Our proposed statue of Rep. Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.).

On rolls the train towards more complete autonomy for the District!

The Post is reporting today that Congress, which yesterday passed the city’s 2011 budget with no amendments or riders, is moving towards ending the annual process by which legislators tell the city how it can and cannot spend its money. During a markup in the House subcommittee that handles the District’s annual budget, Rep. Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.) inserted an amendment that, if approved by Congress, would grant the city fuller autonomy when it comes to spending its locally-raised tax dollars.

The city’s budget has often been weighed down by riders or amendments forcing District officials to do one thing or prohibiting them from doing another, much to the chagrin of Home Rule advocates. Most famously, a 1998 initiative on medical marijuana was put on hold for 12 years because Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.), inserted a provision prohibiting the city from actually certifying the results of the referendum. (In 2007, Barr changed his ways, and has since become an advocate for medical marijuana.) The District was also not allowed to use its own money to fund needle-exchange programs until late last year, when the Democratic-controlled Congress started a long process of extracting itself from local affairs.