Two months after the Senate unanimously passed a bipartisan bill to allow Washington, D.C., to access more than $1 billion of its locally raised funds, frustration continues to mount as House Republicans delay a vote that could restore the city’s full operating budget.
U.S. Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland were joined by Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia in calling on House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republican leadership to act. The bill, authored by Van Hollen and Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, was designed to fix what many lawmakers have described as a drafting error in the March stopgap funding package.
“The District of Columbia should be able to spend its own revenue without Congress getting in the way,” Van Hollen said. “Yet by freezing over $1 billion of D.C.’s own funds through their sham funding bill in March, House Republicans are holding the District hostage – threatening the operations of local law enforcement, fire departments, schools, and more. This is all pain for D.C. residents and no gain for federal taxpayers who aren’t saving a single cent as a result of this pointless provision.”
Alsobrooks noted the impact on local workers, many of whom live in Maryland.
“I worked with my fellow DMV senators to pass a bipartisan solution to the $1.1 billion budget cuts in the disastrous CR. It has been waiting on the House’s vote for two months,” Alsobrooks stated. “At a time when our neighbor D.C. is experiencing economic hardship and hundreds of civil servants, many of whom are Marylanders, are losing their jobs in the District, we need to make sure this budget fix gets passed.”
The legislative fix would restore D.C.’s authority to spend local tax revenue through the end of the fiscal year. It had been standard language in prior appropriations packages but was left out of the March bill, which averted a government shutdown.
“It’s been two months since the Senate passed, with bipartisan support, a simple fix that allows the District of Columbia the ability to make its own funding decisions, yet the House still refuses to act,” Warner said. “Each day that this legislation stalls, we are leaving D.C. in the lurch, threatening the District’s schools, public safety, and emergency response operations.”
Kaine added that the Republican House leadership’s decision to stall a bipartisan bill — which even President Trump supports — to allow D.C. to spend its own money is ridiculous and wrong.
“Law enforcement officers’ salaries and the quality of D.C.’s public schools and transportation have hung in the balance for months because of the House’s failure to act,” Kaine charged. “It’s time for Speaker Johnson to do his job and bring this bill up for a vote like he promised.”
Despite bipartisan support in both chambers and a public endorsement from Trump, House GOP leaders have not scheduled the bill for a vote. Some members of the Republican conference, including the far-right House Freedom Caucus, have pushed for conditions such as reversing D.C.’s local law that allows noncitizens to vote in municipal elections.
House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris of Maryland defended the funding freeze.
“D.C. is complaining because they’re having their spending frozen,” Harris told reporters. “Come on, the average American thinks the governments are pretty wasteful, and I think they’d applaud a freezing spending.”
However, Johnson told reporters on May 5 that he had spoken to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and assured her the House would act swiftly.
“We’re not delaying this for some political purpose or any intentionality,” Johnson said. “It’s just a matter of schedule.”