DC mayor works to reduce impact of $1.1 billion in spending cuts

While the D.C. government prepares to make hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts that likely mean layoffs and reductions in services, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Monday she’s invoking a little-known law allowing the District to avoid more than $600 million of the $1.1 billion in cuts included in Congress’ continuing resolution to keep the federal government running.

The move still leaves the District with about $410 million to cut by September.

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When Congress passed the CR, a provision that would have exempted D.C. from any impact was omitted. Bowser said that would be devastating to public safety and basic services, including schools and transportation.

In a letter to Congress, Bowser warned the cuts will “force reductions in critical services including police and fire,” but she remains hopeful the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives will vote to eliminate the budget cuts entirely when they return from recess later this month.

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“We need the Congress to act,” Bowser said. “What we're doing is a stopgap. It doesn't address the issue, and as you mentioned, it leaves still hundreds of millions of dollars of money that we have that will be in the bank that cannot be used on critical service for the residents of the District of Columbia. So, it is a notification; it is not a fix for the entire problem.”

Bowser will submit a supplemental budget for the D.C. Council to approve within the next 30 days. That budget will detail what programs and services would be impacted and who might be laid off.

“I think when you talk about cutting $400 million … and given the amount of time we have left in our fiscal year — six months — there, I can't say, I can't take off the table job impacts,” the mayor said.

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While Bowser needs Council approval to cut jobs and services, she can issue an executive order to freeze spending — a move the mayor said she’s likely to make any day.

“Immediately, we will limit spending in the government,” she said. “I think that's the immediate thing that I will notify all of mayoral agencies.”

News4 reached out to House Speaker Mike Johnson and other members of Congress who received the notice from Bowser but has not heard back.

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