Thursday is a day for parent-teacher conferences in DC’s public schools, so kids are invited to a rally this morning to try to convince US senators to help fix the hole the GOP made in DC’s budget this past weekend.
“Recess at the Capitol” asks DC residents to “bring your kids, signs, crayons, and creativity to the Senate Hart Building Atrium” at 10 AM Thursday to protest the House’s adoption of a budget resolution that would hold DC spending to 2024 rates, which Mayor Muriel Bowser says will mean big cuts to the District’s education system and police and fire departments.
How did we get here? In short, DC’s government has to get Congressional approval for its budgets, even though it raises most of the money it spends. Less than one percent of DC’s budget comes directly from the feds; the rest is distributed as the same type of grants all US states receive. But they have representation in Congress, and DC does not. None of the money Congress wants to prohibit DC from spending will revert to the feds. DC politicians visited the Hill yesterday in hopes of coaxing some change.
Senate Democrats, particularly the four who represent neighboring Maryland and Virginia, may have a little leverage to force an update to the legislation. “Republicans should not be using the District of Columbia as their political punching bag,” US Senator Chris Van Hollen told Washingtonian yesterday. “This cap—which will not save federal dollars, but will limit DC’s use of its own local money—is an egregious example of Republicans’ unacceptable interference into the governance of DC as well as their disregard for District residents.”
Democrats in the Senate yesterday expressed some hope that they could affect the situation: If they’re able to convince the GOP majority to consider a 30-day continuing resolution instead of the six-month one Republicans are offering, “That would give us the ability to fix this for D.C.,” US Senator Tim Kaine told the Washington Post. Senators Mark Warner of Virginia and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland also expressed concerns about what the sudden budget crisis would mean for the Washington region.
But the prospects of a fix are not particularly excellent. The House adjourned after it passed its bill, and any changes the Senate wanted would require the GOP-controlled chamber to return to DC. As Punchbowl News wrote in an analysis piece Thursday morning, Democrats’ likely best prospect is that they’ll get an amendment vote that will let them “go on record opposing a shutdown while allowing Republicans to pass the House’s CR on their own.” The other prospect is a government shutdown, since funding for the federal government will run out Friday night.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
