The bill House Republicans introduced Saturday to keep the government open would cut Washington, D.C.’s 2025 budget by $1 billion.

The continuing resolution would treat Washington’s budget like a government agency’s, rolling back discretionary funding. It would also break with 20 years of precedent. Since 2004, Congress has allowed Washington to maintain its budget levels without disruption if a stopgap funding bill needed to be passed. 

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If the continuing resolution is passed, Washington’s 2025 budget will be undone. The city would revert to its 2024 budget until Congress passes new appropriations by Oct. 1. 

The cancellation of the $21 billion budget would result in the city losing 16% of its funding. Mayor Muriel Bowser said this could cause the city to lay off teachers, police officers, and other front-line workers.

The vast majority of Washington’s budget is funded by D.C. taxpayer dollars and not federal funds. 

“It is nonsensical,” District of Columbia Council Chairman Phil Mendelson told the Washington Post. “The effect of what they’re trying to do would be to cut back spending by police and other public safety agencies as well as agencies that deal with the cleanliness of the city, public education, and so forth.”

“They would realize no savings from this because these are not federal dollars,” Mendelson continued.

The budget for fiscal 2025 was passed by the D.C. Council in June 2024 and then approved by Congress. Councilmembers sparred with Bowser over her proposed cuts to the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund, which subsidized day care. In the end, they took out the cuts and instead raised taxes more than Bowser proposed.

Now, the district may lose $1 billion in funding halfway through the fiscal year. 

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), a top member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, stressed how this continuing resolution threatens Washington’s home rule. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has previously said he wanted to take control of Washington. 

“This CR … would cut D.C.’s funding and impact Home Rule mid-way through the fiscal year when D.C. is already spending at its ostensibly Congressionally approved FY25 levels,” a memo from Murray’s office published late Saturday reads. “This means a nearly $945 million cut for the District, impacting teachers, firefighters, and law enforcement.”

GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN: WHAT HAPPENS IF CONGRESS DOESN’T PASS A STOPGAP SPENDING BILL

Meanwhile, Bowser is just weeks away from delivering a 2026 budget proposal to the D.C. Council, but this latest budget debacle could cause complications. The city faces a $1 billion deficit over the next four years.

Congress has until March 14 to pass a bill or face a government shutdown.