GrossoIn less than an hour, Mayor Vince Gray will join Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and some D.C. Councilmembers at the Capitol to condemn the federal government shutdown and warn Congress of the harmful effect it’s having on the city.
But at least one D.C. Councilmember will not be there and thinks the press conference is a bad idea.
Councilmember David Grosso (I-At Large) sent a press release out this morning, saying he will boycott Gray’s “capitulation to the federal government.”
“If Congress can’t get its house in order, and it seems apparent that it can’t, then the gloves must come off,” Grosso said in the release. “Congress has shown that it is not up to the job, we should forge ahead and do what needs to be done. D.C.’s residents should not be used as fodder for the media. They should get on with their lives and their jobs. D.C.’s leaders should get on with the very important business of running the city, collecting local tax dollars and spending them wisely.”
In a letter requesting a meeting with President Obama and Congressional leaders, Gray said that the city will soon exhaust the contingency fund that is allowing the city government to stay open. “This means that, without budget autonomy for the District, very soon there will be severely negative consequences for us – consequences that no other state of city will be forced to endure,” he wrote.
Grosso, who first suggested that D.C. keep spending its money despite the shutdown, said “it is ridiculous that there are laws on the books that say we need permission from Congress to spend our local dollars. The money is ours. Continuing to ask for permission to spend our money is accepting the status quo, accepting injustice and ceding the power of the purse to the federal government. I will not be a party to this blatant form of capitulation.”
