[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 216 (Tuesday, December 23, 2025)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1244-E1245]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




INTRODUCTION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER SALARY 
                             HOME RULE ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 23, 2025

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today, I introduce the District of Columbia 
Chief Financial

[[Page E1245]]

Officer Salary Home Rule Act, which would give the District of Columbia 
authority to increase the pay of its Chief Financial Officer (CFO). The 
D.C. CFO is a local D.C. official and is paid with local D.C. funds. 
D.C. should have authority to set the pay of all its employees. In the 
117th Congress, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability 
passed this bill.
  Under the D.C. Home Rule Act, Congress established a maximum rate of 
pay of the CFO, and the D.C. Council does not have authority to 
increase that rate. Congress does not cap, or otherwise establish, the 
pay of any other D.C. employee. Under this bill, the CFO would be paid 
at the greater of a rate equal to the current maximum rate of pay or a 
rate established in law by D.C.
  D.C. requested that I introduce this bill to enable it to retain and 
recruit the best CFOs. The CFO was established by Congress in 1995. 
Congress vested the CFO with extraordinary powers and designed the CFO 
to be independent of the Mayor and Council. D.C. cannot obligate or 
expend funds without the CFO's approval that there are sufficient 
funds. The CFO manages a $22 billion budget that consists of state, 
county, and city functions, and the CFO has more than 1,700 employees. 
The CFO may be removed only for cause by the Mayor, subject to the 
approval of two-thirds of the Council and a 30-day congressional review 
and comment period. This bill would help maintain the independence of 
the CFO by establishing a permanent floor on the CFO's pay and by 
prohibiting the Council from reducing the CFO's pay during the CFO's 
term.
  Although the D.C. CFO is the most powerful non-elected official in 
D.C., a number of D.C. employees are paid more than the CFO. D.C. must 
compete with both the private and public sectors for high-quality CFOs, 
and there are many private and public-sector CFOs who are paid more 
than the D.C. CFO.
  This bill is critical to the financial operations of D.C. and is an 
important step to increase home rule for D.C. I urge my colleagues to 
support this bill.