The temporary spending bill passed Tuesday by the House calls for chopping just over $1 billion from the District’s budget this current fiscal year.
It comes a day after D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and almost the entire political leadership of the city, which is overwhelmingly Democratic, warned that complying with the legislation would force hasty reductions to staff at the Metropolitan Police Department and D.C. public schools.
But the Republican-controlled Congress didn’t budge on the bill’s current form, and appeared to suggest D.C. officials were bluffing about how drastic the cuts would be.
“We don’t need their votes, and we’re not gonna have it,” said Rep. Ralph Normam, South Carolina Republican, according to WTTG-TV. “Wouldn’t firing D.C. cops make this city less safe? They’re not gonna fire D.C. cops — that’s not right.”
The congressional bill, referred to as a continuing resolution, proposes stripping a two-decade-old provision that allows the District to fund city operations even when Democrats and Republicans are at odds over federal spending.
Without the provision, the bill holds the District to the same standards as federal agencies, which the continuing resolution would require to revert their budgets to 2024 levels.
The temporary spending bill still needs to clear the Senate and be signed by President Trump before midnight Friday to avert a government shutdown. The bill would fund the government through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
The pleas to change the bill’s language Monday from Ms. Bowser, the D.C. Council, and Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District’s non-voting congresswoman. But they proved fruitless with House Republicans.
“There’s no way to cut that kind of money, in the kind of time that we would have in this fiscal year, not to affect police or not to affect teachers and not to affect some of the basic government services that allow us to keep our city clean, safe and beautiful,” the mayor said on Capitol Hill.
If signed into law, the District would need to slash $1.1 billion from its $21 billion budget before the end of its fiscal year, which is also Sept. 30.
D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, a Democrat, said making the cuts in that short of time is “impossible.”
“Do they really want us to furlough police, firefighters, teachers, and essential city service?” he wrote in a statement on X.
Charles Allen, Ward 6 Democrat, also chimed in about the bill’s passage.
“House Republicans just voted to cut $1 billion **local** dollars from DC’s budget,” Mr. Allen wrote on X. “They are hurting police & public safety, firing teachers, slashing Metro funding, & cutting every city service you depend on. We now need Senators to correct this devastating act.”
