from MD Rep. Jamie Raskin:
In a pandemic that has already killed 14,000 of our people, overwhelmed our hospitals, and cost millions of jobs, the last thing we need is partisan games being played at the expense of other Americans. And yet the Senate slipped a provision into the CARES Act treating 705,000 Americans in the District of Columbia not like the people of the 50 states—the traditional rule for programmatic funding—but like residents of a Territory. This gesture of cold political malice could cheat the District out of $750 million it needs to manage the crisis just as our region faces the peak of the COVID-19 epidemic. As a Maryland Representative who understands we will all rise or sink together in this crisis, I was proud to lead this letter, signed by 97 House colleagues, demanding immediate correction of this scandalous mistreatment of people living in our Nation’s capital. D.C. residents pay more federal taxes than people in 22 states and deserve fair funding. D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, who has no Senate counterparts and no vote on the floor, does a remarkable job fighting for her community, but she should not have to fight this battle alone. I thank my colleagues from all over America for speaking up against this outrage.
https://raskin.house.gov/media/press-releases/raskin-leads-97-house-members-urging-full-covid-19-funding-district-columbia?
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