jonetta rose barras: Who is protecting DC residents from the invasion of congressional Republicans?

When I learned of recent funding cuts and spending prohibitions for key District programs and services preliminarily imposed by House Republicans on the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee, the horror movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers immediately came to mind. 

Cold and out of touch, the Make America Great Again Republicans and their enablers are comparable to the alien creatures desperately fighting to reestablish themselves by taking over whole communities. The MAGAs may find it a tad difficult to physically impersonate the majority of District residents, unlike in the movie, where the invaders are adept at assuming the physical features of their hosts. Regardless of how many hours they spend in tanning beds or on private beaches — trips which may have been made possible by political donors who are mostly millionaires rather than the billionaires buying Supreme Court justices — that masquerade is beyond their reach.

Still, those facts haven’t prevented House Republicans from voting to approve drastic spending cuts that jeopardize crucial protections in DC and elsewhere. In fact,  Arkansas Rep. Steve Womack — likely no relation to now deceased soul singer Bobby Womack, although I am not absolutely certain — seemed to boast during last week’s markup session of the subcommittee’s clout and influence, noting that it has “a wide and encompassing jurisdiction that is critically important to the full functioning of our country … from the Department of the Treasury to over a dozen independent agencies, as well as the federal judiciary and the District of Columbia.”

“This gives our subcommittee the unique perspective of measuring the reach and magnitude of the federal government,” continued Womack, the subcommittee chair. “Unfortunately, it is an undeniable fact that the federal government is bigger and more intrusive into the lives of everyday Americans and the nation’s businesses than ever before.”

The overreach of Womack and his compatriots — who he conveniently forgets are themselves part of the federal government — illustrates his own point.

Since taking over the House earlier this year, conservative Republicans have acted as if they are local elected officials. They have strived to suggest through their actions that they understand the hearts, minds and political propensities of District residents, and therefore, know what is best for them. Few, if any, locals are convinced.

Womack and crew voted last week to reduce the spending request for DC Courts and to cut a federal payment to cover security costs borne by the Metropolitan Police Department. They approved a host of policy riders that would stop the city from using its own tax dollars to help finance abortions for low-income women; continue the ban on federal and local funds to legalize marijuana in DC; continue the ban on federal dollars going toward the city’s needle exchange program despite the fact that such programs have proved effective in the fight against HIV and AIDS; and repeal the Death with Dignity Act of 2016.

Displaying their alien invader mentality, the subcommittee voted to prevent the city from prohibiting motorists from making right turns on red and to stop the District from carrying out automated traffic enforcement.

OK. Just to be honest here, I know a bunch of residents who might go along with the prohibition against traffic cameras. And there is rising opposition to the city’s decriminalization of marijuana, especially since on too many streets it smells like blunts are being smoked on every corner.

Nevertheless, Connecticut Democrat Rosa DeLauro is right. She called the amalgam of subcommittee policy riders “unacceptable,” asserting that they and proposed spending cuts jeopardize Americans’ safety. She cited as an example the $1.2 billion reduction to the proposed budget for the Internal Revenue Service. The decrease would “benefit scammers, fraudsters, cheaters and billionaires,” DeLauro said.

Ranking member of the subcommittee’s parent Appropriations Committee, DeLauro also accused the subcommittee, of which she is an ex officio member, of “micromanaging the District of Columbia — its health laws and, in fact, traffic laws.”

Most DC elected officials and political leaders with whom I spoke agreed with that sentiment — even the DC Republican Party. “We don’t support intervention in the District of Columbia,” DC GOP chair Patrick Mara told me during an interview earlier this week. That did not prevent him, however, from offering his own criticism of the local government.

“The DC Council appears never to be more extreme as it is today, especially as it relates to public safety and non-citizen voting rights,” said Mara, echoing an assessment made by more than a few DC residents who consider themselves moderates or center left — not far left.

Extreme or inept? Certainly, the council has been both timid and ineffective in its efforts to push back Republican interference.

Prior to the subcommittee markup, Mayor Muriel Bowser, DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson and DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb raised objections in a letter they jointly sent to Womack and Maryland Democrat Steny Hoyer, the subcommittee’s ranking member. 

“We are united in our objection to the numerous riders in Title VIII restricting actions by and policies of the District government – especially ones newly proposed this year. We respectfully request that they be removed from the bill during the Subcommittee’s markup,” the trio wrote in the letter dated June 22. “We also ask that proposed funding be restored to the levels requested for the Emergency Planning and Security Fund, the DC Court of Appeals, the Superior Court, and the Court System. 

“Taken together, the riders and budget cuts in the Subcommittee’s proposal jeopardize public safety, harm the public health, and will unbalance the District’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget,” they added.

Who writes a letter to people intent on destroying your way of life?

Mendelson, of course, defended the decision to send the letter when I interviewed him earlier this week. He rejected suggestions by some that he and his fellow elected officials stop cooperating with Republicans — as they did over the past several months when they obediently appeared at public hearings convened by the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, chaired by Kentucky Rep. James Comer. 

“I don’t think there is any benefit from refusing to answer questions or talk to members of Congress when they ask,” Mendelson said, dismissing suggestions that local officials testify only if forced to do so under subpoena as “counterproductive.”

“The District is not in the position to ignore them,” Mendelson said. He pushed back against my argument that some may have thought the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and his Civil Rights disciples were not in a position to change certain things — and yet their strategy of nonviolent resistance or passive aggressiveness ultimately changed the direction of the country and improved the lives of millions of Blacks.

Mendelson argued that the congressional Republicans don’t care about DC; nor do they care about public safety although they have repeatedly made such a claim, overturning, with the help of President Joe Biden, the District’s revision of its criminal code. 

“If they care about public safety, why have they proposed cutting the [Office of the U.S. Attorney for DC], the Bureau of Prisons and the [Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency] by 22%,“ asked Mendelson, who seemed to grow more agitated and angrier the longer we talked. “I was excoriated [by Republicans] for cutting $9 million from MPD three years ago. Last week they cut MPD by $20 million. That’s why I say they don’t care about public safety. 

“They have other issues they are more concerned about, like the debt cap,” he added.

Actually, MAGA Republicans don’t care about a debt cap or a debt ceiling. They are interested in regaining their political power, shoring up their control of state legislatures, and making America “great” again through the continuance of white supremacy.

The House hasn’t taken its final vote. Even when it does, that may not be the end, since the House and Senate — where there is a narrow Democratic majority — will have to reconcile any differences between their respective appropriations bills. Still, given the likelihood that DC-specific issues will become bargaining chips in the negotiations, no one should expect much relief for the District or a retrieval of its lost power. As we enter the 2024 campaign season, President Biden is not likely to come to the city’s rescue unless it’s useful to do so because of national politics.

The MAGA Republicans’ invasion of the city is part of their muscle-flexing as they attempt to realize their aspirations. Some of them have talked of repealing Home Rule. Some political activists I spoke with told me that if that goal isn’t realized, congressional Republicans could seek to reshape the political structures, including limiting the length of DC’s legislative sessions comparable to what happens in Maryland and Virginia. 

Civic leaders like John Capozzi have pledged to take the fight to Republican candidates on the campaign trail. “I want to organize to help [Adam Frisch,] who is running against Lauren Boebert.” 

Frisch, a Colorado Democrat, came close to unseating Boebert in the last election. He has decided to try again.

“I am going to pick out a couple of others,” said Capozzi, adding that having people protest on Capitol Hill will have no effect. “These guys are not going to listen to anybody. It doesn’t matter how many people go there. What we have to do is threaten their election.”

That seems to be a strategy being advocated by the DC Democratic State Committee. Chair Charles Wilson said leaders are working with other state parties to educate voters that their elected officials are focused on what is happening in DC, rather than issues their constituents care about. 

“We have to focus on 2024 — keeping the White House, keeping the Senate and winning back the House,” Wilson said. “That is the way to keep DC from the Republican onslaught.”

Decades ago, District voters used similar tactics to strike out against their enemies. They prevented the reelection of Rep. John McMillan, a South Carolina Republican who was blocking passage of Home Rule. North Carolina Sen. Lauch Faircloth, whom DC residents loved to hate, also found himself serving only one term.

It’s questionable that they can repeat that performance. Efforts by the Hands Off DC coalition and DC Vote have had little to no effect rousing the troops. When Republicans made it known they intended to stop reform of the city’s criminal code, fewer than 200 residents showed up for a rally near the Capitol.

With those kinds of attendance numbers, said one political operative, “Nobody’s afraid of us.”  

Who, then, will barricade the roads into DC? Will District residents fight for their independence or let it die?

Stay tuned. 

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jonetta rose barras is an author and freelance journalist, covering national and local issues including politics, childhood trauma, public education, economic development and urban public policies. She can be reached at thebarrasreport@gmail.com.