House panel OKs D.C. budget without abortion, pot amendments
By: Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer
July 9, 2009
District residents are a step closer to taxpayer-subsidized abortions and a medical marijuana referendum after the House Appropriations Committee late Tuesday adopted D.C.’s federal appropriation without long-standing budget riders forbidding the city from moving forward on either matter.
Attempts by Republicans to fully fund the D.C. private school voucher program, to reattach the ban on a marijuana referendum and to continue the 20-year prohibition on the use of local money to subsidize abortions all failed. There were no attempts to ban gay marriage, as some anticipated, nor were there any amendments offered to obliterate D.C.’s gun laws.
Budget rider amendments may be offered on the House floor when the final Financial Services and General Government budget bill, which includes the city’s appropriation, comes up for a vote.
“I’m taking my vitamins,” Rep. Jose Serrano, financial services chairman, told The Examiner on Wednesday. “It’s a tough haul.”
Serrano, D-N.Y., said that the District’s appropriation highlights congressional Democrats’ desire to let D.C. decide what’s best for the city.
“Democrats are not for telling the residents of the District of Columbia what to do as they govern themselves,” Serrano said. “That’s the issue. That’s not spin on my part.”
President Barack Obama first proposed lifting the abortion ban in May. The decision has drawn condemnation from anti-abortion activists.
“This is the beginning of the fight here,” said Ashley Horne, spokeswoman for Focus on the Family. “This is the first big swipe at these pro-life riders. It’s very obvious that with the makeup of Congress that this is a sign of things to come. Activists and constituents need to really get involved here.”
The marked-up appropriations bill provides $109 million for education, including $62 million for the public and charter schools, $35 million for college tuition support and $12 million for private school vouchers — but the legislation bars any new participants from joining the voucher program.
There is $19 million for homeless housing programs, $5 million for efforts targeting “disconnected youth,” $4 million for HIV/AIDS prevention and $400,000 for testing lead in drinking water.
Among the D.C. earmarks: $100,000 for the Whitman-Walker Clinic, $150,000 for the National Building Museum, $100,000 for the Youth Power Center and $50,000 for the Washington Hospital Center.
mneibauer@washingtonexaminer.com
