Photo by Phil Roeder.Yesterday, The National Review got its hands on a bicameral letter sent to Mayor Vince Gray by Republicans regarding abortion in the District. And yes, it’s just as preachy, condescending and arrogant as you’re probably imagining.
The letter — signed by a cadre of Republican heavy hitters like Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), and many more — urges Gray to “immediately” and “faithfully” ensure that the District of Columbia doesn’t spend any more of its money on “public funding for the destruction of innocent human life” and demands that Gray provide Congress with information about abortion spending.
Here’s the beef of the letter (emphasis the senders’):
With reinstatement of the D.C. Hyde amendment public funding for the destruction of innocent human life will no longer be permitted in D.C. However, history has shown that the District has not always complied with this policy when it has been in place in the past. When this policy was reinstated in FY96, the District continued to fund abortions in violation of the law until the violation was uncovered in FY98. We do not anticipate that this situation will occur again, but in light of this history, we ask that you provide detailed information outlining what steps you are taking to ensure that no more public funds are used to pay for elective abortion in D.C.
Gee, Congress, you’ve been so kind to the District over the past few weeks! I’m sure that the Mayor — who, you know, was arrested protesting your budget recently — will be sure to get right on those requests.
The letter goes on to scold Gray regarding “repeated requests for information about public funding for abortion in the District of Columbia (D.C.)” that “have been ignored by the D.C. government including your administration” — and even goes so far as to complain that “blogger” Mike DeBonis was able to get the numbers from the city’s Department of Health Care Finance before they did. The full letter, including signatures, is below.
