Darrell Issa: “As chairman of the committee with oversight and responsibility over the District of Columbia, from time to time it comes…”

“As chairman of the committee with oversight and responsibility over the District of Columbia, from time to time it comes to our attention that the Home Rule Act and other legislation that has governed the Federal City needs to be updated. In this case, because of the work of Delegate Holmes Norton, we became aware of a potentially dangerous flaw within existing law. On February 1, Dr. Gandhi, the longstanding District of Columbia chief financial officer, announced that he will retire on June 1. Subsequently, Ms. Norton and the Mayor both began to realize that, if they did not have a full-time and confirmed replacement by June 1, they would be without the authority to write checks; they would be without a requirement that makes the city physically work. This has been a flaw for a very long time. No city, no State, no government should have a single individual critical to the disbursement and consideration of their just debts; but that is, in fact, the way the law was written. This bill very narrowly but essentially--and, if I may say, it's long overdue--recognizes that there has to be a succession plan, a capability to fill vacancies. H.R. 1246 parallels the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and simply reaffirms a logical sequence of who may be considered to fill this vacancy for whatever period of time would be reasonable.…”