Congress should be figuring out how to continue funding the U.S. government past September 30 to avoid a shutdown. Instead, it’s attempting to micromanage the city of Washington D.C. itself, including banning traffic cameras and legalizing right turns on red, reports The 51st. Isn’t that what the city council is for?
The feds have taken greater control over the nation’s capital lately. While the Trump Administration’s 30-day takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department just expired, National Guard troops remain, keeping people safe by doing landscaping and crashing into them. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has now gotten in on the act, passing a number of bills on matters D.C. residents should be deciding for themselves.
“The D.C. Council has 13 members. If residents do not like how they vote, residents can vote them out of office or pass a ballot measure. That is called democracy. Congress has 535 members. None are elected by D.C. residents,” said D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton. “That is the antithesis of democracy.”
Representative Robert Garcia voiced his objection as well.
“This is pretty ridiculous. We are now arguing about local traffic enforcement in the U.S. Congress. If we’re going to micromanage traffic and public works and the way our traffic lights work, this is not the place to do it. This is what city councils and mayors do,” said Garcia.
Despite their objections, these bills now go on to the full House for a vote, which is an excellent use of its limited time before the government runs out of money. One of these bills would prohibit the city from using its more than 500 traffic cameras to enforce speeding and red light violations, even though city officials say that both have declined as a result of the cameras. Another would revoke a law that took effect this past January that banned right turns on red, making them legal once again.
‘End taxation without representation’
We can certainly debate the merits of these laws. While I don’t dispute the city council’s claims that traffic cameras have improved safety, I also don’t want to live in a surveillance state with my every move being tracked. However, while allowing right turns on red conserves fuel and helps keep traffic flowing, inattentive drivers turning right on red can endanger pedestrians, as our own Collin Woodward found out the hard way.
Such debates should be conducted through the democratic process, as D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, who has no voting power, said. Other bills that D.C. residents have no say about include repealing police reforms, removing restrictions on police pursuits (which are always completely safe with no horrible outcomes), and criminalizing homelessness, including car camping. (Remind me not to take my camper van to D.C. anytime soon.) Most of these bills overturn measures that D.C. officials have already taken to address these issues in their own way. The D.C. license plate slogan “End Taxation Without Representation” may be more appropriate now than ever.
