Washington (AP) – The Senate quickly approved the legislation that would enable the District of Columbia to keep its budget intact instead of returning to 2024, and had determined the determination of the mayor and the residents that it would require $ 1 billion for cuts.
The bill went unanimously, without contradiction and now into the house. The legislator is available on a break, but is expected to consider it when they return at the end of March.
“The only problem here is that the DC government can spend its own tax revenue,” said Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, Chairman of the Mighty Committee for the Appropriation of the Senate, during a tiny debate over a tiny floor.
Collins said that the legislation would correct the situation that arose from the wider package to prevent state closure, and assured: “There are no federal dollars involved.”
After the vote on Friday, the Mayor of DC, Muriel Bowser, published an explanation: (*1*)
The sudden focus on the District of Columbia was startled by its leaders and residents who hurried to Capitol Hill this week to protest how the congress disrupted its government. The residents flooded the senators’ offices and asked for the change.
While the district administration has won the authority’s authority, he stands in the hands of the Republican majorities that have proposed more federal control with up-to-date threats as a congress, which maintains the ultimate supervision of the region of 700,000 people.
The problem occurred in the Republican package from the Republican from the Republican to finance the federal government on Friday Friday to prevent shutdown. There was no routine provision that allows the budget of the district of Colombia, which mainly consists of his own tax revenue, but is subject to the approvals of the congress. Instead, it kept the district’s budget to 2024 level, which would essentially lead to a reduction in $ 1 billion for the police, education and other services.
The senators could not change the federal financing package or risk state closure. When the separate law passed, however, they were on the way to remedy the situation for the District of Columbia.
“Very good news,” said Chuck Schumer, a democratic chairman of the Senate, and announced the agreement. “We ask the house to act quickly.”
Bowser, who worked on ensuring a work relationship with the Trump government in a city that is routinely correct for Democrats, stood outside the US captol with members of the city council and asked the Congress.
Last month, President Donald Trump said Washington, DC, would be better with the entire federal control, and two Republicans offered legal provisions to do exactly that.
Bowser tried to clear up Trump’s concerns and that of Republicans, including the recent removal of the Black Lives Matter Plaza, which was built in 2020, a block from the white house.
“It is not really complicated for me. The people in DC deserve a fair shaking, ”said Senator Ron Wyden, D-Oregon. ___
