Eleanor Holmes Norton: “I thank my friend for yielding. Madam Speaker, all of us are trying to keep the government open, yet the Federal…”

“I thank my friend for yielding. Madam Speaker, all of us are trying to keep the government open, yet the Federal Government at the moment is engaged in contingency plans in case of a shutdown, and so is the District of Columbia. Because its budget is here, this local budget, this balanced $8 billion in local funds is right here because the Congress requires it to come and hasn't freed the D.C. budget. It cost us 3,000 hours and $131,000 in 2011 to prepare for a shutdown. When speaker Newt Gingrich was the Speaker of the House, he worked with me to keep the District of Columbia open even as the Federal Government closed down, because one thing is clear: the only thing worse than closing down the United States Government is closing down an innocent bystander with not a dime in this fight, the capital city of the United States. Free the budget of the District of Columbia. Don't close down the Nation's Capital.”