“No Matter what accomplishments you make, somebody helped you.” – Althea Gibson
Muhammad Remembers Million Man March See Page 26 •
C e l e b r a t i n g 4 9 Ye a r s o f S e r v i c e
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Serving More Than 50,000 African American Readers Throughout The Metropolitan Area / Vol. 49, No. 1 Oct. 17 - Oct. 23 2013
D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray, flanked by members of the D.C. Council, takes a defiant stance regarding the federal government shutdown and how it could adversely affect District government operations and its residents during a recent press conference on Capitol Hill. /Photo by Khalid Naji-Allah
Government Shutdown Ensnares D.C. By Barrington M. Salmon WI Staff Writer
As the partial shutdown of the federal government moves into its third week, D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) said the city remains open for business adding that he remains optimistic despite the deadlock.
Gray has used every opportunity and a range of bully pulpits since the Oct. 1 shutdown not just to explain the damage caused by the suspension of government operations but also to advocate passionately for the District to gain the right to spend the tax money and other revenue it raises.
Under the Anti-Deficiency Act, Congress doesn’t allow the District to spend any of these taxes and fees generated by the city without prior Congressional approval. Gray said he and the city’s 632,000 residents chafe under the oppressive and undemocratic provisions that are inflicted on the District of Columbia.
“We feel like we’re pawns in a chess game I don’t believe we should be involved in,” Gray said during an interview Saturday morning. “It’s unconscionable that the District is treated this way when it comes to spending our own money. We’re not part of the federal government – this is the money of the taxpayers of
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the District of Columbia.” “We are facing very dire consequences if Congress and the president do not act soon to free us to spend our own local tax dollars in the midst of this stalemate. These are consequences that no other city or state has to
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