For all the latest developments in Congress, follow WTOP Capitol Hill correspondent Mitchell Miller at Today on the Hill.
More National Guard troops are scheduled to arrive this month in D.C. and there are no signs the federal law enforcement surge will end any time soon, as Congress considers new legislation aimed at reducing crime in the District.
At the same time, D.C. leaders can’t understand why the U.S. House has failed for months to address a budget glitch that left the District without $1 billion, which could help address public safety.
“The president and Republicans in Congress intentionally limited D.C.’s ability to spend its own local funds,” said D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, raising the issue at a recent news conference, where she spoke out against the continuing presence of the National Guard in the District.
Norton said the funding “could have further funded D.C. police, fire and emergency response services and other public safety issues.”
Mayor Muriel Bower has said the District needs to hire 500 more police officers to get D.C. police to the level she believes is needed.
Bowser has tried to balance Trump’s demands with the concerns of other D.C. leaders, who feel the president has gone too far in his crime crackdown.
The president on Monday threatened to call a national emergency if D.C. doesn’t do more to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Bowser is scheduled to testify Thursday with other D.C. leaders before the House Oversight Committee, which recently advanced several D.C. anticrime bills.
WTOP recently reached out to Bowser’s office to get her thoughts on the House inaction on the D.C. funding matter.
A spokesman referred to statements made earlier this year, when the mayor first learned about the problem, which led her to announce a hiring freeze and take several other actions to try to mitigate its impact.
Could measure to avert government shutdown help DC get its money?
House Speaker Mike Johnson had indicated earlier this year that the lower chamber would vote on the D.C. matter, after the U.S. Senate approved a measure to take care of the budget glitch. But that never happened.
The White House, meanwhile, has sent House Republicans a list of things it would like to be addressed in a short-term spending bill to prevent a government shutdown, when funding runs out Sept. 30.
One of the items — known as funding anomalies — is to restore the $1 billion to D.C. The request would include legislative language so that D.C. “has the authority to spend in FY 2026 funds received from local tax revenues” from its local budget.
After the Senate took action earlier this year, the president indicated he had no problem with legislative action on behalf of D.C. But many House conservatives didn’t see a need to act on it and Johnson let the matter drop over the summer.
It remains unclear whether the president’s request will be acted upon in a continuing resolution that House GOP leaders hope to take up later this week.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland urged the House last month to vote on the D.C. budget fix, which he had sponsored in the Senate.
Federal crime crackdown continues
As D.C. leaders await word on whether the District will get its money, more National Guard troops are expected to arrive in D.C. any day now. Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has activated 300 National Guard troops.
They are in addition to 2,300 National Guard personnel from D.C. and six other states. All the states that have sent National Guard units to the District are led by Republican governors.
House Republicans, meanwhile, hope to approve several D.C. crime bills this week. One would allow those charged with some violent crimes at the age of 14 to be tried as adults. Another would make a change so that those over the age of 18 could not be treated as juveniles in connection with their punishment.
The legislation also includes a bill that would loosen current restrictions on D.C. police carrying out vehicular chases of criminal suspects.
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