Eleanor Holmes Norton: “Before I begin my remarks, I too want to acknowledge my good friend, Lynn Woolsey, for 20 really illustrious years in…”

“Before I begin my remarks, I too want to acknowledge my good friend, Lynn Woolsey, for 20 really illustrious years in the Congress. I cannot imagine why she would want to end her illustrious career here so early. We will miss her. I should warn Members of Congress that a peculiar part of the Financial Services appropriations, which comes to the floor this week, will seem particularly strange, even inappropriate. It is a historical anachronism, and I can only apologize for it. We must quickly make sure that we enter the 21st century on the District of Columbia local budget. Yes, it is our budget. We raise it all in the District of Columbia. We are American citizens. Some have said, But the District of Columbia is mentioned and comes under the Constitution. So be it. I'm a constitutional lawyer; I concede that. But in their wisdom, after 150 years of shame, the Congress of the United States decided to grant home rule, as we call it, to the District of Columbia. So that instead of having a city of hundreds of thousands of Americans run by a Federal body, the Congress said that we delegate, we use our power under the Constitution to delegate to the District of Columbia the ability to elect its local officials, and raise its own money--we were raising our own budget all along. And spend its own money. For the most part Congress has adhered to this delegation by law. After all, we raise $4 billion. That's more than some States.…”