[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 49 (Friday, March 14, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1772-S1773]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA LOCAL FUNDS ACT, 2025
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will
proceed to the consideration of S. 1077, which the clerk will report.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (S. 1077) to approve local funds for the District of
Columbia for fiscal year 2025, in accordance with the Fiscal
Year 2025 Local Budget Act of 2024, and to establish
provisions for the use of such funds.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. There will now be up to 10 minutes of debate,
equally divided.
The Senator from Maine.
Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, I am pleased to introduce this bill
with Senators Van Hollen, Murray, Alsobrooks, Warner, and Kaine. It has
been endorsed by President Trump and also by the chairman of the House
Appropriations Committee, Tom Cole.
This bill would simply fix a mistake in the House CR that prevents
the District of Columbia from spending its own tax dollars as part of
its budget, which Congress routinely approves. Congress approves the
authorization of the expenditure of DC local funds, which are paid for
by DC tax revenues.
The first CR that we enacted last year included language to approve
the DC's fiscal year 2025 budget, and that language was continued in
the second CR. However, the House did not extend this anomaly in the
yearlong CR. As a result, unless this bill is passed, DC would have to
operate under its fiscal year 2024 budget for the remainder of 2025,
potentially requiring $1.1 billion in local spending cuts.
Reducing DC's local funding expenditures will not result in a dollar
of Federal savings. Since October 1 of 2024, the District has been
operating under and spending at its approved level for the fiscal year
2025 budget. According to the CBO, this bill does not have any
budgetary cost to the Federal Government. There are no Federal dollars
involved. The issue here is just allowing the DC Government to proceed
to spend its own tax revenues.
Accordingly, I urge all of my colleagues to support this measure to
correct a true inequity.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Madam President, I want to thank Senator Collins for
working on an emergency basis to fix this problem in the House bill.
She said it well, so I only want to emphasize two points.
One, what the House did does not save the Federal taxpayer one
penny--not one penny. What it does is cap what the District of Columbia
can spend in using its own money and based on its own decisions. So
taxpayers are not saved a dime by what they did nor will they gain by
our fix. The people of the District of Columbia should be able to make
these decisions, and if they are having to make a budget with $1
billion less, it will mean fewer resources, fewer firefighters, and
less money for schools.
So I want to thank the Senator from Maine for working with us on
this. I am pleased to be joined by my colleagues from Virginia and
Maryland--Senator Warner, Senator Alsobrooks, and Senator Kaine. We
urge its adoption unanimously.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
Mr. WARNER. Madam President, I also want to thank my dear friend from
Maine. She is moving back up much higher on all of our lists for being
willing to step up and help correct this.
You know, we all want what the President wants. The President wants
our Nation's Capital to be the safest, cleanest, most welcoming city.
DC gets 26 million tourists every year. In 2026, we are going to
celebrate 250 years. We want to show off DC and the whole region. If we
allow this mistake to take place, DC will lay off cops. It will close
schools. It will shut down our trash removal. For those of us in the
region who use the Metro, there will be dramatic cutbacks.
Let's correct this mistake. Let's make sure that we show on our 250th
anniversary the cleanest, safest city in America. This will be a giant
step toward that.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
Ms. ALSOBROOKS. Madam President, I, too, want to thank Senators
Collins, Van Hollen, Warner, and Kaine. I am glad we can work together
in this bipartisan way to ensure fairness for the residents of
Washington, DC.
I rise today to speak for the over 700,000 DC residents who do not
have representation in this body. They are our friends and our
neighbors. Beyond those who work in DC, Maryland partners with DC on
resources like emergency services, police, water, and more. This
bipartisan, stand-alone bill ensures that DC tax dollars stay in DC.
Again, these funds that have been cut are tax dollars that have
literally already been paid by DC residents. All this bill does is to
continue to ensure that DC receives what it is owed. So I urge all of
my colleagues today to join me in voting yes.
Thank you.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
Mr. KAINE. Madam President, I can make it fast or slow.
I am joining all of my colleagues to advocate for this bill.
One-third of the Virginia population is a resident of the DC metro
area and enjoys this Capital, and 150,000 Virginians come to work in DC
every day. They want DC police and services to be well funded. Please
support this bill. Thank you.
Vote on S.1077
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the bill having been
read the third time, the question is, Shall the bill pass?
The bill (S. 1077) was passed, as follows:
S. 1077
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``District of Columbia Local
Funds Act, 2025''.
SEC. 2. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA LOCAL FUNDS.
Local funds are appropriated for the District of Columbia
for the current fiscal year out of the General Fund of the
District of Columbia (``General Fund'') for programs and
activities set forth in the Fiscal Year 2025 Local Budget Act
of 2024 (D.C. Law 25-218) and at rates set forth under such
Act, as amended as of the date of enactment of this Act:
Provided, That notwithstanding any other provision of law,
except as provided in section 450A of the District of
Columbia Home Rule Act (section 1-204.50a, D.C. Official
Code), sections 816 and 817 of the Financial Services and
General Government Appropriations Act, 2009 (secs. 47-369.01
and 47-369.02, D.C. Official Code), and provisions of this
Act, the total amount appropriated in this Act for operating
expenses for the District of Columbia for fiscal year 2025 by
this section shall not exceed the estimates included in the
Fiscal Year 2025 Local Budget Act of 2024, as amended as of
the date of enactment of this Act or the sum of the total
revenues of the District of Columbia for such fiscal year:
Provided further, That the amount appropriated may be
increased by proceeds of one-time transactions, which are
expended for emergency or unanticipated operating or capital
needs: Provided further, That such increases shall be
approved by enactment of local District law and shall comply
with all reserve requirements contained
[[Page S1773]]
in the District of Columbia Home Rule Act: Provided further,
That the Chief Financial Officer of the District of Columbia
shall take such steps as are necessary to assure that the
District of Columbia meets these requirements, including the
apportioning by the Chief Financial Officer of the
appropriations and funds made available to the District
during fiscal year 2025, except that the Chief Financial
Officer may not reprogram for operating expenses any funds
derived from bonds, notes, or other obligations issued for
capital projects.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table.
The majority leader.
Waiving Quorum Calls
Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the
mandatory quorum calls with respect to the Phelan and Landau
nominations be waived.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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