WASHINGTON – The District of Columbia submitted its enacted $13.4 billion fiscal 2017 budget and 2017-2020 capital plan to Congress and President Obama Wednesday, defying Republican legislation that would curtail any such action without congressional approval.
In a letter sent to President Obama Wednesday, District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser called the budget – the first to be enacted under local budget autonomy in D.C. history – "historic," but added that it has "inflamed some members of Congress."
The budget includes two bills: one as a budget request act for federal funding, and a second for local funding through the district's regular legislative process. Bowser called it a "Fair Shot" budget because of the funding it would provide for schools, housing, emergency services, and other local infrastructure improvements. Acting under budget autonomy, the district would simply submit the budget to Congress for a 30-day passive review before it becomes law.
"We are transmitting this budget to you for information, not because we are asking for its inclusion in your appropriations requests to Congress," Bowser wrote. "It is especially critical that measures interfering with budget autonomy be stopped in the Senate or be vetoed by you, as we need to begin spending our FY 2017 monies on October 1."
President Obama, who has been a proponent of D.C. home rule and local budget autonomy, has threatened to veto any legislation that would impede the district's push to spend its own tax dollars without federal approval.
In a statement issued this week, the White House Office of Management and Budget called any denial of local budget autonomy an "affront" to D.C. residents and a disservice to a "well-functioning democracy."
"The residents of the district and their elected leaders deserve to have the same ability as other U.S. residents and elected leaders to determine how to use their local revenues," White House officials said. "The administration urges the Congress to adopt provisions included in the FY 2017 budget request that would permanently allow the district to use local funds without congressional action."
The D.C Council unanimously passed the fiscal 2017 budget on May 31, arguing the move was protected under the district's Local Budget Autonomy Act of 2013 that eliminates the need for Congress and the president to sign off on appropriations of D.C.'s own funds. That act was ruled lawful under district law in March by a District of Columbia Superior Court judge.
However, Republicans have sought to include D.C.'s budget in the House fiscal 2017 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill. Budget autonomy is seen as a first step toward home rule for the district, which would likely mean adding Democrats to a Republican-controlled Congress should the district, a historically liberal stronghold, achieve statehood.
A bill introduced by Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's government operations panel, would repeal D.C.'s Local Budget Autonomy Act of 2012 and amend its Home Rule Act of 1973 to clarify that district funds are subject to congressional approval.
The Clarifying Congressional Intent in Providing for DC Home Rule Act of 2016 (H.R. 5233), passed the House by a 240-179 vote on May 26, but the Senate has yet to vote on it. Meadows has also warned of possible federal and administrative charges against district employees if the budget were to be passed without final congressional approval. Leading Republicans including House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, have also opposed home rule and local budget autonomy, which they have said undermines the Constitution.
Democrats including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district's non-voting delegate and member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee's government operations panel; and Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, have expressed their support for home rule and budget autonomy.
Federal law states that D.C.'s annual budget must be approved by a majority or two-thirds district council vote as well as appropriation passed by Congress and signed off by the president.
The March D.C. Superior Court ruling requires the district to only ask Congress for appropriations for the federal payments portion of the budget – roughly 10% of the total budget.
Bowser said the district raises more than 70 percent of its budget in local funds, and expressed disappointment that it could not utilize those funds without congressional approval until now. She added that her office would stay in close touch with Obama's office throughout the summer and fall to "be sure that budget autonomy continues in force."
D.C Council chairman Phil Mendelson said in a letter sent Wednesday to Ryan and Vice President Joe Biden that $10 billion of the total budget is locally raised through district taxes and fees from other local sources, while the remaining $3.3 billion is federal formula spending and federal grants available to all jurisdictions.
Less than 1% of the budget comes from federal payments specifically requested for district programs or projects, Mendelson added. The district's $13.4 billion fiscal 2017 budget is 3.1% higher than the previous fiscal year's budget, which D.C. chief financial officer Jeffrey DeWitt attributed to an 11.1% population growth over the past decade.
The fiscal 2017 budget includes $1 billion in funding for school improvements, $100 million for the Housing Production Trust Fund and funding to grow the size of the district's emergency services.
The district's 2017-2020 capital plan includes funding to close the dilapidated D.C. General homeless shelter and instead invest money into other district-owned shelters, Mendelson said.
