Norton to Continue Fight to Remove Anti-Home-Rule Riders from D.C. Appropriations Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. – (RealEstateRama) — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) tried last night and today to eliminate anti-home-rule riders in the House fiscal year 2017 District of Columbia appropriations bill, which passed the House today with four anti-home-rule riders, but said she will continue the fight to remove all the riders from any final spending bill later this year.

The anti-home-rule riders include the repeal of the referendum approved by D.C. residents in 2013 that granted the District budget autonomy, and provisions that block D.C. from spending its local funds on enforcing a local D.C. anti-discrimination law, the Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Act (RHNDA), on abortion services for low-income women, and on taxing and regulating marijuana sales. RHNDA prohibits employers from discriminating against employees, their spouses and dependents based on their reproductive health decisions. The RHNDA and budget autonomy riders were added to the fiscal year 2017 House appropriations bill, while the marijuana and abortion riders were previously included in the fiscal year 2016 omnibus appropriations bill.

“I am disappointed that House Republicans embedded and added several harmful anti-home-rule riders into D.C.’s appropriations bill,” Norton said. “We will face problems removing them in the Senate, but the hypocrisy of Members who swear by the principle of local control over local affairs is not as widespread there. I am already working with our Senate allies and the Obama Administration to remove the four anti-home-rule riders from any final spending bill that becomes law. Last year, I was able to remove the harmful rider that blocked RHNDA after it was included in the House bill, and I will be waging another vigorous fight this year.”