Families living in western Kentucky are losing nearly 300 acres of farmland per day due to industrialization. As farmers struggle to sell their crops at reasonable prices, other rural-area constituencies suffer from housing insecurity, federal disinvestment, and the increasing presence of agricultural wasteland and data centers.
That’s why, for some residents of Kentucky’s 1st Congressional District, U.S. Republican Rep. James Comer’s focus on D.C’s local tax policy is an unwelcome distraction. For at least one resident, Comer’s concern about the District, and not his constituents, hints at the overwhelming influence of corporations on Capitol Hill.
“He probably likes DoorDash because he pretty much lives in D.C. and he probably benefits from that service [but] a lot of the people in his district don’t have DoorDash,” said John “Drew” Williams, a resident of Marshall County, Kentucky and Democratic candidate for the seat currently held by Comer. “We don’t have delivery services to our rural communities from restaurants. I don’t know why that’s important to him to focus on.”
As Kentuckians Suffer, Comer Focuses, Yet Again, on D.C.
Earlier this month, Comer introduced the D.C. Taxing Authority Review Act. This bill, if passed, would require the passage of a joint congressional resolution before enactment of local legislation that imposes or increases taxes and fees. This happened nearly two weeks after the D.C. Council approved the Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Support Act, which, much to local business leaders’ chagrin, included a 20-cent surcharge on food deliveries and a provision for a study on a business activity tax.
From the onset, DoorDash expressed support for Comer’s recent bill, prompting calls from the Free DC Project, and Democratic nominee for the D.C. delegate seat D.C. Councilmember Robert White (D-At large), to boycott the food delivery service. Nearly 800 miles away, Williams, a dock builder, is standing in solidarity with the District as he runs a campaign not dependent on corporate donations. He told The Informer that D.C. residents need protection against Comer and other congressional Republicans exacting their will over the nation’s capital.
“When it benefits the states, cities or government systems that he likes, he’s all small government, local sovereignty and the will of the people kind of thing,” Williams said about Comer. “But it’s when he doesn’t like it, like Ohio, Minnesota, Michigan, California, or D.C., he finds reasons to [conduct] oversight [on] them and create a ‘chosen people’ to protect and inflict his committee on.”
Williams launched his congressional bid earlier this year on a platform that focuses on: fortifying family farms, reforming health care, strengthening national investment in education, and modernizing local infrastructure.
He said, if elected, he’ll be much different than Comer, who he says hasn’t engaged the least of those living in Kentucky’s 1st Congressional District — not even with a town hall.
“Organizations that are willing to pat his back and tell him he did a good job, they definitely get face time,” Williams said. “But if they’re going to bring up a bill that he’s not talking about 24/7, he’s like, ‘Oh, I don’t really do policy.’”
Comer’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Comer has represented Kentucky’s 1st Congressional District since 2016. Since taking the helm of his committee in 2023, Comer has thwarted investigations into the billions of dollars of profit President Donald J. Trump has accumulated, all while shepherding several bills infringing on the District’s legislative affairs.
On the federal level, Comer has taken aim at what he calls government waste and fraudulent spending, a crusade through which he’s targeted state-administered welfare programs, pharmacy benefits managers, and eligibility verification controls. This is unfolding at a time when Kentuckians, if not for an unexpected state surplus, would’ve suffered from a Medicaid payment reduction starting in August.
Despite that brief reprieve, Williams said that constituents aren’t totally out of the water. That’s why he’s setting out to replace Comer and sit on a House committee that can help the people of Kentucky’s 1st Congressional District.
“Kentucky’s a recipient state and as much as anyone wants to argue about how there’s fraud everywhere, as a recipient state, it’s not our money that’s being fraudulently spent,” Williams told The Informer. “My money’s not getting wasted in Minnesota child learning centers. It has nothing to do with me, and so the fact that he puts so much focus on it, and that’s a position he chose to be in … just goes to show you that it just has no relevance to our district.”
Looking Back: The House Committee Markup That Raised Questions
During its July 22 meeting, the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform approved a marked-up version of the D.C. Taxing Authority Review Act — but not before members questioned the utility of the bill and Comer’s motives.
“Would you like to tell the good people of Washington, D.C. where this bill came from?” questioned U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) during her exchange with Comer. ”Did you personally write it?”
Moments later, after Comer wouldn’t directly answer the question, and even asked Stansbury to explain her “conspiracy theory,” the New Mexico representative told the Kentucky congressman: “I think it’s obvious this bill was not written by the people of D.C, and I think it’s obvious that you’re trying to make this happen without their consent.”
During the nearly 40 minutes of deliberation about Comer’s bill, other committee members weighed in on the measure. Florida Democratic U.S Rep. Maxwell Frost said the current Congress doesn’t have time to debate District affairs.
“This is one of the most unproductive Congresses we’ve had in the history of this country,” Frost said on July 22. “Of course, I’m against trampling on D.C. home rule and local rule. Fully against that. But it’s also just foolish to add to our plate when we can’t even get our must-pass legislation across the finish line.”
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), another opponent of the D.C. Taxing Authority Review Act, looked at Comer’s actions in greater context.
“This Congress and this committee has passed more bills on local D.C. matters than on any other matter in front of this committee,” Garcia said. “In fact, this is the 20th bill we’re considering that would interfere with local D.C. residents and their governance.”
As Comer explained earlier in his introductory remarks, his legislation serves as a response to a changing of the political guard.
“Rather than cutting spending, the ultra-progressive and socialist Democrat candidate for mayor in the D.C. Council [Janeese Lewis George] wants to tax D.C. business and residents into oblivion to fund their unmaintainable extension of public programs,” Comer said. “This comes as D.C.’s chief financial officer has identified a $1.1 billion budget hole.”
District Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) decried Comer’s efforts as one of his most egregious attempts at congressional infringement. In her remarks, she said that Republicans are using misleading language in their description of the D.C. Taxing Authority Review Act.
“The scope of this bill is much broader than Republicans have claimed,” Norton noted. “This bill applies only to taxation, but to all of Title 47 of the D.C. Code. That title has more than 50 chapters and encompasses not only taxation, but also licensing permits, assessments, and fees, among other things.”
Before wrapping up, Norton posed what she’s often called the end-all, be-all to the District’s problems on the Hill.
“Congress has the authority to admit D.C. as a state,” Norton said. “The D.C. statehood bill will reduce the size of the federal district from 68 square miles to 2 square miles, consisting of the White House, the Capitol, the Supreme Court, and the National Mall. The residential and commercial areas of D.C. will be a new state.”
U.S. Shadow Sen. Ankit Jain to Rally Congressional Democrats in Opposition to Comer’s Plans
On Tuesday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser declined to sign the fiscal year 2027 Local Budget Act, mainly out of what she, in a letter, described as the D.C. Council’s penchant for avoiding tough decisions to relieve spending pressures.
Ankit Jain, a U.S. shadow senator representing the District, said Bowser’s inaction will be fuel for more congressional intrusion in local affairs at a time when local leaders are mulling how to address an impending fiscal cliff.
“They have historically taken things the mayor has said if she’s opposed to legislation and used it to attack that legislation,” Jain told The Informer, “but regardless of whatever the mayor says, the fact is that we passed a budget on time that the CFO agrees is balanced.”
Last week, Jain counted among the several who attended the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s mark-up meeting. Despite the outcome, Jain said he walked away pleased about all present Democratic committee members voting in opposition. He’s now planning for the fall, when Comer’s bill is expected to go before the entire House for a vote.
“We’re going to push aggressively to make sure every Democrat votes ‘no,’” Jain said. “I think we’re going to be especially focused on some of the more modern Democrats who have historically voted against D.C. interests at times and scheduling meetings with those members … and we are going to reach out to some Republicans who are more open to persuasion and explain to them the consequences of what would happen if this bill passed.”
Shortly after entering office last year, Jain met with Comer’s staff — an encounter he said hasn’t amounted to much in terms of collaboration or, at least, coming to a common understanding.
“I wish we could be more in the loop on these things that are happening,” Jain said, “because this bill … was introduced without any notice, as far as I’m aware, to anybody in D.C. government.”
One of those people, D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson, pointed out in a July 21 letter that Comer’s legislation would “paralyze” the District’s tax code and freeze general licensing legislation, all while overwhelming Congress with involvement in various aspects of local affairs, including cash flow to pension programs, real property tax exemptions, and the application of bond proceeds to capital projects.
Over the last year, as Mendelson sent communiques to Comer and other Congressional leaders, Jain has joined D.C. residents and activists in the halls of Congress. One such instance last year was during deliberation over a Republican-created continuing resolution that froze a significant portion of local funds.
Months later, the District, as well as the rest of the country, suffered during the third government shutdown under Trump. As Jain pointed out, the budget that came out of that fiasco has been of little benefit to Comer’s constituents.
“I do know that there’s a lot of problems people in Kentucky are facing, like the rest of the nation, like higher costs for everything from groceries to gas to services, you name it,” Jain told The Informer. “They’re having to deal with the consequences of this war in Iran, and they’re dealing with … the expiration of the Obamacare subsidies, and then they’re dealing with some cuts to informed programs, like food stamp programs that were actually caused by Representative Comer and the Republicans in Congress.”
This fall, in advance of changes to local elected leadership, the D.C. Council will explore possible changes to local tax policy. While it remains to be seen whether the hearings in the John A. Wilson Building will result in legislation, Jain said that the District, for decades, has always been able to keep a balanced budget and focus on fiscal policy without the level of input that Comer’s proposing.
“I don’t think his constituents elected him to spend … close to the majority of his time thinking about how to change Washington, D.C., to be in line with the far right agenda,” Jain said of Comer. “They elected him to address their problems, and so he should focus on the problems of his constituents and not any problems he sees in Washington, D.C.”
