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Budget deal includes abortion and school voucher riders
Saturday - 4/9/2011, 7:40am ET

WASHINGTON - The D.C. Area may be breathing a collective sigh of relief after a last minute deal was struck to prevent the government from shutting down Friday at midnight, but the the deal includes two controversial provisions aimed at the District.

One of the policy "riders" still included in the budget would prevent the city from using any local or federal money to pay for abortions for low-income residents.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton has been fighting against that provision.

The deal also includes money to restart the city's school voucher program.

The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program has been a top priority of House Speaker John Boehner. It's the only program that uses federal tax dollars to subsidize private-school tuition.

The program was established in 2004, and began to be phased out in 2009. The House passed a bill in late March that would reauthorize the program for five more years.

Boehner says the program is not controversial, but is "the American way."

Mayor Vince Gray and Norton oppose the school voucher program, but other city leaders, including Council Chairman Kwame Brown, support it.

The Washington Post reports that another D.C.-related provision remains unresolved, a House-passed ban on the city spending money for needle exchange programs. District leaders strongly oppose that ban, but congressional Republicans support it.

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