Duncan Faircloth: “as the 105th Congress draws to a close, we are finally, at last, about to complete action on the District of Columbia…”

“as the 105th Congress draws to a close, we are finally, at last, about to complete action on the District of Columbia appropriations bill. The amendment before the Senate incorporates the conference report to the Commerce, Justice, State spending bill and the Foreign Operations spending bill, together with an amendment in the nature of a substitute to the District of Columbia appropriations bill. I would like to speak very briefly to the provisions of the District of Columbia portion of this omnibus package. First of all, the ranking member of the District of Columbia subcommittee, Barbara Boxer, and I have ironed out all of our differences and we now have the bill that should have the support of the House and the administration. At the moment, the District of Columbia is being funded on a temporary basis through a continuing resolution. It is critical that we pass this amendment as soon as possible because the Congress has yet to pass a District of Columbia rescue package and the management reform plan, which we enacted in August. Passage of this bill will ensure that that work goes forward to restructure the city's finances and impose some much-needed management reforms on the city and its various agencies. The amendment being offered in the nature of a substitute to the District of Columbia appropriations bill will provide funding of $8 million for management reforms, and these reforms are already under way.”