File Photo: Chairman of the House Oversight and
Government Reform Committee Jason Chaffetz
(R-CA) before testimony on the ''Oversight of
the State Department'' in Washington, U.S. July
7, 2016.
By
Lacey Johnson
| WASHINGTON
The U.S. House of Representatives' Oversight
Committee voted on Monday to strike down a
Washington, D.C. law that would allow
physician-assisted suicide there.
City leaders passed legislation in December
that allows terminally ill patients to end their
lives with a doctor's help, but the U.S.
Constitution gives Congress the power to
overturn laws in the 68-square-mile
(177-square-km) district.
"I worry that assisted suicide will create a
marketplace for death," said Jason Chaffetz, a
Utah Republican who heads the Oversight
Committee. "I think it's fundamentally wrong."
After hearing arguments from more than a
dozen lawmakers, the committee voted 22 to 14
against the law. Overturning a D.C. law requires
passage by both the House and Senate and
signature by the president. It has happened only
a handful of times since the city gained
self-governance.
Chaffetz said the current law has "serious
flaws" and voiced concerns over doctors
inaccurately diagnosing patients with terminal
illnesses. Other Republican committee members
said they opposed physician-assisted suicide for
religious reasons.
Gerry Connolly, a Virginia Democrat who voted
in support of the district's so-called Death
with Dignity Act, told opponents: "Do the right
thing and mind your own business."
Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the
district's congressional representative, told
lawmakers they need not agree with the
legislation to vote in favor.
"We are asking you to agree with American
doctrine that local laws are for local
residents," Norton said.
The city council has passed a range of laws
in recent years on issues important to many
liberal Democrats nationally. Among them are a
$15-an-hour minimum wage, legalized recreational
marijuana and one of the country's most generous
family leave laws.
Washington leaders have typically relied on
the Senate, which has long had less appetite to
interfere with district laws than the House, to
block legislation affecting it.
If the law is upheld, Washington will join
six states that allow physician-assisted suicide
for terminally ill patients.
(Reporting by Lacey Johnson; Editing by
Curtis Skinner and Cynthia Osterman)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-washingtondc-euthanasia-idUSKBN15T09B