Mayor Muriel Bowser on Tuesday urged the District of Columbia Council to pass an emergency bill that would allow the city to issue marriage licenses during the government shutdown.

The Marriage Bureau in the D.C. Superior Court has been closed since the shutdown took effect last week, preventing soon-to-be-wed couples from making their union legal. The court is federally funded, thus ceasing some of its nonessential operations amid the funding lapse.

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“The inability of District residents, and others choosing to celebrate their marriage in the District, to obtain a marriage license is highly disruptive to personal lives,” Bowser said in a statement ahead of the vote. “I urge the Council to pass this legislation so that the Executive has the authority to issue marriage licenses and authorize officiants during the federal government shutdown.”

The legislation is set for a vote on Tuesday after the bill, called the Let Our Vows Endure Emergency Amendment Act of 2025, was introduced by Councilmember Christina Henderson the day before. The Council’s legislative meeting for Tuesday starts at noon.

The mayor thanked Henderson for “moving this emergency legislation.”

The bill is identical in name and purpose to temporary legislation Bowser signed during the 35-day government shutdown in January 2019, when President Donald Trump was in his first term. The current shutdown is the first since the one in 2019.

GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN ENTERS SECOND WEEK WITH NO BREAKTHROUGH IN SIGHT

The federal shutdown is now on its seventh day, and it appears no resolution between Republicans and Democrats is in sight.

Trump is pressuring Democrats, namely Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), to reopen the government after they rejected House Republicans’ continuing resolution over the expiration of healthcare subsidies. The Senate has repeatedly failed to pass partial funding measures from both Republicans and Democrats.