The District of Columbia is the focus of several bills hitting the House floor this week, but the chamber will not take up the one piece of legislation that Washington leaders want the most: a bill to reverse an over $1 billion slash in the district’s budget.

The House passed a stopgap spending bill to avoid a government shutdown in March, but the bill reverted Washington to its 2024 budget until Congress can pass new appropriations by Oct. 1. The Senate unanimously passed a funding fix that undid the cuts, but the House has yet to take up the legislation — despite Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) promising it will be done “as quickly as possible.”

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That was nearly three months ago, and House GOP leadership did not respond to requests for comment on whether there is a plan to bring the legislation to the floor. Instead, the House is prepared to take up votes on three separate D.C.-related bills this week, all of which fall in line with President Donald Trump’s agenda to make Washington “Safe and Beautiful” again.

Meanwhile, Mayor Muriel Bowser is accepting the fact that Washington may have to take matters into its own hands without relying on Congress to address the budget shortfall.

House bills target DC police reform and immigration policies

Three bills concerning Washington policies are up for a vote this week: the Protecting Our Nation’s Capital Emergency Act, the District of Columbia Federal Immigration Compliance Act of 2025, and a bill that would prohibit noncitizens from voting in D.C. elections and repeal the Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022.

The slate of legislation comes after Trump signed an executive order in March, titled “Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful.” The action establishes the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force that, among other things, monitors Washington’s sanctuary status and compliance with federal immigration law. 

The task force will also work to deploy a “more robust” law enforcement response throughout the D.C. area, as the district grapples with high youth crime rates, and restore public monuments and memorials that have been destroyed or damaged.

The Protecting Our Nation’s Capital Emergency Act is set for a vote on Tuesday, which repeals some of the changes made by the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act. 

The act, passed in 2022 by the D.C. Council, aimed to improve police accountability and transparency by prohibiting the use of neck restraints, increasing access to body camera footage, and revising officer disciplinary procedures, making it easier to fire officers for misconduct. 

The House and Senate voted to overturn the council’s police reform bill, but former President Joe Biden vetoed the attempt in May 2023. Tuesday’s bill would restore the right to negotiate matters of disciplining D.C. law enforcement officers through collective bargaining, and restore the statute of limitations for claims against the Metropolitan Police Department. 

The second bill for Tuesday would bar noncitizens from voting in D.C. elections. This has been a frequent concern from the GOP, particularly after the party took the trifecta in January. The House passed the SAVE Act, which prohibits noncitizens from voting in U.S. elections, but the Senate has yet to take it up, given that it is unlikely to pass through the upper chamber’s 60-member threshold.

The final bill, the District of Columbia Federal Immigration Compliance Act of 2025, simply requires the district to comply with all immigration laws from the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It also removes its sanctuary jurisdiction laws. It is set for a vote on Thursday.

“The D.C. City Council has a history of thumbing its nose at federal agencies, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, that are responsible for protecting national security and the safety and wellbeing of the American people,” Rules Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) said during a hearing to pass the rule on the three bills on Monday.

“As the nation’s capital, the District of Columbia should set a serious example that harboring illegal aliens, and obstructing the work of federal law enforcement, is not an option,” Foxx added.

Budget fix bill faces roadblocks in the House 

The slashing of D.C.’s budget broke 20 years of precedent, as Congress has allowed Washington to maintain its budget levels, without interruption, if a stopgap spending bill is required to keep the government open, since 2004.

Johnson has previously said he is not avoiding putting the budget fix bill on the floor due to political games, but rather due to the rigorous reconciliation process as Congress works to pass the “one big, beautiful bill” by the self-imposed deadline of July 4.

“We’re not delaying this for some political purpose or any intentionality,” the speaker said in May. “It’s just a matter of schedule management at this point.”

Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), who has frequently collaborated with Bowser when it comes to D.C. affairs, has urged the House to move forward on the bill. The committee has not yet received the bill text. 

“I told leadership I think they should restore it, so I don’t know what else to do. It’s up to leadership,” Comer told the Washington Examiner on Monday.

While scheduling around reconciliation may be leadership’s rationale, the bill also faced pushback from fiscal conservatives, particularly within the House Freedom Caucus. Chairman Andy Harris (R-MD) said in April that he and other conservatives were looking to “put some guardrails on the spending” done by the district government.

The stopgap spending bill treated Washington’s budget like a government agency’s, rolling back discretionary funding as fiscal hawks targeted “wasteful” government spending.

“The bill is not ready for prime time in the House,” Harris said at the time.

A source familiar with the House talks told the Washington Examiner that conversations between the Freedom Caucus and leadership over the funding fix are “ongoing to determine the plan.”

“It is expected that this opportunity would be used to make certain that DC isn’t wasting money on ideas like DEI, reparations, or their usual woke agenda,” the source said.

Trump has encouraged Johnson to pass the funding fix bill, calling on the House to take up the legislation “IMMEDIATELY” following his joint announcement with Bowser to celebrate D.C. as the location for the 2027 NFL draft.

Meanwhile, House Democrats have accused Johnson of holding the district “hostage” and have backed Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), who has been vocal about D.C. achieving statehood.

Bowser moves forward with plans to generate growth

In April, Bowser said she would take action on her own to address the $1 billion cut by using a 2009 statute to boost the 2025 budget’s shortfall by about $679 million.

However, the district still needs to identify $410 million in cuts if the House doesn’t intervene.

“I call it a fake budget crisis, because we have the money,” Bowser said via the Washington Post. “So if we have to cut services because they don’t fix their snafu, then that’s a problem.”

The mayor froze new spending in April and ordered city agencies to institute furloughs and freezes on hiring, overtime, and purchasing supplies. The Bowser administration said the hiring freeze saved $63 million, while also eliminating $175 million worth of non-personnel services reductions and shifting $202 million of spending and costs to fiscal 2027, among other cost-cutting measures.

Bowser also proposed allowing commercial bingo, poker, and blackjack tournaments in the city as part of her growth agenda. 

The 2026 budget calls for two-year licenses available from the Office of Lottery and Gaming for a $5,000 application fee, as well as a $2,000 charge for every location where a company is hosting games such as poker and blackjack. It also proposes a $300 endorsement for businesses and a 7.5% tax on gross receipts.

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A 25% tax would be placed on gross gaming revenue, which would be the amount of money businesses bring in through bets minus what is paid out to players.

A first vote on the 2025 supplemental budget and the 2026 budget is scheduled for July 14, followed by a second vote on July 28.