Norton, Gray Fight Back Against D.C. Appropriations RidersBy Daniel Newhauser
Roll Call Staff
June 8, 2011, 6:07 p.m.
Mayor Vince Gray and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton warned Wednesday that Members who place social riders on Washington, D.C.’s appropriations bill would face political heat back home.
In an attempt to ward off such provisions — including those on gun laws, abortion and gay marriage — before next week’s bill markup, Gray and Norton advised colleagues that national advocacy groups stood ready to fight in districts across the country.
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At a news conference in the Capitol, Norton, Gray and representatives from DC Vote and other advocacy groups urged Congress not to reinstitute policies in D.C. that would restrict syringe-exchange programs, abortion providers, gay marriage and the District’s ability to write gun laws.
“We did not clear the D.C. appropriations bills of all D.C. riders for the first time ever simply to turn around and let them come back on,” Norton said at the news conference. “Congress should expect resistance where they live if Congress targets our low-income women and our same-sex couples. And Congress should be on notice that our gun laws and our needle-exchange programs may be ideological trophies to them, but they are life and death to us.” ..............(more)
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