Bowser to increase DC funds by 6% to counter Congress’s budget cuts – Washington Examiner
Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has announced a proposal to increase the city’s fiscal 2025 budget by up to 6% to counteract recent cuts imposed by Congress, which reverted the city’s funding to 2024 levels. In a letter to Congress, Bowser referred to a 2009 statute that allows for such increases if revenues support them, potentially adding nearly $700 million to the current budget. This move aims to uphold essential public services and maintain financial stability, especially for key agencies like the Metropolitan Police and Fire and Emergency Medical Services. Bowser emphasized that failure to reinstate the full 2025 budget could lead to meaningful reductions in critical services. The proposed budget had originally totaled $13.2 billion, an increase of $1.1 billion from the prior year, but with the House’s recent vote, Bowser faces a challenge to find alternatives to address the funding gap. A bipartisan solution aims to prevent the immediate cuts,but its progress in the House remains uncertain.
Bowser hiking local fund appropriations 6% to counter Congress’s roll back on DC budget
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser notified Congress that she is boosting the city’s fiscal 2025 budget by up to 6% to make up for Congress’s spending cuts for the city.
In a letter to Congress, Bowser said she was using a 2009 statute “that allows the city to increase an approved budget up to 6% if revenues indicate that we have those revenues.” This increase could add nearly $700 million to the current budget, helping offset the budget cuts required by the House’s continuing resolution that set the city’s 2025 funding back to 2024 levels.
“This action is necessitated by the removal of standard language in the Full-Year Continuing
Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 (‘Full-Year CR’), which would have permitted the
District to expend local, budgeted revenues at the already approved Fiscal Year 2025 amounts,” Bowser wrote in the letter, addressed to Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the chairs of the House and Senate appropriation committees.
“As a result of this Congressional action, the District must act to ensure the continuity of essential
public services and maintain sound financial management of local operations,” she added, hoping to avoid major slashes to the city’s plans and workforce.
Nevertheless, Bowser warned of cuts to critical services if the 2025 budget isn’t reinstated.
“Without the ability to fully execute the Fiscal Year 2025 budget as adopted and approved by the
District, this gap will force reductions in critical services provided by our largest agencies,
including public safety agencies such as the Metropolitan Police Department and Fire and
Emergency Medical Services Department,” she said.
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The 2025 budget passed by the district was $13.2 billion, an increase of $1.1 billion from 2024. The House voted to scale back the city’s spending to 2024 levels in March, sparking a crisis as Bowser scrambled to find how to cut $1.1 billion. An increase of 6% would spare much of the city from cuts but still leave $400 million to reach the original 2025 budget total.
Collins and the Senate have passed a bipartisan fix to prevent the immediate $1.1 billion cut to the city’s budget, with the action stalled in the House.
The full letter can be read below.
Ross O’Keefe contributed to this report.
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