DC councilmembers request to meet with Mayor, CFO amid 2026 budget delays
'I just think this is all ridiculous and pedestrian and in fact embarrassing,' Ward 5 Councilmember Zachary Parker said.
The budget was due to the council by April 2.
Advocates express concern to lawmakers over proposed $1 billion cuts to DC budget
However, Mayor Muriel Bowser missed that deadline after Congress passed a spending bill that gutted D.C.'s current budget by a billion dollars. Her office has been working on a supplemental 2025 budget to address the gap while waiting to see if Congress will pass a funding fix to restore D.C.'s budget.
Meanwhile, the council set a second deadline of May 15 to receive the 2026 budget and the 2025 supplemental budget.
Chairman Phil Mendelson said that the deadline won't be reached.
'We're running out of time, in fact, I'd say we are out of time,' Mendelson said.
On Monday, Mendelson sent a letter to Bowser demanding that she turn over both budgets.
'It is disrespectful to the Council and the public … to continue delaying submission,' he wrote.
On Tuesday afternoon, he said he had not received a response to his letter from the Mayor's office. He said as of 9 a.m., the CFO had not received the 2026 budget in its entirety, only in piecemeal.
Once the CFO does receive the entire budget, it'll take the CFO 10 days to certify that the budget is balanced and get it to the council, according to Mendelson.
As the council waits in limbo, members are requesting a meeting with the Mayor and the CFO to discuss where things stand and how to move forward. That could potentially happen on Wednesday.
'I really think we just need to pull everyone into a room so that if there's a disagreement, we can figure it out and figure a path forward because every day that goes by, this hole is getting deeper,' Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen said.
Mendelson said if the council does not get the budget soon, he may consider legal action.
'As far as I'm concerned, all options are on the table,' he said. 'As you heard, members are clearly frustrated, the public is being disadvantaged, in fact, the operation of government is being jeopardized.'
Congress poised to force $1B cut to local DC budget, surprising many lawmakers
DC News Now reached out to Bowser, but she declined to respond.
At a press conference in April, Bowser maintained the budget was done but is being held up due to Congressional interference in the 2025 budget.
'We have no interest in hoarding the budget. We are done, we're talking about it, we want it to move. We have some things that need to happen,' Bowser said.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
23 minutes ago
- Forbes
Unprecedented Student Loan Overhaul In ‘Big Beautiful Bill' Passes House, Heads To Trump
Getty Images The House of Representatives on Thursday approved President Donald Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' that would make unprecedented changes to federal student loan programs. Republican lawmakers approved the bill on a narrow party-line vote, with all Democrats opposing the measure. The bill now heads to President Trump, who is expected to sign it on Friday afternoon. Never before has Congress passed legislation that would take away benefits and relief from current student loan borrowers and college-bound families on such a massive scale. Borrowers currently in repayment on their student loans or pursuing student loan forgiveness, as well as prospective students hoping to attend college or enroll in a graduate program, will now have fewer options to pay for school or manage their existing student debt. The bill would also impose new restrictions and paperwork requirements for Medicaid and nutritional benefits, which are expected to result in millions of Americans losing access to healthcare and food stamps. GOP lawmakers argued the cuts were necessary to address alleged waste and fraud, and to help offset the costs associated with massive tax cuts. Democrats countered that the bill would disproportionately benefit the wealthiest people, raise the cost of living for everyone else, and endanger the nation's fiscal health by ballooning the deficit. 'Republicans broke their promise to voters to lower costs, instead radically reshaping the way American families pay for the basics while sidelining the federal enforcement officials who hold big corporations accountable for treating families fairly,' said Mike Pierce, Executive Director of the Student Borrower Protection Center, in a statement earlier this week. 'This bill will drive patients deeper into medical debt, borrowers deeper into student debt, and working families deeper into debt to pay for higher energy costs, higher grocery bills, and more expensive cars and trucks.' Republicans, however, praised the legislation. 'The One Big, Beautiful Bill is one big, beautiful win for the American people,' said Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) in remarks on the House floor early Thursday. 'Americans struggled under crushing inflation driven by the Biden-Harris administration's outrageous spending. Even worse, the Biden-Harris administration spent billions on reckless student loan repayment pauses, forcing Americans who never set foot on a college campus to cover the costs of elite Ivy League degrees.' Here's what student loan borrowers need to know about the 'Big, Beautiful Bill,' and what comes next. Major Changes To Student Loan Repayment And Forgiveness When the Senate narrowly passed its own version of the bill earlier this week, there were some doubts as to whether the House would approve it, given some very significant differences between the Senate bill and the legislation approved by the House in May. But the Senate version of the bill ultimately won the day. The legislation will phase out most current income-driven repayment plans by July 2026. The SAVE plan, as well as ICR and PAYE, would no longer be an option for any borrower, including those who are now in repayment under those plans. Those who are enrolled in SAVE, ICR, or PAYE would, at some point between July 2026 and 2028, have to either enroll in IBR or a new income-driven plan created by the bill called the Repayment Assistance Plan. Switching to IBR could result in significantly higher monthly payments for many borrowers, particularly those who had been repaying their student loans under PAYE or SAVE. While RAP could be more affordable for some compared to IBR, the tradeoff would be an additional five to 10 years in repayment before the borrower could qualify for student loan forgiveness. Borrowers who lose access to their current repayment plan and fail to make a selection would be forced into a Standard plan, which could be unaffordable for many. Parent PLUS borrowers who have already consolidated their loans and are currently enrolled in any income-driven repayment plan would be able to maintain access to the IBR plan. But all other Parent PLUS borrowers would have a fairly limited window to act. They would have one year to consolidate their loans, or they could wind up being completely cut off from income-driven repayment and any possibility of eventual student loan forgiveness. The GOP bill would also suspend new regulations enacted under the Biden-Harris administration that expanded access to student loan discharge programs associated with school misconduct. And it would slash most of the funding allocated to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal watchdog agency created to oversee and regulate the financial services sector, including the student loan servicing industry. More Limited Student Loan Options Starting Next Year For prospective students and college-bound families, the 'Big, Beautiful Bill' would fundamentally change the landscape for higher education financing. For college students, Stafford loans would remain capped. Parent PLUS loans would still be available, but with severely reduced limits (a $65,000 lifetime cap). And any parent who already has a Parent PLUS loan, and then takes out a new Parent PLUS loan in 2026 or later, could become completely ineligible for any income-driven repayment program or student loan forgiveness, including through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. For graduate and professional students, financing options would also become more narrow. The bill eliminates the Graduate PLUS program, a federal student loan option that helps fund attendance at graduate and professional schools. Increased Stafford loan borrowing limits would partially offset the elimination of this option, but with lifetime caps of $100,000 for graduate students and $200,000 for professional students, it may simply not be enough to cover the full cost of expensive advanced degrees. Critics have argued that some prospective students may turn to riskier private student loans, or decide against going to medical or law school altogether, which would make existing shortages in high-need areas (like rural hospitals) even worse. And new borrowers who take out any federal student loans starting in July 2026 – regardless of whether they are graduate or undergraduate students – would have only two repayment plan options: a Standard plan on a 10 to 25 year term depending on the loan amount, or the RAP plan, which requires 30 years in repayment before the borrower could qualify for student loan forgiveness. Student Loan Forgiveness Under PSLF Is Intact But Still In Danger If there's any good news for borrowers, it's that Congress left the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, or PSLF, untouched. PSLF offers student loan forgiveness to nonprofit and government workers in as little as 10 years. An earlier provision of the 'Big, Beautiful Bill' would have locked new doctors and dentists out of PSLF, but this provision was dropped by the Senate before passage, and the House approved this modified version of the bill. But the Trump administration is separately working on a major PSLF overhaul through a rulemaking process that allows the Department of Education to change existing regulations governing federal student loans. The department completed a three-day negotiated rulemaking session this week as it works to implement President Trump's executive order issued in March that would restrict student loan forgiveness under PSLF for organizations that engage in activities with a 'substantial illegal purpose.' Critics have argued that the proposed rules are illegal without approval from Congress, and would allow the Trump administration to weaponize the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program against nonprofit organizations and state and local governments whose policies and missions don't align with the administration's.
Politico
28 minutes ago
- Politico
Johnson brings it home
The only thing standing between Republicans and passage of their 'big, beautiful bill' was one more speech from Speaker Mike Johnson. He started with jabs at Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for his eight-hour, 45-minute jeremiad against the bill."Ronald Reagan said one time no speech should be longer than 20 minutes,' the speaker said, slamming an enormous binder on his rostrum in mockery of the multiple binders Jeffries used. 'Today was about performance for some of them,' he said. 'But today for us is about results.' Johnson also accused Jeffries of using scripture 'mostly out of context' before launching into praise for President Donald Trump and megabill they expect to send to the president's desk within the hour. He went on to thank 'every member' of the House GOP conference for their input on the bill, a nod at the exhaustive negotiations Johnson brokered at multiple points this year, as well as the White House office of legislative affairs, who 'have basically lived with us the past few weeks,' he said. 'This is without a doubt the most important vote of this Congress and I think this may best the most important vote that any of us take in our entire lifetimes,' he added. 'We've heard enough talk; it's time for action.'
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
US Immigration Crackdown to Intensify With $150 Billion Infusion
(Bloomberg) -- US immigration enforcement is set for the most dramatic expansion in decades with the Republican-controlled Congress on track to approve a budget bill that will fund President Donald Trump's mass deportation plans. NYC Commutes Resume After Midtown Bus Terminal Crash Chaos Struggling Downtowns Are Looking to Lure New Crowds Massachusetts to Follow NYC in Making Landlords Pay Broker Fees Foreign Buyers Swoop on Cape Town Homes, Pricing Out Locals What Gothenburg Got Out of Congestion Pricing The sweeping legislation, which Trump said he wants to sign by Friday, allocates more than $150 billion for the administration's border and immigration crackdown. Most of the money will go to the Department of Homeland Security and its enforcement arms, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Coming on top of the agencies' existing budgets, it's an unprecedented funding surge that will supercharge efforts to build new detention centers, hire thousands of immigration agents and expand border wall construction. The bill also raises costs for those trying to stay in the country legally, increasing fees for work permits, asylum applications and humanitarian protections. The changes are part of a legislative package that also includes cuts to Medicaid and other federal safety-net programs along with tax cuts. 'It's beyond transformational,' said Gil Kerlikowske, head of CBP under President Barack Obama. 'It places them into a whole new era.' Border Wall Revival One of Trump's most iconic and divisive campaign promises — 'Build the Wall' — is now back at the center of US immigration policy. Although much of the roughly 450 miles (725 kilometers) of wall built during his first term replaced existing barriers, Trump is now eyeing fresh construction along vast stretches of the nearly 2,000-mile US-Mexico border. Backed by $46.5 billion in new funding, the administration has already begun fast-tracking wall contracts, including a $70 million award this spring to expand barriers in Texas's Rio Grande Valley, a once-busy corridor that now sees fewer than 45 illegal crossings per day. Another $309 million has been committed to a 27-mile stretch in Arizona's Tucson sector, where arrests have plummeted from daily highs in the thousands to dozens per day, according to CBP figures. Whether that much spending is warranted is up for debate. In June, DHS said arrests reached their lowest level in decades — a trend attributed to a combination of aggressive enforcement under Trump, Biden-era asylum restrictions still in place, and expanded Mexican policing efforts that stop migrants before they reach the US border. Detention Surge The new legislation earmarks $45 billion to expand federal immigration detention, a dramatic boost for ICE, which has struggled to find space for the growing number of people it's being directed to arrest and hold under the Trump administration's deportation strategy. By late June, ICE was holding over 59,000 people in custody, well beyond its funded capacity of about 42,000 beds. This came as the agency, under pressure to meet a quota of at least 3,000 arrests per day, has been conducting raids on workplaces, at courthouses and around migrant gathering points in cities from Los Angeles to New York. To accommodate the overflow, a new Florida state-run facility was opened this month in the remote Everglades, composed primarily of tents and trailers and dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz' for its swampy location. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told lawmakers in May that the administration wanted to more than double the number of immigration jail beds nationwide. Meanwhile, oversight of detention facilities is dwindling. Earlier this year, DHS shuttered its internal detention monitoring office. Lawmakers are now weighing whether to permanently eliminate the office's funding — a move that has alarmed civil rights groups. ICE Expansion ICE — the US agency most closely associated with the mechanics of deportation — will also see a $30 billion infusion, three times its annual budget. The money will be used to expand arrest and removal operations, hire more deportation officers and government attorneys, scale up technology and bolster transportation for detainees. The agency has already been relying on personnel from other agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service and National Guard units in LA, to support operations. Now, with tens of billions earmarked for hiring and training, ICE is expected to significantly expand beyond its current roster of about 6,000 agents. The White House says there'll be funding for 10,000 new ICE positions and $10,000 annual bonuses over the next four years. Border Patrol Hiring The bill sets aside another $6.1 billion for Border Patrol and customs officer hiring, aiming to lock in recent gains in border enforcement. The White House says the funding could support 8,000 additional hires across both agencies, along with bonuses. But even with money in hand, the Border Patrol has long struggled to fill vacancies. Extensive background checks and a rigorous training academy have historically slowed recruitment efforts. 'Money doesn't always solve everything,' said Theresa Cardinal Brown, a DHS official during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. 'There's logistics involved: the processes to recruit, hire, to go through the background checks and clearances and to then go through the academy.' Border State Reimbursements The package includes a $13.5 billion fund to reimburse state and local governments for their border security efforts since 2021. Texas stands to gain the most, with Republican Governor Greg Abbott seeking more than $11 billion to recover the cost of building state-funded border barriers and personnel expenses. Abbott said he spent millions of dollars busing and flying more than 120,000 migrants to US cities like New York and Chicago and as far away as China and Russia. Other states can apply for reimbursement for expenses tied to border operations or policing unauthorized immigrants who have committed crimes. The fund is seen as a victory for border communities that had frequently clashed with the Biden administration over taking enforcement into their own hands. Immigration Fees To help pay for the expanded enforcement regime, Republicans are targeting immigrants themselves. Proposed new and increased fees on applications for legal status, asylum and work permits could raise tens of billions of dollars of additional revenue a year. The bill proposes, among other things, imposing a minimum $100 fee to apply for asylum, $550 for employee authorization applications, $500 for Temporary Protected Status and $1,000 for most humanitarian parole applications, along with a fine of $5,000 for anyone caught crossing the border between ports of entry. Fee waivers for low-income applicants would be eliminated in most cases, a shift that immigrant advocates say could put legal pathways out of financial reach for many. SNAP Cuts in Big Tax Bill Will Hit a Lot of Trump Voters Too America's Top Consumer-Sentiment Economist Is Worried How to Steal a House China's Homegrown Jewelry Superstar Pistachios Are Everywhere Right Now, Not Just in Dubai Chocolate ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
