To amend the Impact Aid program under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to improve the distribution of school construction payments to better meet the needs of military and Indian land school districts.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Let me begin by thanking my friend and colleague on the Committee on Government Reform, its chairman, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Davis), for working closely with me in moving H.R. 3797. This legislation institutes a new process that will significantly facilitate D.C. government operations, promote greater efficiency in Congress by conforming the handling of District of Columbia matters to House rules, and improve the efficiency of both the House and the District of Columbia on these matters.

This is the first time that the Committee on Government Reform, the authorizing committee for District of Columbia matters that must come to the Congress, has introduced a bill to enact legislative changes that have been

passed by the D.C. council, and are here only because they require affirmative action by Congress to become law because they amend the D.C. Home Rule Act, which can only be amended by the Congress.

Perhaps the most noteworthy provision, in light of recent events, is the change in the fiscal year for D.C. public schools and the University of the District of Columbia's academic year to conform to the school system's new fiscal year. Imagine the difficulties if the fiscal year and the academic year are not in tandem, as they have not been. The proposed change was already in the bill, but its necessity is underlined by the fact that this is one of the changes requested by the top candidate for superintendent of the D.C. public schools, Carl Cohen.

Similarly, as requested by the mayor and city council, H.R. 3795 amends the Home Rule Charter to give the city council and additional 6 days with which to review the mayor's proposed budget, restoring the full 50-day period to the council to allow the D.C. government to use compressed schedules in order to exempt employees from Federal overtime requirements, to allow the D.C. government to offer enforced annual leave, or enforced leave without pay as a disciplinary action for corporation counsel attorneys while an investigation is underway for alleged misconduct, and to allow oversight of D.C. chartered banks to be changed from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in order to bring D.C. banking law into conformity with what occurs in all 50 States, relieving the current regulatory burden that has discouraged the establishment of D.C. charter banks.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, please include the attached exchange of letters between Chairman Michael G. Oxley of the Committee on Financial Services, Chairman John A. Boehner of the Committee on Education and the Workforce and myself in the Congressional Record at the end of the debate on H.R. 3797 under general leave.

Committee on Financial Services,

Washington, DC, March 9, 2004.

Hon. Tom Davis,

Chairman, Committee on Government Reform, Washington, DC.

Dear Tom: On February 26, 2004, the Committee on Government

Reform ordered reported H.R. 3797, the 2004 District of

Columbia Omnibus Authorization Act. As you know, the

Committee on Financial Services was granted an additional

referral upon the bill's introduction pursuant to the

Committee's jurisdiction under Rule X of the Rules of the

House of Representatives over banks and banking. Section 8 of

the bill addresses the regulation of banks chartered by the

District of Columbia by the Federal Deposit Insurance

Corporation.

Because of your willingness to consult with my committee

regarding this matter, I will waive consideration of the bill

by the Financial Services Committee. By agreeing to waive its

consideration of the bill, the Financial Services Committee

does not waive its jurisdiction over H.R. 3797. In addition,

the Committee on Financial Services reserves its authority to

seek conferees on any provisions of the bill that are within

the Financial Services Committee's jurisdiction during any

House-Senate conference that may be convened on this

legislation. I ask your commitment to support any request by

the Committee on Financial Services for conferees on H.R.

3797 or related legislation.

I request that you include this letter and your response as

part of your committee's report on the bill and the

Congressional Record during consideration of the legislation

on the House floor.

Thank you for your attention to these matters.

Sincerely,

Michael G. Oxley,

Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3797) to authorize improvements in the operations of the government of the District of Columbia, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 3797, and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

H.R. 3797, a bill introduced by the chairman of the Committee on Government Reform, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Davis), authorizes the operations of the District of Columbia government. The bill, the first of its kind, actually, provides a vehicle to address necessary changes in Federal law pertaining to the District of Columbia. This legislation will give the mayor and the city's leadership necessary autonomy by allowing them to only have to deal with the House Committee of Jurisdiction, the Committee on Government Reform, on changes to Federal laws that affect the District.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Davis) and the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) for ushering H.R. 3797 through the Committee on Government Reform and on to the floor today, and I support its passage.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to urge all Members to support the passage of H.R. 3797, and I also want to thank the chairman of the Committee, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Davis), for his outstanding leadership on this bill. It is really of vital importance to our Nation's capital, and I know the chairman is always working very hard to address all the challenges and concerns of the people of the District.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.