District of Columbia: Issues in the 108th Congress

Publication Date: March 2003

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Government

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Abstract:

The United States Constitution gives Congress exclusive legislative authority over the affairs of the District of Columbia. As a result, the 108th Congress may debate a number of funding, governance, and constitutional issues affecting the District of Columbia, including approval of the city's budget, enactment of a general federal payment, budget autonomy for the city, and voting representation in Congress. In addition, Congress will consider whether to continue to include in the District's appropriations bills for FY2003 and FY2004, a number of controversial general provisions that District officials claim infringe on the principles of home rule.

Given the District's status as the seat of the national government, what should Congress do to ensure the long term fiscal health of the nation's capital? One option Congress may explore is the reinstatement of a general federal payment, but at what level? The city's mayor has suggested an annual federal payment of $400 million. Alternatively, given the District's unique status as the nation's capital, Congress could shift additional state-like functions to the federal government. The city's Chief financial officer estimates that the city currently spends $500 million in local funds for such activities. Congress could also approve legislation granting the city control over locally-generated revenues.

Voting representation in Congress for the citizens of the District of Columbia is a perennial issue. At the heart of the debate is the question of how constitutional dictates on the political status of the District of Columbia are to be balanced with the principles of representative democracy (governance with the consent of the governed). At least one bill has been introduced during the 108th Congress that would retrocede a portion of District to Maryland as a means of achieving voter representation in Congress.

District Mayor Anthony Williams insists that the city's new health care delivery system for the indigent is a success while critics counter that it is a disaster. Who is right? What role should Congress play in the delivery of health care services? Should Congress review the state of the current health care delivery system for the poor as a part of its oversight responsibilities? District officials contend that congressional intervention would run counter to the spirit of home rule. The new system administered by the newly created Health Care Safety Net Administration provides health care services to District residents whose incomes do not exceed 200% of the poverty level through a contract with the Health Care Alliance, a coalition of health care providers headed by Greater Southeast Community Hospital. The effectiveness of the new system has been called into question by two recent events. First, Greater Southeast Community Hospital faces an ongoing financial crisis requiring it to curtail services. Second, an October 2, 2002, audit by the city's inspector general found significant problems in both the Department of Health's oversight of the city's contract with the Health Care Alliance, and the Alliance's administration of the enrollment process.

This report, which provides an overview of District of Columbia-related policy and funding issues of interest to Congress, will be updated as events warrant.