Political Quotes

“on Monday I introduced the Fair Federal Compensation Act. The mayor of the city and the City Council chair stood with me as I put this act forward. Madam Speaker, the act is aimed at dealing with an impending crisis that I think the Congress would want to take hold of before it happens, particularly since the District has just come out of a financial crisis, the worst in 100 years, and this one is not of the District's own making. This is a crisis the District cannot tax its way out of, cannot grow its way out of, because of restrictions placed on the city by the Federal Government. I speak of a structural financial imbalance that comes from the requirement of the Federal Government that the taxpayers of the District of Columbia pay for services rendered to the Federal Government and to Federal employees without any reimbursement for those services. Because almost 1 million people come in every day, and only 600,000 people live here, it has become impossible to do that, and over time, a new crisis will break out unless we get hold of it now. I think I have a win-win way to deal with that crisis through an infrastructure fund that would benefit the entire region, not only the residents of the District of Columbia. It would reduce this dangerous financial burden imposed on the city without imposing taxes on the American people or on commuters.”