DC Council passes budget; protestors removed over tipped wage compromise
About an hour before the final vote, 15 to 20 protesters were kicked out of the D.C. Council Chambers and the Wilson Building for protesting changes to Initiative 82.
Chairman Phil Mendelson had them removed because they were being disruptive.
'I don't understand the disruptions because it's as if people think that somehow they will get more support if some disruptive and they scream and swear at anybody,' said Mendelson. 'I just don't understand that…The disruption makes it hard on everyone, the public who's here in the chamber and the public who's watching. We have to stop and wait.'
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Voters approved Initiative 82 in November 2022 to phase out the tipped minimum wage and align it with the standard minimum wage.
Councilmembers Christina Henderson and Charles Allen put forward an amendment they say is a compromise between what some workers want and what some restaurant owners want.
'It's a recognition that another steep increase in labor costs at this moment might change D.C.'s wonderful and overwhelmingly local restaurant industry,' Allen said. 'While it slows implementation down, it continues to close the gap between the tip minimum wage and the full minimum wage.
After passing with a vote of 7-5, the tipped wage will increase every two years until it reaches 75% of the full minimum wage by 2034.
The current tipped wage of $10 is frozen through the middle of next year. Starting on Jan. 1, 2026, employers have to give detailed breakdowns by source on pay stubs, including a list of bonuses, commissions on sales, service charges, or other sources.
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Councilmembers Lewis George, Nadeau, Parker and White voted no on the amendment.
'The restaurant industry is an incredibly volatile industry. That has been true before and after I-82. It is a high-risk, high- risk venture, not for the faint of heart,' said Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George. 'We need to prioritize helping restaurants adapt rather than continuing to make sacrifices at the expense of the workers who keep this economy strong. It is not within our ability to remove all risk from the restaurant industry.'
Initiative 83, which was passed overwhelmingly by voters in November 2024, will introduce ranked-choice voting. However, it is only funded for the upcoming general election, not the primary, after Councilmember Brooke Pinto's amendment failed.
Other issues included the Council having to cut $30 million on Monday because D.C.'s chief financial officer said it needed to be set aside for any overspending.
Funds are being cut from the pay equity fund, affordable housing trust fund and more.
The Council did prioritize the programs that are being cut, setting up plans on how to re-fund them if the money becomes available.
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'We used to lead the nation in terms of access to health care and, that's being rolled back. We're seeing that both on the local level and the national level,' Mendelson said. 'There were a lot of cuts the mayor proposed to environmental programs, I mean, I think it's fair to say devastating the environmental programs and those we were not able to restore, most of them.'
Mendelson is pleased that school funding is stable, with more money for education, as well as good funding for public safety.
'There's definitely stuff to be happy about, but there's also stuff that is very worrisome; some structural issues in the funding over the course of the financial plan,' Mendelson said. 'There are a lot of social service programs that were reduced. And how that's going to play out, don't know.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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