From the Washington Post:

“Norton said the change gives a bill to permanently free the District’s local budget from the requirement of a congressional vote a “very good chance of passage” next year.”

Putting this quote in perspective.

The Bill in reference, H.R. 2472, has not moved in Congress since September 9th, 2003 when it was sent to the Subcommittee on the Legislative and Budget Process. Introduced only 3 months prior on June 6th with the bipartisan support of Tom Davis and Eleanor Holmes Norton, the “Budget Autonomy Act of 2003” basically says:

District of Columbia Budget Autonomy Act of 2003 – Amends the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to provide that the District of Columbia budget passed by the Council of the District of Columbia shall be enacted without referral to the President or approval by the Congress, unless it is the budget for a fiscal year which is a control year. Prohibits the Mayor of the District during a control year from transmitting the budget, or amendments or supplements thereto, to the President until the completion of the budget procedures contained in this Act and the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Act of 1995.

After reading the actual bill a few times, I feel as if I need the other legislation it references to really grasp the context of the legislation. I want to better understand what a “control year” is and how it affects the budget.

However, at the end of the bill, I prefer Section 7, lines 19 through 21– I really like:

The amendments made by this Act shall apply to budgets of the District of Columbia for fiscal years beginning on or after October 1, 2004.

Simply because on October 1st, 2004, myself and a group of DC residents lobbied 25 congressional offices for this exact bill and a week later Congress passes DC’s budget. In all honesty I don’t think its because of our efforts, but I’d like to think that Congress didn’t want what happened last year to repeat.

Regardless, I look forward to helping Eleanor Holmes Norton next year lobby for this same bill.

Oh yeah, I turn 24 this weekend. More on that later.

###Update###

Even though we were not able to meet with Hastert on B.A.D. Day, Adam was able to get a few words in at a book signing:

In the October 28th printing of the Washington Post, this photograph is mentioned in the article “Few Fireworks Evident In Council, Citywide Races”