U.S. Tells D.C. to Pay Inaugural Expenses

The Bush Administration is refusing to provide the District of Columbia with $11.9 million in funding to cover the costs of the presidential inauguration. Instead, they're urging Mayor Anthony Williams and the city council to use some of the District's homeland security budget to cover the big party.

There are a few of unsettling aspects to this. First, in the past the costs of the inauguration have been covered by the presidential candidate's inauguration fund. Now, the president is sending the bill to a city that voted overwhelmingly against him. Second, seeing as Washington is certainly at the top of the list of cities likely to be targeted by terrorists, it's ridiculous to force the city to divert millions that could be better spent on improving its own security.

Lastly, if the president is going to start sending unfunded mandates like this to the District, he could have the decency to endorse statehood for the District so that it would at least have voting rights in Congress and control over generating its own budget.