Political Quotes

“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.…”