between the fiscal year of the federal government and the fiscal year of every other jurisdiction in the united states i know has created real havoc in some years could you speak about that year we have to give a grants money so the school can start planning ahead of time for that academic year which doesn't coincide with the fiscal year so i think it would be a major implement our ability to manage budget if we have the budget autonomy to repeat myself we are talking about only the local dollars we're not talking about rivlin i agree with all of that back on the school issue i believe every state has a junejuly fiscal year and the reason they've chosen that is for this reason that schools are majorly inconvenienced by starting in august or september and not getting their budgets until the end of september ms norton can i ask one more question i was very concerned during the shutdown  about possible default or having to somehow redo contracts if some of them came due during the time or in between the time and what those who held these notes would think and whether it would have consequences the next year when you went to get contracts or notes and i wish you would comment on the effects on possible default or on other contracts and on contracts in the future defined contribution pension plan has that been successful has it provided stability financially for the district and its taxpayers ms rivlin yes it has  the district pension liability was very large i forgot the numbers now but it had been accumulated while the congress ran the district it was rule liability so those of us in the district didn't think of it as a bailout we thought of it as the federal government facing up to the liabilities that it had created fortunately it did forward some interesting ideas on entitlement reforms writ large and we appreciate your service to your government thank you for being here today ms rivlin thank you mister mchenry mr hfabian in terms of a municipality or state or  district's credit profile does that defined contribution versus defined benefit pension liability or pension fund does that have a bearing on their credit profile  contribution it doesn't really impact the credit quality bit just let me say that going forward in the last year and over the next few years pension liabilities will become a larger factor for the rating agencies so they will tend to bring ratings down the fact mchenry and in terms of the accounting of those pension liabilities i mean basically what you're saying is if you have a well funded well capitalized pension plan you don't really make a judgement about the contents of it you just simply municipalities and the district account for i'm sorry not the district but larger than this but the accounting of these defined benefit pension plans mister fabian well you know for sure you be carefully drawn you know encouraging those or requiring those conditions but at the same time not necessarily limiting access to the capital markets mister mchenry dr hgandhi can you comment on your view in terms of again as i've listened to the testimony i am convinced that dr hrivlin i'm convinced that the district of columbia could teach the congress some things i find it interesting that we bring the district of columbia here and looking at budgetary situation one which has been addressed in a very responsible way as i said combined with compassion rediscovery of the district i mean in other words it seems like everybody wants to now live in the district and i remember when i was a student at howard university a long time ago back in  i remember i used to see all of these vacant houses and i used to say to myself as a student it would seem as if every square inch of the district of columbia would be invaluable because it literally is the capital of the world and it sir the district is presently perhaps the most sought after commercial real property market in the country if not in the world the last two major investments that have happened in just last hmonths one at the cit basically all of that is real property commercial real property i think the image of the district of eighties and nineties is gone what you have now is a vibrant hip city that  and the upward pressure on property values and rent creates problems for a city which has a large lowincome population and creates needs in terms of affordable housing that are perhaps council member and former mayor marion berry probably knows very much about the history and operation of district of columbia finances and government as anybody alive i mean there would probably be nobody else alive who knows much about this as the three of you my question is and i've served for three terms as a member of a large city council the city council in the city of chicago and i was trying to  that congress provides other than money in terms of the oversight for resources and of course we used to get an awful lot of federal money fromh we don't get nearly as much anymore but there was a time and the oversight was of the money but then of course congress did not approve our budget so what is it that congress provides that the district of columbia could not provide for itself other than the money which is veryh the direct money is very very small as mr hgandhi has pointed out it is hard to think of much of anything i would like to commend the congress norton in mr histook's office and i couldn't believe it i thought we were just sitting here talking about street repairs and potholes and i thought what is the congressman doing wasting his time talking about  s fortunately that era has passed and we have not had much interference except on some major social issues like the needle exchange or abortion  question i find intriguing the proposal that the chairman of the committee has put forth separating or hav management of the city of our school system and would not create any problems for us the federal appropriation can take its own course as it usually does so i would whol us i want to thank the three witnesses not just for your expertise and your acumen but also for your professionalism and civility with which you treat one another and the members of this panel