Statement on Yesterday’s Defeat of a House Bill That Would Have Allowed the District of Columbia Government to Increase the Pay of the Chief Financial Officer

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 30, 2021

PRESS CONTACT:
Patrice Snow
[email protected]

Patrice Snow, Communications Director for DC Vote, issued the following statement on yesterday’s defeat of a House bill that would have allowed the District of Columbia government to increase the pay of the Chief Financial Officer:

“H.R. 1204 would have allowed congressional interference to be taken out of the process of recruiting and retaining a quality Chief Financial Officer for the District of Columbia, a position that is funded with local taxpayer money. The bill’s primary goal was to allow local officials to make decisions on increasing the pay package for the district’s CFO in order to compete with both the private and public sectors. Yet again, members of Congress felt they knew what was best for the district and voted the legislation down yesterday,” Snow said.

“Congressional interference on issues like D.C. government employee salaries is unnecessary, unreliable, and goes against the self-determination of the 700,000 taxpaying residents of the district. Congress doesn’t dictate to the Governors of Arizona or Maine what to pay their employees so why should D.C. be subjected to such rules? H.R. 1204 would have not only allowed the DC government to help control it’s financial operations but was a bill moving the district closer to Statehood. Yesterday’s action on the House floor proved why D.C. and it’s government needs full autonomy without congressional meddling over its own affairs which can only happen through Statehood,” Snow finished.

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