Congress left town this week without passing laws to prevent major budget cuts in Washington. This is because the measure faces solid opposition from some conservatives.
The measure passed the Senate quickly last month, but it splashed out at GOP-led homes despite President Trump's publicly asking for it to pass.
As lawmakers prepared to leave for a break Thursday, House majority leader Steve Scullies (R-La.) said the bill was placed on the backburner as GOP leadership worked in both rooms to adopt budget resolutions to advance the president's drastic tax priorities.
“It's still a debate and I want to get it done as soon as possible,” he told Hill. “We're talking to the president, the senator and the DC, so we're going to get there.”
However, when asked if the bill would need to be sent to the Senate to approve a potential change, Scalise said he was unsure.
House holdups will need democratic-led districts to meet to spend their local dollars as GOP leaders face pressure from the right flank to attach potential riders and requirements.
DC officials began warning about the threat of cuts as Congress opened until September last month and Congress moved to pass the law to continue funding.
Unlike previous StopGap funding bills, the latest language has enabled DC to use local budgets (consisting primarily of funds) that are made up of funds from local taxes, fees and fines at the already approved 2025 level. DC was recognized in the 1970s for what is known as the “Home Rules,” but its budget is still approved by Congress.
Without that language of the bill, DC would have been treated like a federal agency and forced to return to 2024 spending levels. City officials said they would be forced to cut $1 billion in the past half of the fiscal year.
The Senate approved amendments to prevent these cuts soon after federal funding.
“This bill would simply correct a mistake in the house [continuing resolution] This prevents the District of Columbia from spending its own taxes as part of the budget that Congress routinely approves,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Susan Collins (R Maine) said of the measures at the time.
Trump also called on the GOP-controlled House to “quickly” take away the DC budget bill despite its efforts to control district operations.
But speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) also faces pressure from the right flank to delay review of the bill as conservatives have come to light on the district's requirements. Some Republicans have also questioned the seriousness of DC's potential cuts.
“House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris (R-MD.) told Hill last month.
Harris said conservatives “need a bit of time to come up with a list of what requirements should be listed in DC,” but he “stripped the district in the past to spend the dollar in ways we thought were pretty stupid.
House Budget Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said earlier this month there was debate over “normal restrictions on DC funds, such as abortions,” and whether it would need to be added to the bill.
“There's a debate among people who know more about the law than me as to whether or not there's a need to add language, and I'll let it be organized on the committee,” he said. “But I'm because the money is recovered, but I'm also because the restrictions are appropriate.”
When asked about potential changes to the bill, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Kommer (R-KY.) said on Wednesday that the committee has jurisdiction over DC, “we're just waiting to hear from leadership.”
“The White House shows they want to support it. We said we need to support it. I've been vocal about it,” he said.
“I don't know if they have plans to paste it on another bill. I don't know,” he said, postponing it to Johnson and Scullies.
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (DN.Y.) told the hill this week that it would need to “pass in the way it came from the Senate to the House.”
“Donald Trump told them to do that, and they're usually in line and we're pushing Johnson,” he said before the house left for that two-week break.
In a post urging the House to pass the measures, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) wrote to X on Thursday that Trump and Johnson “have to act” to avoid a billion-dollar cuts.
“These are our local dollars. Not federal savings pennies. They are cuts that affect the overtime, firefighters and programs for children at DC police,” she writes. “A cut will also affect the national special security event. The house should not be bored until this bill is passed.”
a Recent ReportsAxios also showed that the district plans to begin implementing cuts once lawmakers return home. A familiar source told Hill on Friday that the district is “prepared for any unforeseen circumstances.”
Bowser's office warns that local public safety, education and essential services will be at risk if cuts are made. The office also said that “immediate and unexpected layoffs of direct service workers” would be effective if DC is forced to make such cuts and if “direct service residents and visitors exclusion” is dependent.
Dell in a statement to Hill on Friday. “It's a shame, and has delayed voting for bills passed in the Senate, and has given up on DC's continued permission to allow DC to spend its own local funds, like other local jurisdictions.
“Members opposing the DC Budget Amendment Bill have not been elected by DC residents, are not familiar with the needs of the 700,000 people living here, and are not accountable to the district as DC residents cannot be in office,” she continued, adding that the ongoing ordeal “will help highlight the needs of DC state.”
