D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Wednesday brushed off claims that the House won’t help fix the city’s finances after the District was federally mandated to carry out a $1 billion mid-year budget cut.
Ms. Bowser, a Democrat, dismissed comments made by Rep. Andy Harris, who said the GOP-controlled House doesn’t support a resolution to patch up the budget hole that is expected to force spending cuts for D.C.’s police, firefighters and public schools.
“It’s their snafu. Everybody knows it, and they need to fix it.” Ms. Bowser said at a press conference in Northeast. “Bipartisan support in the Senate, the President of the United States supports it, and we need Speaker Johnson to move it. And I know when he moves it, it will pass.”
Mr. Harris, Maryland Republican, told WTOP News he wants a “clean bill” that limits how the District can spend its tax dollars.
He specifically took issue with local funds being dedicated to abortion, reparations and the proposal unveiled this week to move the Washington Commanders back into the District.
“There’s some people who question whether those are appropriate uses of money, and whether or not we should reinstitute the constitutional authority that we have over the federal enclave — again, clearly stated in the Constitution. Some people think we should reassert that authority, especially when it comes to some of these budget issues,” Mr. Harris told the news radio station.
While the Home Rule Act allows D.C. residents to elect a mayor and city council to handle local matters, Congress still has oversight authority over the District.
Congress exercised that power in March when House lawmakers removed a decades-old provision from last month’s temporary spending bill, called a continuing resolution, that lets the District fund city operations even when Democrats and Republicans are at odds over federal spending.
Without the provision, the stopgap law holds the city to the same standards as federal agencies, which must revert their budgets to 2024 levels.
The Senate passed a resolution to correct what lawmakers called a “mistake,” and President Trump threw his weight behind the proposed budget fix as well. The House has yet to schedule a vote on the Senate’s resolution.
Ms. Bowser and nearly every other lawmaker in the District argued that the enforced budget cut affects only local tax dollars raised by the city and won’t help lower the federal deficit.
Earlier this month, Ms. Bowser ordered a hiring freeze and facility closures to accommodate federally mandated budget cuts. She also ordered a stop to pay raises, promotions, bonuses and overtime pay.
City Administrator Kevin Donahue was supposed to produce a plan for furloughs and facility closures last week, according to the mayor’s order. Ms. Bowser said Wednesday her team “will be finalizing plans in the coming days.”
She also said she believed Metropolitan Police is exempt from the freeze on overtime pay, which is a key incentive for officers to take on extra shifts in the short-staffed department.
Focus on the midyear cuts has delayed Ms. Bowser’s plans to share her budget proposal for fiscal 2026, which was supposed to be introduced April 2.
D.C. officials have said the city faces a roughly $1 billion drop in revenue over the next three years due to the Trump administration’s downsizing of the federal government.
