With the spending season underway on Capitol Hill, D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray joined activists Wednesday to urge Congress not to attach social policy “riders” to the District’s budget.
A House appropriations subcommittee will meet June 16 to consider a bill that includes the District’s budget for fiscal 2012. In past years, particularly when Republicans have controlled the House, that measure has been a magnet for language that changes city laws or restricts the use of locally raised funds.
In April, President Obama and House Republicans cut a spending deal that included a prohibition on government-funded abortions in the District and that revived and expanded a controversial private-school voucher program. House Republicans failed in their effort to include a ban on District-run needle exchange programs. That issue could surface again during next week’s session, and local officials and activists are also concerned that Republicans may target the city’s laws on same-sex marriage, medical marijuana and guns.
Full Story from the Washington Post
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Rabbi Judy Schindler of Charlotte’s Temple Beth El says she’s been planning for this weekend for nine years. In 2002, as she officiated at her Reform Jewish synagogue’s first-ever commitment ceremony for a same-sex couple, she promised herself this: When a state made it legal for gays and lesbians to get married, she would help Charlotte-area couples get there and get wed.
The Republicans just can’t quit their legislative gay-bashing. They’re taking aim at DC’s marriage law. Can’t say we expected this to happen:
