The Senate passed a bill Friday night to free up more than $1 billion in Washington’s city budget, fixing an omission in the government funding bill now on its way to the president’s desk.
Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) said on the Senate floor that President Donald Trump has “endorsed” the bill, along with House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.).
“There are no federal dollars involved,” Collins assured her colleagues before the Senate passed the bill by voice vote.
It’s still unclear when, and if, House Republican leaders will call a vote to pass the measure when they return from recess later this month, though Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), said it was “my expectation” that the GOP-controlled House would indeed take it up, especially if it has Trump’s support.
The House Republican-authored continuing resolution Congress cleared by the Senate on Friday night leaves out routine language allowing the capital city’s government to continue raising and spending local funds under its most recent budget. After District of Columbia officials warned that the omission would blow a more-than-$1 billion hole in the city’s budget, Collins and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) crafted the three-page measure to correct it.
“If we allowed this mistake to take place, D.C. will law off cops, it’ll close schools, it’ll shut down on trash removal — for those of us in the region who use metro, dramatic cutbacks,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said on the Senate floor.
The Senate vote on the Washington budget measure was secured as part of a broader agreement to speed up passage of the seven-month funding patch Congress cleared ahead of the midnight government shutdown deadline.
District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser noted during a press conference on Capitol Hill earlier this week that the omission is “not savings for the federal government” and “is simply damage to the District,” calling the exclusion a “$1.1 billion mistake.” But House GOP leaders did not opt to address the matter before passing their funding bill Tuesday to keep federal cash flowing through September.
City residents have been calling Senate offices all week, begging lawmakers not to vote on the continuing resolution without addressing the language affecting the District of Columbia’s budget. On Thursday, more than 100 parents and their children visited Senate offices to make their case in person.