U.S. Senate OKs Plan to Reinstate D.C.’s New Budget Level

The U.S. Senate acted quickly on Friday evening to pass a revised version of its federal spending bill that would allow Washington, D.C., to use its fiscal 2025 budget, but the District isn’t out of the woods just yet.

The updated bill is now in the hands of the House of Representatives, where it must be approved before it heads to President Donald Trump. The bill is largely expected to be approved, according to Axios, with co-author Sen. Susan Collins saying that the bill was supported by Trump and Republican House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole. However, the House is in recess until March 24 — and D.C.’s financial fate remains in limbo until members return.

The Senate earlier Friday passed a version of the spending bill approved by the House on Wednesday, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and eight other Democrats joining nearly all their Republican colleagues, but the language of the spending package was particularly notable to D.C. stakeholders for what it left out. The bill omitted language allowing the District to use its previously approved annual budget for 2025, essentially forcing it back to 2024 spending levels, a difference of some $1.1 billion.

“I am grateful for the Senate for working to correct this grave error that would have resulted in the immediate cut of more than $1 billion from D.C.’s local budget six months into D.C.’s fiscal year,” Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.’s non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives, said in a statement. “I will work with my colleagues to get the bill passed in the House.”

The vast majority of the District’s budget is funded by local tax revenue, though Congress still approves its budget each year during its appropriations process. 

On Friday night, Trump signed the current bill to narrowly avoid a government shutdown as the midnight deadline loomed. But its current language would require the district to make drastic cuts to programs like its Capitol Improvements Plan — which includes the $515 million plan to renovate Capital One Arena and the surrounding neighborhood, among other city infrastructure upgrades — alongside its police department, emergency services, educational system and Metro to make up for the deficit.

“Senate approval [on Friday was] a major first step as we continue working with the House of Representatives on final passage to ensure critical services provided in the nation’s capital, including our police officers, firefighters, teachers, medical services and hospital network, aren’t haphazardly cut in the middle of the fiscal year,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a statement on Friday night.

This story will be updated. 

Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.