It’s not 'crazy’ for DC to spend its taxes on schools and safety.
“Crazy stuff.”
That’s how one U.S. representative described DC’s plans for its 1 billion in tax dollars that the US House of Representatives is holding hostage.
A quick backstory for everyone who isn’t current — Congress passed a bill (to avoid a government shutdown) that forced DC to cut its budget by $1 billion. The Senate came to its senses and immediately passed a bill to fix this. President Trump supports it.
All eyes turned to the House of Representatives.
Two weeks have passed, and we’re still waiting.
“Momentum appears to be flagging,” Semafor wrote Wednesday.
It got worse on Thursday.
“We’ve urged the leadership to delay it until we get the budget resolution fixed, and then we should put requirements on that for the District of Columbia,” Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland told The Hill. “We should get the budget resolution agreed to before we take up an issue like whether or not, D.C. should be able to spend that billion dollars on whatever crazy stuff they want to spend it on.”
Here’s the crazy stuff that DC would have to cut — schools, police, firefighters & clean water. DC already had this budget approved last year, but then it was caught up in the government shutdown saga. Now DC may have to make cuts in the middle of a fiscal year.
DC tax dollars will sit idle as our city is forced to lay off teachers, firefighters and police officers. Oh, the irony of law-and-order Republicans forcing a Democrat-led city to defund its police department.
It’s a reminder that DC is a city of 700,000 second-class Americans who have no vote in Congress. The District “remains at the mercy of federal lawmakers,” as The Washington Post put it.
Hakeem Jeffries, who leads the House Democrats, said he hasn’t even spoken with Speaker Mike Johnson about the DC bill.
If DC were a priority, wouldn’t that conversation have happened already?
We’re already seeing negative impacts from this delay. DC may have its bond rating downgraded.
The 50 states need to come to DC’s aid.
Please urge your friends and family in other states to call their representative and urge them to vote for the District of Columbia Local Funds Act.
Here’s how they can identify their Congressperson.
Here’s what they could say:
1. “Hi! My name is ____________. I’m calling in support of the 700,000 residents of the District of Columbia. How are you today?”
Give the staffer a chance to respond.
2. “I’m calling about the DC Local Funds Act. This bill would restore the District of Columbia’s ability to spend its tax dollars on DC’s schools, Metro system, emergency first responders, and more. Does your office know about the bill?”
IF YES:
“Great! DC residents really want this bill to pass — and so does DC’s mayor, its Councilmembers, and the US Senate. I’m sure you saw that the Senate passed this bill with unanimous bipartisan support.”
“Everyone will lose out if DC can’t spend local money on the things that keep the city running. Does your member support the DC Local Funds Act?”
IF YES:“That’s wonderful to hear! Thank you so much for your support.”
IF NO OR UNCERTAIN:
“Oh okay, I can tell you about it briefly. This bill would restore DC’s authority to spend their own local tax dollars. This provision was left out of the continuing resolution, and without it DC’s local funding is frozen.”
“These are DC’s local funds, not any federal money, and CBO scoring confirms that the freeze included in the continuing resolution doesn’t benefit the federal budget at all. The DC Local Funds Act will allow DC to continue running basic services like trash pickup, Metro, and emergency first responders that serve the 700,000 DC residents”
“DC’s mayor, Councilmembers, and the U.S. Senate all support this bill. The Senate passed it with unanimous bipartisan support.”
“I hope your office will support the DC Local Funds Act. Have a great day.”
(Thanks to FreeDC for creating this script, which I’ve edited slightly.)