D.C. Budget Autonomy Advocates Hope For Action During Lame Duck

There's more support than in the past on Capitol Hill for D.C. budget autonomy, but the proposal still faces hurdles.

The lame duck session has been true to its name so far, as lawmakers spent most of last week working on party politics — not hammering out the details of a proposal to avoid the fiscal cliff. This week lawmakers aren't even in D.C., meaning they'll have a lot on their plates after Thanksgiving.

One of the things D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton hopes will be on the agenda is budget autonomy for the District. She says there's broad support for budget autonomy for D.C., but acknowledges it still faces an uphill battle. 

"My problem with the lame duck is getting the attention of Congress. It could go two ways: that they will be in negotiations for a long time so some bills will have to go through," she says. "Or the whole Congress could be preoccupied with what amounts to a half dozen bills that go out of existence and we go over the cliff." 

Norton is keeping in touch with House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who supports the proposal, but party leaders haven't announced their intentions yet.