White House officials on Tuesday sent to Congress an 18-page list of demands they want included in the funding deal that needs to pass by Sept. 30 to avoid a government shutdown.
Surprisingly, the administration is proposing language to lift a spending cap that Congress imposed on the District of Columbia in March when it passed a long-term stopgap funding measure.
The continuing resolution, which the Republican-controlled House drafted earlier this year, effectively canceled the District’s 2025 budget and forced it to return to 2024 spending levels.
Now, the White House is seeking language to clarify that the city has the authority to spend fiscal 2026 funds received from local tax revenues and other nonfederal sources.
The olive branch from the administration comes after D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) issued a directive ordering local police to coordinate with federal law enforcement.
Bowser said she did it to protect the city and home rule.
The items on the list from the Office of Management and Budget are known as “anomalies.” They are priorities the president’s advisers want added to the continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the government mostly at current levels past Sept. 30.
President Trump is asking Congress to fund the government through the CR until Jan. 31 to avoid the traditional end-of-year deadline of the Christmas recess to reach a longer-term funding deal.
Democrats instead want the stopgap to run until mid-November, a preference shared by some Republican members of the Senate and House Appropriations committees.
The White House is also seeking language to provide for “a rate for operations of $8.2 billion” for the Department of Agriculture to provide food assistance to women, infants and children. The administration warned that without the anomaly, states would not be able to serve all eligible participants at current benefit levels.
The administration also wants language to continue the pay freeze for senior political appointees, including the heads and acting heads of departments and agencies through the end of 2025 and into 2026. White House budget officials note senior political officials would otherwise see a significant increase in pay starting in October.
The administration is also seeking more flexibility to spend money within the Department of Homeland Security, something that could be a sticking point with Democrats given the bitter political fight over Trump’s deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to Boston, Chicago and other cities to crack down on illegal immigration.
The White House is asking for language to authorize the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to obligate funds provided by the CR from the Office of Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction to “other DHS components.”
Senate negotiators have yet to reach a deal on the annual Homeland Security appropriations bill. A meeting to advance the bill that was scheduled for Thursday has been postponed to a later date.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) told reporters Tuesday they had received the list of anomalies from the White House and were reviewing its details.
Collins, Murray, House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee, spoke Monday evening to discuss the path for moving the stopgap funding measure.
“We are nine days into September and it is past time for Democrats to start hearing from Speaker Johnson and Leader Thune regarding their commitment to a bipartisan CR to avoid a shutdown,” Murray said Tuesday afternoon.