ABORTION FUNDS, MARIJUANA AMONG SUBJECTS IN HOUSE BILL

The D.C. government could fund abortions for the poor and take steps
toward legalizing marijuana for medical purposes under a spending
bill passed by the House yesterday.

The measure passed by a narrow 219 to 208 vote. Many antiabortion
Democrats voted against it because of the move by Democratic leaders
to permit the D.C. government to use locally raised tax revenue to
provide abortions, reversing a long-standing ban imposed by Congress.
The bill would also begin to phase out a school voucher program for
D.C. students that is popular with Republicans, and it would
establish a needle exchange program for intravenous drug users to
prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Republicans were blocked from being able to vote on reversing the
Democratic moves but forced an amendment to prohibit the use of
federal funding for needle exchange programs in many parts of the
District, prompting concerns among AIDS activists that the city could
lose a valuable weapon in the fight against the disease.

The amendment, offered by Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), would prohibit
the city from using federal funds to distribute needles for the
"injection of illegal drugs . . . within 1,000 feet of a public or
private day care center, elementary school, vocational school,
secondary school, college, junior college, university, public
swimming pool, park, playground, video arcade or youth center."

A companion bill in the Senate does not contain language prohibiting
the use of federal dollars for needle exchanges. But it is not
certain that provisions to permit abortion funding and medicinal use
of marijuana will survive when the Senate takes up the spending bill.

The measure provides $768 million in federal money for the D.C.
government. During GOP control of Congress, Republicans routinely
used Congress's authority over the District to impose conservative
social policies on the overwhelmingly Democratic city.