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Washington • Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz said Thursday that Washington, D.C., leaders could face "severe penalties" for legalizing marijuana and the GOP-run Congress won't be looking favorably at the city for defying its wishes.

District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered a voter-approved initiative into effect at midnight Thursday that would allow city residents and visitors to possess, grow and use small amounts of marijuana — a move that some GOP congressional leaders have warned flies in the face of the federal prohibition against legalizing pot.

"It's in clear violation of the law and we're going to do what we can to get this administration to enforce the law," Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, said Thursday morning, calling Bowser's decision "disappointing."

"It's a scary, slippery slope to just thumb your nose at the law and ignore it," Chaffetz added. "Is that really what the city is devolving to?"

Seven in 10 voters in the city favored the move to legalize pot in November but as a federal city, all laws in the district are subject to congressional oversight.

A stopgap budget measure passed by Congress in December forbade the city from spending money to implement the marijuana law. Additionally, Chaffetz warned the city in a letter that it could be violating the Anti-Deficiency Act, which prohibits spending money without congressional approval.

Bowser told reporters Wednesday that she must uphold the will of the voters.

"We do disagree on a matter of law, and we think there are perfectly reasonable ways to resolve those things without us threatening him, nor he us," Bowser said this week of Chaffetz's threat. "Bullying the District of Columbia is not what his constituents expect, nor do ours."

Chaffetz says he hasn't decided whether to hold a hearing on the district's legalization of marijuana but he says there will be repercussions for city leaders when they come to Capitol Hill seeking help. But that may be as much as the city will suffer.

It would take action by the Justice Department to investigate or charge anyone in city government with the federal law, and so far the department has said it will respect laws passed in jurisdictions like Colorado and Washington state that have also legalized recreational marijuana.