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After a locally organized pressure campaign urged residents to delete DoorDash, the food delivery company withdrew support for a bill on October 1 that would effectively end home rule (or the right to govern) in Washington, D.C. But instead of being able to celebrate, the organizers behind the win now have a new target on their backs.

Rep. James Comer’s (R-Kentucky) HR 9720, the D.C. Taxing Authority Review Act, would require both chambers of Congress to approve any tax increases or additional fees passed by the D.C. Council. If it became law, it would effectively strip Washingtonians of their ability to change their own tax code.

According to organizers involved in budget reform, HR 9720 is a worst-case scenario.

“The way that bill was structured was probably one of the most significant attacks on autonomy that we’ve seen in a long time,” said Queen Adesuyi, a spokesperson with the Fair Budget Coalition, a group that advocates for budget and public policy initiatives that address systemic social, racial, and economic inequality in D.C. “It actually affirmatively made it so Congress would have to say yes to D.C. to be able to pass or change a law.”

Free DC, an organization that advocates for the dignity of Washington residents, recognized the incredible risk that Comer’s bill carried for Washingtonians and home rule. The group launched a campaign to pressure HR 9720’s biggest corporate supporter to back off the bill, urging DoorDash users to delete their accounts until Free DC’s demands were met.

DoorDash Pushes to End DC’s Self-Governance Over a 20-Cent Tax

In addition to demanding DoorDash no longer support Comer’s bill, Free DC is asking the company to make a public statement explicitly stating that Trump’s “D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force” should end and condemning ICE and other federal police who have targeted and killed their drivers. Operating since March 2025, the task force was created under an executive order from the Trump administration to increase federal policing and ICE operations across the District.

Less than two weeks after DoorDash withdrew support from the bill, Comer — who chairs the powerful House Committee on Oversight and Accountability — announced an investigation into Free DC, as well as Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, a Black-led community defense hub and regular partner of Free DC.

“The way that bill was structured was probably one of the most significant attacks on autonomy that we’ve seen in a long time.”

“The way that bill was structured was probably one of the most significant attacks on autonomy that we’ve seen in a long time.”

Community groups who share coalition space with the two targeted organizations are describing this investigation as a naked attempt at retaliation.

“The actions of the (oversight) committee seem to be part of a troubling pattern in our country of weaponizing official investigations to try to intimidate or silence civil society organizations that make democracy possible,” reads a statement from Together For DC, a new campaign aimed at building allies nationwide for D.C. statehood. “The emerging investigation, H.R. 9720, and the 20 ........

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