Ernest Istook: “Mr. Chairman, this is the appropriation bill that we consider each year for the District of Columbia, the Capital of the…”

“Mr. Chairman, this is the appropriation bill that we consider each year for the District of Columbia, the Capital of the United States of America. In addition to local monies and in addition to monies that the District receives, just as other communities and other States do through different Federal programs for transportation, for education, for public assistance, for Medicaid and Medicare; in addition to all of those, this bill appropriates $414 million for the District of Columbia to operate its prisons, its courts, and the program of supervising those that are on some form of probation or parole. And even beyond that, this makes additional monies available for a number of special items in the District of Columbia, such as the new expansion of the metro system, the subway system in the District; funding for a special college tuition program that provides thousands of dollars to D.C. students to go to college, dollars that are not provided to students from any other part of the country; providing environmental cleanup monies; or providing assistance in the development and the strengthening of the charter school movement here in the District of Columbia.”