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For Immediate Release

Statement from Bo Shuff, Executive Director, DC Vote  

DC Vote is Growing!
Nonprofit adds four new Board Members and a new Director of Communications

For Immediate Release
July 24, 2017 Contact:
Bo Shuff, Executive Director
202-462-6000 x119  

Today DC Vote was joined by 27 national, regional and local groups in delivering a letter to the United States House of Representatives. This coalition of groups is calling on Congress to respect the local autonomy of Washington DC and end the attacks on self-determination in governance.

For Immediate Release Contact: 
Bo Shuff, Director of Advocacy
202-462-6000 x119  

A House committee is set to vote on a bill that would block the District of Columbiagovernment from spending local tax dollars without approval by Congress. The District government has sent its budget to Congress for approval every year since the city was granted home rule in 1973. But this year, city leaders planned to skip that step. City voters approved a referendum granting so-called "budget autonomy" to the District and a judge ruled in the city's favor after the law was challenged in court.

In a stinging rebuke to efforts by the District of Columbia to fully govern itself, a Congressional committee on Tuesday nullified the results of a legitimate city election and then declared that D.C. officials can never spend local tax dollars without Congressional approval. Republicans on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee passed a bill to block the city from enacting a ballot measure that was approved by D.C. voters, confirmed by a court and endorsed by President Obama to let the District spend its own tax money, much like one of the 50 states.

Surprise! After holding a hearing on the subject on Thursday, House Republicans are trying to overturn D.C.'s budget autonomy through legislation that would essentially repeal a 2013 referendum where more than 80 percent of residents voted for local fiscal independence.