's $4.7 billion spending plan for the current >fiscal year and sent it to President Clinton, who has said he would sign it. > >The protracted partisan fighting--six separate votes, two presidential >vetoes >and an assortment of social amendments--overshadowed what many lawmakers and >city leaders said was one of the best D.C. budgets in the 25 years of home >rule. It is balanced, cuts taxes and carries a surplus. The Senate approved >the measure 74 to 24. > >"We've worked long and hard to turn this city around," said Rep. Thomas M. >Davis III (R-Va.), chairman of the House Government Oversight subcommittee >on the District. "This budget . . . is another step in helping keep us >moving in the right direction." > >In the end, Congress merged the D.C. appropriations package with five other >spending bills, which added to the delay. The budget year started Oct. 1, >but lawmakers kept money flowing to the city until the giant money package >was approved. No other city endures a budget process like the District's. >Six approvals are needed, as opposed to one or two in most jurisdictions. > >Lawmakers included money to improve the waterfront in Anacostia and in >Southwest Washington, add lanes to the 14th Street bridges, provide >incentives to adopt foster children, combat open-air drug markets and >start a program that allows D.C. high school graduates to attend Maryland >and Virginia colleges and universities at in-state tuition rates. > >"It's about time," Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) said of the vote. "Now >that our budget is finally passed, we can begin to implement many of the >important initiatives it contains: tuition for high school graduates, >expanded programs for kids and health insurance pilot programs, to name >a few." > >The budget also includes the largest tax cut in the city's history and >gives $20 million to Williams to use as severance money to dismiss up to >1,000 city workers. It was unclear whether the small across-the-board >federal spending cut negotiated by Congress and the White House would >affect the District. > >Congress also overrode D.C. residents' right to make their own decisions >--the concept of home rule--on the grounds that the Constitution allows >Congress final say on D.C. matters. > >Nowhere was that more evident than lawmakers' decision not to allow >District residents access to marijuana for medicinal purposes. Last year, >69 percent of D.C. voters approved a referendum on the issue, but many in >Congress thought it would set a bad example. While seven states have >voted to permit medical marijuana, the city's effort was so contentious >that the results were not released for a year. > >Republicans and Democrats attached so-called riders, items the city did >not seek, to the budget. The one that delayed the budget in the end prevents >the city from spending both its own money and federal funds on programs to >distribute free, clean needles to drug addicts to reduce the spread of HIV. >Over the objections of many House Republicans, Congress lifted an existing > >ban on private clinics that receive federal funds from handing out needles. > >The Whitman-Walker Clinic in the District receives about $6.3 million >in federal money, or 28 percent of its $22.5 million annual budget. The >clinic halted its needle-exchange program last year after Congress >threatened to cut off its federal funding. Under the legislation passed >yesterday, the clinic can resume the program without losing federal money. > >"It's a small step," said Carl Schmidt, a District gay activist who has >been lobbying lawmakers for an expanded needle-exchange program. "The >District should be able to spend its own money on needle-exchange programs, >just like 100-odd other cities do. But it will make the program more >meaningful. People don't understand that a third of all new HIV cases in >the District are through intravenous drug use." > >Heading into this year's budget debate, senators and representatives of >both parties generally agreed on the city's spending proposal. The House >and Senate approved it overwhelmingly even with the controversial riders, >which Democrats believed would be stripped when the bill went to a >conference committee of lawmakers from both chambers. > >When lawmakers didn't remove some of the riders, as Del. Eleanor Holmes >Norton (D-D.C.) and others had hoped, the city's political leaders made >a strategic decision to oppose the budget and enlist the president's >pledge to veto the bill if the riders weren't taken out. Many District >leaders faced a difficult choice between accepting a generous spending >plan or defending home rule by seeking deletion of the riders. > >"It was a close call," Williams said, looking back. > >Norton said the choice was between the principle of home rule and the >perils of caving in to conservative Republicans. She said she learned >that D.C. home rule rights are as important a Democratic Party value as >protecting Social Security, Medicare and education for poor children. > >"When you're under attack by Congress, you better stand and fight, or >they will take you out," Norton said. > >HIGHLIGHTS OF D.C. BUDGET BILL > >* Largest tax cut in city's history, $300 million over the next five >years. Rate changes in income, personal property, real property and >franchise taxes. > >* $436 million in federal funds for programs such as corrections. > >* $150 million budget reserve to prevent a deficit. > >* $17 million for program allowing District high school seniors to pay >in-state tuition rates at colleges and universities in Maryland and >Virginia. > >* $5 million to clean up Anacostia River for waterfront development; >$3 million for repairs to Southwest waterfront. > >* $5 million to create incentives to adopt foster children. > >* $1 million to Metropolitan Police Department to combat open-air >drug markets. > >* $5 million to design lane additions to the 14th Street Bridges. > >* Prohibits District from legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes. > >* Bans federal and District funds from being spent on program to >distribute clean needles to drug addicts to curb the spread of HIV. >However, private clinics such as Whitman-Walker can use their money to >hand out needles without having their federal funds cut off. > >* Caps fees at $60 an hour for private attorneys who represent special-ed >students against the D.C. school district. Allows school superintendent, >mayor and control board to decide whether to set a higher cap. > >* Sets top salary for D.C. council members at $84,000 a year instead of >$92,500. > >* Allows Bell Atlantic Mobile to put up cellular telephone towers in >Rock Creek Park, no matter what local planning agencies decide. > >* Prohibits use of federal or D.C. funds to be used in legal actions >seeking D.C. voting representation in Congress. Allows for the first >time D.C. corporation counsel to review briefs in private lawsuit >seeking D.C. voting rights and brief city council. > >* $6.7 million for environmental cleanup of Lorton Correctional >Facility in Fairfax County. > >© Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company > > > > > > > >================================================================ > >This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to > the mailing list . >To unsubscribe, E-mail to: