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[quote=Anonymous]Other threads have covered this: the current continuing resolution being considered by the Senate will force DC to cut $1 billion of our own mostly local funds over the next six months. It makes no allowance for the fact that DC already has its fiscal year 2025 budget halfway through, so we can’t ’hold to 2024 levels’ because our budget for this year is half spent! They just want to treat us like any federal agency, even though we’re not.
We DC don’t have our own senators, so we can’t protect our families from the enormous hits to emergency services, education, safety, and the like. But if you care about us or about the health of the district, overall, would you consider calling your Senator and urging them to vote no on the CR or at the bare minimum to support Senator Alsobrooks’ amendment to exempt the District?

Here are some talking points I got from a DC Councilmember:

Please don't vote to cut the District's local budget.

The cuts proposed in the Continuing Resolution will immediately jeopardize public safety and core government functions. The unprecedented decision to decimate the District's budget mid-year would result in immediate and far-reaching cuts to our most critical government services, including police officers, firefighters, and teachers. Those agencies’ budgets are mostly salaries, so a reduction of $1.1 billion will require immediate RIFs, furloughs, and hiring freezes. This will make our streets less safe, lengthen wait times for fire and EMS calls, keep people on the street who could move out of homelessness, delay trash collection, and freeze teacher hiring.

These are DC funds, not federal funds – paid by our residents – and if cut, they would go unspent. Because these funds come from locally paid tax dollars, they won’t somehow return to the federal government if they're cut. A 16% cut to the District’s local spending in this current year – which we're already halfway through – won't result in "efficiency," and it will mean these local tax dollars literally sit unused and wasted in a lockbox while city services deteriorate.

Including these cuts would have a devastating and immediate impact on the District’s economy and undermine our shared goal of ensuring the nation’s capital remains a place all Americans can be proud of – especially when combined with the recent economic forecast indicating we’re moving toward a local recession in our four-year financial plan due to federal government layoffs. Moody’s rating agency is now considering downgrading the District’s bond rating due to the Administration's layoffs, which will make borrowing more expensive and cost much more to build or repair schools, bridges, and roads. This will exacerbate the situation further.[/quote]

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