Senate unanimously approves fix to prevent $1B cuts for District of Columbia, sending bill to House [View all]

Source: AP

Updated 7:19 PM EDT, March 14, 2025


WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate swiftly approved legislation late Friday that would allow the District of Columbia to keep its budget intact, rather than roll back to 2024, fixing a provision that had drawn protests from the mayor and residents warning it would require $1 billion in cuts to services.

The bill passed unanimously, without dissent, and now heads to the House. Lawmakers there are on recess, but expected to consider it when they return in late March. “The issue here is just allowing the D.C. government to proceed to spend its own tax revenues,” said Sen. Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, the chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, during a brief floor debate.

Collins said the legislation would correct the situation that arose from the broader package to prevent a government shutdown, and assured, “There are no federal dollars involved.”

The sudden focus on the District of Columbia startled its leaders and residents, who rushed to Capitol Hill this week to protest the way Congress was interfering with its governance. Residents have been flooding senators’ offices, demanding the change.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/dc-budget-trump-congress-gop-29738c7281955d77075c8b98009f860e

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The $1billion cut of D.C.'s funding was a provision included in the DIRTY C.R. they just passed, so apparently a bone was thrown and a standalone "fix" restoring the money, was passed by unanimous consent in the Senate. It would still need the House to pass it and they are gone until near the end of the month.

D.C. had a big lobbying effort for this including bringing school kids in per an article I saw yesterday.