D.C. presses feds for budget bump

The leadership of Washington D.C. is citing security concerns while appealing to Congress for a multi-million dollar increase to its budgetary request from the federal government.  

“The District’s fiscal year 2025 budget request to Congress proposes $932 million for the District of Columbia, which is $142 million above the enacted level,” said Rep. Dave Joyce R- Ohio.  

“Notably, $47 million of this increase is due to a need for more emergency preparedness funding for the upcoming Presidential Inauguration. As a member of the House Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump, I take emergency preparedness very seriously.” 

Committee Chair Joyce’s statement opened a hearing by the House Appropriations Financial Services and the General Government Subcommittee on Tuesday. The hearing included testimony for Washington’s CFO, City Council Chairman, and Mayor Muriel Bowser who backed up the additional funding request with assurances about the city’s financial footing.   

“Our finances are strong,” said Bowser.  “We have balanced 29 consecutive budgets, achieved a triple-A bond rating and are the envy of mayors and governors across the country because of our strong finances.” 

The mostly congenial hearing marked the first time in nearly fifteen years that a Washington mayor testified before the Committee.  

Like the states, the District of Columbia receives grants from the federal government.  

The feds are also responsible for reimbursing the city for expenses incurred supporting federal activities, including the presidential inauguration. Congress maintains financial oversight over the city and affects the region’s local economy.  

“Our relationship with the federal government is expressly cited by the Wall Street ratings agencies as a risk factor,” said Council Chairman Phil Mendelson.  

“Congress’ inability to adopt appropriation acts on time, fights over the debt ceiling, the too often threats of a government shutdown, these federal problems increase our cost of borrowing.” 

The city’s downtown area and ridership on public transit has suffered from the work-from-home movement.  

“The district faces headwinds in our economy, primarily resulting from remote work,” said CFO Glen Lee. In many major cities including the district, office utilization remains 50% of what it was prior to the pandemic. For the district this means that on any given day, there’s 100,000 to 250,000 fewer people commuting to work in our offices.”  

Congress has a history of attaching contentious legislative riders to Washington’s budget requests including restrictions on cannabis sales, non-citizens voting rights, making right turns on red lights, and gun laws.  

“Washingtonians know how to govern themselves,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer D – Md. “They don’t need members from 1000s of miles away to weigh in on the specifics of how they run their city or to overrule what residents of D.C. want for themselves.”  

Washington leadership continues to advocate for statehood which would give the city more autonomy over its finances but faces stiff opposition from Republicans.