Football back in D.C.? A bipartisan bill passed by House Oversight could make the push much easier.

Sep 20, 2023

The House Oversight Committee called a passing play Wednesday, approving bipartisan legislation, 31-9, that would enable D.C. to more easily compete to bring the Washington Commanders football team back to the city.

Mayor Muriel Bowser was in the audience as the panel debated the bipartisan measure, which would extend the federal government’s lease of the RFK Stadium site to the city by up to 99 years — and allow for a host of broader redevelopment options.

“This site currently sits empty, I think that’s important to understand,” Oversight Chair Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) said. “But this bill enables the District to fill these empty lots with stores, restaurants, office buildings and apartment complexes.”

Context: The Commanders franchise left Washington for FedEx field in Landover, Md., following the 1996 football season, but many in the city are pushing for the team to return. NFL owners in late July approved the sale of the team away from longtime owner Dan Snyder.

Interesting bedfellows: Lawmakers defeated an amendment from Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), 13-24, that would prohibit the use of public funds to finance any new stadium. “That was the most interesting coalition of yeses and nos in the history of the Oversight Committee,” Comer said. “Historians will be studying that roll call vote for decades.”

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), backed by others like Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and Comer, said she would oppose the measure: “How D.C. spends its local funds, which consists of local taxes and fees, should be a decision for D.C., not Congress.”

But ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) pronounced himself “drawn to the logic” of the Perry amendment.

“It doesn’t seem like a pure home rule question because it’s a question about conditions on federal land that we control,” Raskin said.

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