Statement on Congressional Disapproval Resolution H.J.Res. 142

WASHINGTON — Congress blocked the DC Council's budget legislation in February. Again. Congress treats Washington this way for one simple reason: no one here can vote them out. So they score cheap political points with their hometown voters who will never feel the consequences, taking actions in our city they would never dare take in their districts. When Congress lets the president federalize our police department or deploy the National Guard into our neighborhoods, they are exercising a misguided view of strength, one where power passes for leadership.

So what's next? It starts with flipping the script on what congressional interference really means for our city. Why are DC schools underfunded? Why do 911 calls go unanswered? Why are hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage pouring into the Potomac? Because Congress has repeatedly blocked DC from spending our local tax dollars on our priorities. By overturning our tax law this month, Congress erased nearly $600 million in local revenue. The year before, it stripped a billion dollars from our budget: money that was raised entirely from DC residents and businesses. Our credit rating dropped. The mayor declared a fiscal emergency. It would be easy to conclude that self-governance is further away than ever. But this is exactly the wrong moment to stop pushing. We've been here before, and we have won before.

For nearly 250 years, DC residents have led the nation in speaking truth to power: wresting back local control from Congress with the Home Rule Act, amending the U.S. Constitution to win the right to vote for president, and in 1978, coming within striking distance of statehood. That history is possible because of the everyday strength of DC residents. It's people showing up every day for their neighbors and their communities. Away from the National Mall, away from the monuments. Not tourists. Just people trying to build good lives in a city that national politicians treat as a political football. We didn't ask to be on the front lines of this fight. We just want what residents of every other American city already have: control over our own budget, our own laws, and our own future. That shouldn't require an act of Congress. But in Washington, it does.