Congress is at odds over funding for D.C.’s troubled forensics program.
Last week, a Senate subcommittee voted to give nearly $5 million to help the District fund its own DNA lab. The bill was different from the House’s version that passed earlier this year without putting any money toward a forensics lab.
D.C. congressional delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton said she lobbied the Senate for the money because an independent forensics lab is vital to fight crime.
“This is a critical impediment,” Norton said. “We don’t get to samples for so long that we cannot solve crime and the criminals on the street know we can’t solve crimes.”
In a letter last week, District Council Member Kathy Patterson, D-Ward 3, urged Mayor Anthony Williams to press Congress for additional funding for the lab. She has been critical of the city and its police department for wasting earlier opportunities to build and run a top-notch forensics program.
In the House’s bill there were no funds for the forensics lab. Jennifer Hing, spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Joe Knollenberg, R-Mich., chairman of the House subcommittee on D.C. finances, said the city already has enough money for the project. A conference committee is scheduled to meet on the issue in September.
