The ever-present riders to the congressional budget limiting the District in implementation of some policies might, well, not. The removal of the riders, and its impact on the LGBT and HIV/AIDS communities in D.C. are the topic of my newest Metro Weekly article, “Congress Rolling Back Riders“:
Time and again over the past decades, the District has been held back from implementing measures that some in Congress don’t like, from needle-exchange programs to medical marijuana to domestic partnerships and beyond.
Congressional oversight of the D.C. budget has allowed Congress to pass ”riders” that are attached to the annual appropriations bill, stopping the D.C. government from acting on measures passed by D.C. Council or, in one notable case, by District residents. . . .
With Sunday’s passage by the Senate of the omnibus appropriations bill, though, the District was a step closer to having the most onerous riders wiped clean from the budget. The House passed the measure a few days earlier, and President Obama is expected to sign the bill this week.
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Chris Geidner is the award-winning senior political editor at D.C.'s Metro Weekly and has written for The Atlantic Online, The American Prospect, Advocate.com, Salon and other publications, as well as at his blog, Law Dork. In 2011, he received the Excellence in News Writing Award from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his coverage of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal. Prior to moving to D.C. in 2009, he served as an attorney on the senior staff at the Ohio Attorney General's Office and had earlier worked for a leading Columbus law firm. An extended biography can be found
Love this article Chris. Keep up the good work!