Trump Administration
Advertisement
The Senate approved a separate bill that allows D.C. to continue operating under its current budget, which seemed on track to pass in the House. Senator Susan Collins said it had President Trump’s support.
Campbell Robertson and Catie Edmondson
Reporting from Washington, D.C.
All week, residents of Washington, D.C., watched the shutdown debate in Congress with anxiety and anger, as one section of the continuing resolution keeping the government open would force on the city an immediate $1.1 billion budget cut.
But on Friday afternoon, shortly after the resolution was passed, the crisis for the District of Columbia seemed to have been averted, as the Senate overwhelmingly approved a separate bill that would allow the city to continue operating under its current budget without interruption. Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, cosponsored the legislation, describing it in remarks on the floor as a fix to a “mistake” in the continuing resolution.
The bill has to pass the House and be signed into law by President Trump. Ms. Collins also said that it had been endorsed by Mr. Trump and by Representative Tom Cole, Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, suggesting the bill’s passage in the Republican-controlled House was likely.
Phil Mendelson, the chairman of the D.C. City Council, said in a statement that his office was working with the district’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, “to garner House support,” adding, “I am confident that we will find a solution to this problem that has been handed to us by Congress.”
In a departure from years of practice, the House resolution, written by Republicans, included the district’s budget in a spending freeze across federal agencies that would keep it at last year’s fiscal levels. D.C. officials repeatedly pointed out in news conferences and meetings with lawmakers that federal payments make up only a tiny fraction of the city’s budget, which relies mostly on locally raised taxes, fees and fines. They also emphasized that this fiscal year’s budget, which the city has been operating on for six months, was approved by Congress in previous resolutions.
To account for the freeze, the city would have been forced to make broad cuts and would most likely have had to lay off many city employees, including teachers and police officers.
The turmoil prompted by that prospect only reinforced the district’s essential vulnerability.
With more than 700,000 residents, the city is more populous than both Vermont and Wyoming, but has no voting representation in Congress, holds little control over its criminal justice system and must submit all local legislation for congressional approval.
This year, some Republican lawmakers and even Mr. Trump threatened to strip the city of what limited self-government it currently has by repealing the 52-year-old Home Rule Act, which allows residents to elect a mayor and a City Council. Such a move would put the district entirely under federal control.
Isabelle Taft contributed reporting from Washington, D.C.
Campbell Robertson reports on Delaware, the District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, for The Times. More about Campbell Robertson
Catie Edmondson covers Congress for The Times. More about Catie Edmondson
Congress Cedes Power: On spending, oversight and other issues, Republican lawmakers have willingly turned over their constitutional powers over to the Trump White House.
Obscure Laws, ICE Agents and Fear: President Trump is clamping down broadly on dissent using the tools of the federal government.
Trump’s Big Bet: President Trump’s simultaneous trade wars with Canada, Mexico, China and the European Union amount to a huge economic and political gamble: that Americans will endure months or years of economic pain in return for the distant hope of re-industrializing the American heartland.
Birthright Citizenship Reaches the Supreme Court: Trump administration lawyers have asked the justices to lift a nationwide pause on the president’s order ending birthright citizenship.
Shake-Up at the I.R.S.: The Trump administration replaced the top lawyer at the Internal Revenue Service, a move that came as officials sought to gain access to the agency’s data.
E.P.A.: Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, reframed the purpose of the E.P.A., saying his agency’s mission is to “lower the cost of buying a car, heating a home and running a business.”
Travel Ban: The fate of thousands of Afghans waiting to reach the United States after serving with American troops was thrown into limbo after Trump took office. Now military veterans are scrambling before the administration introduces a travel ban that could restrict their entry.
How We Report on the Trump Administration
Hundreds of readers asked about our coverage of the president. Times editors and reporters responded to some of the most common questions.
Advertisement
