Clinton Pushes D.C. 'Statehood'
NewsMax.com Wires
Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2001
WASHINGTON (UPI) – President Clinton Monday created a federal task force "to improve the prospects for the success of home rule in the District of Columbia."
Clinton issued an executive order Monday, which could be overturned by President-elect Bush when he takes office Saturday, directing officials from all of the major federal agencies to sit on a task force that will work to "improve the long-term financial stability of the Nation's Capital and to improve self-governance."
The executive order follows by several days Clinton's decision to adorn the presidential limousine with new D.C. license plates that carry the slogan of the D.C. statehood campaign, "Taxation Without Representation" – although the tiny district's residents receive several times more federal benefits than they pay in taxes.
The district has a nonvoting representative in Congress and casts three electoral votes for president. But it has no senators and no vote on legislation in the House, and Congress can review and overturn any laws or expenditures approved by the City Council of the corruption-ridden district.
Bush and the Republican majority in Congress have opposed statehood for the district, and the new president can easily void the executive order and change the license plates, if he so desires.
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