WASHINGTON -- The shift to a Republican-controlled Congress could make life hard for the next mayor of the District of Columbia.
Some analysts are speculating that the relationship between Democratic Mayor-elect Marion Barry, an ex-convict, and a tough-on-crime Republican Congress could be extremely rocky.
"The ball is really in the district's court," said a Republican aide on the House Committee on the District of Columbia. "Congress has already spoken very loudly in the [fiscal] 1995 budget. We will be looking for the result."
Among other things, Congress mandated $140 million in spending cuts in the district's $3.4 billion budget for fiscal 1995, which began Oct. 1.
The aide said it "will take a few days for everybody to see where they are" in terms of replacing Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., as committee chairman.
Rep. Thomas Bliley of Virginia is the ranking Republican, but he is expected to seek the chairmanship of what is now the House Energy and Commerce Committee. However, the future of that committee is uncertain because the House could reorganize or dismantle it.
One congressional aide said he did not know who would be next in rank after Bliley on the district committee because "lots of people could make any number of different moves" with regard to committee assignments.
--Martha M. Canan
