Re: [WardFive] Fw: PRESS RELEASE: Echoing Wall Street, Norton Calls on Congress to Adopt Senate's Permanent D.C. Shutdown-Exemption Provision in Lame-Duck Session

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On Oct 2, 2014, at 11:42 AM, "'Gigi Ransom' via WardFive" <wardfive@googlegroups.com> wrote:

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Albrette "Gigi" Ransom

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: "Benson-Walker, Gwen" <gwen.bensonwalker@mail.house.gov>
To: "Benson-Walker, Gwen" <gwen.bensonwalker@mail.house.gov>
Sent: Thursday, October 2, 2014 9:43 AM
Subject: PRESS RELEASE: Echoing Wall Street, Norton Calls on Congress to Adopt Senate's Permanent D.C. Shutdown-Exemption Provision in Lame-Duck Session

 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                    Contact: Gwen Benson-Walker

   October 2, 2014                                                                            o: 202-225-8050

 

 

Echoing Wall Street, Norton Calls on Congress to Adopt Senate's Permanent D.C. Shutdown-Exemption Provision in Lame-Duck Session

 

Washington, D.C. – One year after the federal government shut down, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said today that leading bond rating agencies reminded Congress this week that subjecting the District of Columbia government to shutdown threats cost the District on Wall Street and provided her with compelling ammunition as she urges Congress to adopt, during the lame-duck session, a Senate provision permanently exempting D.C. from shutdowns.  In upgrading their ratings on the District's outstanding general obligation bonds, Standard & Poor's Rating Services and Fitch Ratings both favorably cited, among other things, a provision Norton got included in the enacted fiscal year 2014 D.C. Appropriations bill that, for the first time ever, exempts D.C. from shutting down for an entire fiscal year (2015).

 

"It has long been clear that shutdown threats cost the District significant money, from higher borrowing costs to premiums on contracts," Norton said.  "The rating agencies' recent reports confirm what Congress finally acknowledged in the fiscal year 2014 D.C. Appropriations bill: The nation's capital, a city with 650,000 residents, should not be subject to shutdowns because of unrelated federal spending fights.  With this potent word from Wall Street, I can only hope Congress has all it needs to take D.C. shutdowns off the table once and for all.  The upcoming lame-duck session provides the earliest and best opportunity to do so."

 

At Norton's request, the Senate's pending fiscal year 2015 D.C. Appropriations bill permanently exempts D.C. from shutdowns.  The House-passed fiscal year 2015 D.C. Appropriations bill exempts D.C. from shutdowns only in fiscal year 2016.  Norton is working with her allies to get the Senate's permanent provision in the final fiscal year 2015 D.C. Appropriations bill.  The Obama Administration supports permanently exempting D.C. from shutdowns.

 

Shutdown threats force the District to invest time and money preparing contingency shutdown plans.  If the District government shuts down, it could default under certain financing agreements and leases.  Further, successive continuing resolutions (CRs) greatly hinder the operations of the District government.  Not only do successive CRs make it difficult for the city to plan its activities for the year, successive CRs greatly increase the city's costs of doing business.  The city's partners, from Wall Street to small vendors, can charge a risk premium for the uncertainty created by successive CRs. 

 

Under the Home Rule Act of 1973, the District may not spend its local funds without congressional approval.  This, too, Norton said, costs the District on Wall Street.  Although federal government shutdowns have shut down the District in the past, the District did not shut down during last year's federal shutdown because it was able to use previously appropriated contingency funds to remain open.  If the federal shutdown had continued for much longer, the District would have exhausted these funds and shut down, too.  The 650,000 D.C. residents do not suffer alone when vital city services cease during a shutdown.  Federal officials, including the President, federal buildings, foreign embassies and dignitaries, businesses and tourists rely daily on the city's services, as well. 

 

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