The Hill News

The fiscal 2013 budget from House Republicans puts the federal government and the District of Columbia on course for a shutdown, according to Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.).

Norton blasted the GOP budget released Tuesday, saying it “could lead to a federal government, and therefore a District of Columbia government, shutdown on Oct. 1.”

She accused the GOP of breaking last summer’s debt-ceiling deal by setting a lower top-line discretionary spending level than the one set by the Budget Control Act. 

“By reneging on the deal, House Republicans have set up a fight over fiscal year 2013 spending, which could leave the D.C. government caught in the crossfire once again,” she said in a statement. 

Norton said House appropriators will be forced to adhere to the House budget level of $1.028 trillion in discretionary spending for fiscal 2013. But Senate appropriators have said they will stick to the higher level of $1.047 trillion a! greed to in the Budget Control Act.  

“Six months away from the start of the fiscal year, the House Republican budget sets us on an ominous path,” Norton warned. “We must take action now to prevent a replay of the circumstances that led to near-shutdowns of the District government last April and December.” 

The threat of a shutdown could bolster Norton’s efforts to pursue D.C. budget autonomy, a goal she and local Washington lawmakers have been chasing for months. 

Supporters of District budget autonomy got a big boost earlier this month when House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) publicly backed the initiative.

In early March, a Cantor spokeswoman told The Washington Post he is “certainly willing to work with the District toward its goal of budget autonomy.”

The second-ranking House Republican also “remains hopeful that there will be more flexibility by the District to find a path forward on this issue," his spoke! swoman told the paper in an email.

The move from Cantor'! s office came just weeks after Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) publicly supported D.C. budget autonomy, citing a possible government shutdown as a cause for concern.

In early February, McDonnell sent a letter to both Cantor and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, urging them to provide the District budget autonomy, as it’s “what the governors of every state enjoy.”

McDonnell highlighted the close ties between District funds and Virginia, noting that if a shutdown were to occur in relation to the District’s budget, vital services including Metro operations would cease.

“That, in turn, has a direct impact on the over 100,000 Virginians who commute to their jobs in the District,” McDonnell wrote.

On Tuesday, Norton claimed that approval of a recent budget-autonomy proposal put forth by Issa would “permanently remove the cloud of a D.C. government shutdown.”

Issa originally put forth! a bill late last year that would have allowed the District to spend its own money as soon as the D.C. Council and mayor approved a budget. 

Attached to the bill, however, was a prohibition on the District funding abortions except in cases of incest or rape. City leaders quickly rejected the proposal, but negotiations to reach an agreement remain ongoing. 

As Norton continues to pursue budget autonomy for the District, the D.C. delegate is also working with allies in the House and Senate to give the District authority to spend its local funds in any year in which Congress has not approved the District’s budget by the start of the fiscal year. 

That authority, requested by President Obama in his 2013 budget, would not provide the District with all of the benefits of budget autonomy, wrote Norton.

But “the District government would never again face the uncertainty and costs of a shutdown, or of preparing for one, due to unrelated federal spendin! g fights,” she concluded.