Pubdate: Fri, 27 Feb 2015
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2015 Associated Press
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Ben Nuckols, Associated Press

D.C., CONGRESS IN BATTLE OVER MARIJUANA

WASHINGTON (AP) - The new mayor of the nation's capital was hoping to 
get along fine with Republicans on Capitol Hill.

Instead, they've threatened her with prison and she has accused them 
of acting like bullies in a showdown over legal marijuana that could 
end up costing District of Columbia residents dearly.

Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, defied threats from Congress by 
implementing a voter-approved initiative on Thursday, making the city 
the only place east of the Mississippi River where people can legally 
grow and share marijuana in private. But Congress still has the final 
say over the city's budget and laws, and the Republicans in charge 
seem determined to make Bowser pay.

"We provide half a billion dollars [annually] to the District. One 
would think they would be much more compliant with the wishes of 
Congress," Representative Andy Harris, a Maryland Republican and one 
of the most vocal marijuana opponents, said in an interview Thursday.

Actually, the District received more than $670 million in federal 
funding last year to support its $11 billion budget. The federal 
money is earmarked for specific programs - including the city's court system.

Republicans will "find some areas where perhaps we have been very 
generous with the citizens of the District. That will all come with 
time," Harris warned.

Even top advocates of city autonomy are preparing for tough times on 
Capitol Hill.

'I do believe it's likely this is a short-lived victory. Members of 
the House are going to come after D.C. with a vengeance on appropriations.'

"I do believe it's likely this is a short-lived victory," said 
Kimberly Perry, executive director of D.C. Vote. "Members of the 
House are going to come after D.C. with a vengeance on appropriations 
for 2016."

Before Bowser announced that she was not backing down, she spoke with 
the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Representative Jason 
Chaffetz, Republican of Utah, and reiterated that her goal is not to 
defy Congress, but to honor the will of the voters, said her 
spokesman, Michael Czin.

"A lot of reasonable people have a different view of this issue," 
Bowser said Wednesday. "We believe that we're acting lawfully."

Chaffetz said Congress does not want the District to become "a haven 
for smoking pot."

But Bowser has emphasized that the change to the marijuana law is 
limited in scope.

While possession of up to 2 ounces of marijuana or up to three mature 
plants for use in the home is legal, buying or selling the drug 
remains illegal, along with smoking in public and possessing 
marijuana on federal property. The main difference is that city 
police will no longer be handing out $25 civil fines for possession.

When Republicans are in charge on Capitol Hill, their priorities 
often clash with leaders of the reliably liberal city, where three 
out of four registered voters are Democrats.

For example, Congress has prohibited the District from spending any 
money on abortion, except for a two-year stretch when Democrats 
controlled the House and Senate as well as the White House. When the 
abortion restriction was restored in 2011, then-mayor Vincent Gray 
led a sit-in outside the Capitol and was arrested.

Bowser, then a D.C. Council member, also was arrested in that 
protest, but she complained that it did not accomplish anything and 
pledged a more collaborative, less headline-grabbing approach.

What she is finding, though, is that collegiality also depends on who 
runs the committees.

Gray had a cordial relationship with the previous oversight committee 
chairman, Representative Darrell Issa. He supported what District 
leaders call "budget autonomy," allowing the city to spend its local 
tax revenue without authorization by Congress.

But Chaffetz and other Republicans say Bowser could face prison for 
violating a federal law barring agencies from spending any unappropriated money.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom