Groups protest D.C. riders in budget bill

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http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/167927-advocacy-groups-band-together-to-protest-dc-riders-in-fy12-budget-bill

The leaders of several high-profile advocacy groups sent a letter to members of the House Appropriations Committee Wednesday opposing the inclusion of district riders in a Fiscal Year 2012 budget bill.

Leaders from AIDS United, Human Rights Campaign, NARAL Pro-Choice America, Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and voting-rights group DC Vote banded together to oppose riders in the FY-12 Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill, scheduled for mark-up before the committee Thursday.

Unveiled last week, the bill stipulates that federal funds would not be allowed for abortion in the district, nor could they be used to fund needle exchange and medical marijuana programs. D.C. would receive $637 million under the bill, $62 million less than the previous year and $80 million less than that requested in the president’s budget.

“The FY-12 Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill before you this week wrongly interferes in the District of Columbia’s own local affairs by imposing social-policy riders that usurp the prerogatives of Washington, D.C.’s mayor and city council and the citizens they represent,” wrote the advocacy group leaders in the letter.