Next Tuesday, April 23, D.C. residents will vote on whether to amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to allow the District government to spend local tax revenues without having to wait for congressional approval. The Voice Editorial Board emphatically urges a “Yes” vote on Proposed Charter Amendment VIII, a measure that promises to bring D.C. closer to statehood.
In the past, the District’s budget has been subject to veto by Congress, a body composed of representatives from other constituencies whose interests are often not aligned with those of D.C. residents and whose current capabilities hardly fall short of absolute dysfunction. A majority “Yes” vote on the referendum would finally put the city in charge of its approximately $5 billion annual tax revenue, ensuring the budget autonomy necessary to deal with issues unique to the District and its demography.
An autonomous budget would allow us to deal with problems that affect D.C. residents and as such, can only be effectively solved by D.C. residents. For example, D.C.’s HIV rate of 2.7 percent is the highest in the country. Although the city has long recognized the epidemic and accordingly established HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention centers throughout the area, until 2009 the District was unable to address the problem at full capacity because Congress prohibited it from using its own funds to support needle exchange services. Not to mention continual congressional obstruction of access to reproductive care for the District’s low-income women. So long as we don’t control our own money, further obstruction is always possible.
Crucially, the District’s ability to make its own economic decisions would bring it closer to statehood, a struggle that has persisted for far too long. Although it has a larger population than Wyoming and Vermont and is the second fastest growing state or territory, the District of Columbia has no elected representation with full voting rights in the federal government. It is nothing less than a travesty that the 632,323 residents of the District are not full citizens in the eyes of the Constitution.
As D.C. residents, if only temporarily, Georgetown students must understand the importance of Tuesday’s referendum. A large show of support for Proposed Charter Amendment VIII would not only mean budget autonomy, the very least owed to the District by its government, but more importantly, it could also mean an end to the centuries-long tyranny of taxation without representation. In the spirit of democracy, Hoyas should vote “Yes” for budget autonomy this Tuesday.
