Signs of the Apocalypse

It appears that the best friend of DC self rule is ……… Darrell Issa???

The summons to Capitol Hill didn’t bode well. It was May 2011, and Mayor Vince Gray and D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown had been called to testify on the city’s fiscal stability before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s subcommittee on the District of Columbia. The short hearing advisory offered few clues to the panel’s aims, outside of one ominous paragraph.

“In 1995 the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Act established a five member ‘Control Board’ to oversee financial matters,” the advisory read. “The Control Board was disbanded in 2001 when the District had achieved four consecutive balanced budgets and met other criteria. There are seven separate ‘triggers’ which would automatically revive the Control Board.”

………

Their supplications quickly proved unnecessary. After listening to city officials testify and respond to a few scattered questions from his colleagues, committee chairman Darrell Issa took control of the hearing and revealed what was really on his mind: budget autonomy for the District.

“I am going to be offering an alternative that I hope [Norton] will join with me on that provides a mechanism for a separate vote and separate consideration of the District’s funds,” Issa said, adding, “I’m looking for some sort of a structured mechanism to where this committee could say, ‘They have a plan, they can live without federal dollars and still meet the requirement,’ and each time that is received, it would allow us to say, ‘We have no reason to be in the way of your spending your dollars if you can make the commitment.’”

Everyone in the room was taken by surprise—including Issa’s aides, who had no idea their boss was going to propose the policy long sought by D.C. officials to free the city’s operations from the mercy of a fickle Congress.

Seriously, Darrell Issa is DC self-rule's best friend in Congress?

This is so weird.