House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) vowed the lower chamber would vote on a bill “soon” to address a roughly $1 billion funding gap in the District of Columbia’s local budget.
The issue has been stalled in the House for nearly two months since the Senate passed legislation on March 14 to prevent the funding shortfall, which was created due to a recently passed federal spending deal that reverted the Washington government’s 2025 budget to 2024 spending levels. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has been adamant that the lower chamber address the matter. President Donald Trump has also pushed Johnson to close the funding gap “immediately.”
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On Monday evening, Johnson revealed he had spoken to Bowser about the matter and told her the House would vote on the budget gap “as quickly as possible.” He said he had not been avoiding the issue due to political games but because his focus has been on other matters, including working through the federal budget reconciliation process.
“I talked to the mayor and told her that we would do it as quickly as possible,” Johnson told reporters. “Reconciliation has taken all of our energy right now, but we’re not delaying this for some political purpose or any intentionality. It’s just a matter of schedule, even at this point.”
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) is also pressing colleagues to address the funding gap.
“I’ve done everything I can to advocate for fixing it,” he told Politico. “I’m willing to do everything in my committee, for the most part.”
Last month, the mayor announced she would take action on her own to address the $1 billion budget cut. In a letter to Congress, Bowser revealed she was using a 2009 statute to boost the 2025 budget’s shortfall by nearly $700 million. However, the district still faces approximately $400 million in budget deficits.
That means Washington will need to make $410 million in budget cuts over the next few months if the House doesn’t act swiftly.
Bowser froze new spending in April and issued an order to city agencies to address the funding shortfall by instituting furloughs and freezes on hiring, overtime, and purchasing supplies. Her plan does not include any types of school closures.
Agencies can also request waivers under the mayor’s order, which the Metropolitan Police Department has already done. Bowser said on April 30 that she believes she authorized waivers for public safety agencies, although she declined to give further details.
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GOP fiscal hawks, particularly in the House Freedom Caucus, have expressed nonchalance about the issue, endorsing ideas to “put some guardrails on the spending,” and pressing Johnson to attach provisions to funding aid that would include requirements such as ordering Washington to require proof of citizenship for voting. Under a law passed in 2022, Washington allows noncitizens to vote in local elections.
“D.C. is complaining because they’re having their spending frozen. Come on, the average American thinks the governments are pretty wasteful, and I think they’d applaud a freezing spending,” Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), the head of the Freedom Caucus, told reporters earlier this month. “Read the Constitution. The federal government has the authority over the federal enclave. Period. Full stop. That’s it.”