WASHINGTON — (AP) — Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser tried to keep the focus on a groundbreaking ceremony for a new mixed-used development. But she couldn't help fielding a string of questions about the budget crisis hanging over the nation's capital city.
Asked Monday about the risk of layoffs and furloughs, she said: “We’re hoping that we don’t get to that stage. If it comes to that, I can assure employees that they will be treated fairly … and I want to emphasize to them that this is not something that the D.C. government has done wrong and is not a case where we don’t have the money.”
Bowser and the District of Columbia Council are scrambling to address the crisis created by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. When Congress recessed April 10, it adjourned without addressing a $1.1 billion hole in the city's 2025 budget that was created when the House eliminated a little-known provision in a budget resolution.
The Senate proposed a simple fix that was publicly endorsed by President Donald Trump. But the House failed for three weeks to bring the fix up for a vote.
“I can only tell you how frustrating it is right now,” Bowser said last week. “We believed that the fix would happen, and we wouldn’t be running around planning for cuts.”
The situation reflects the city's unique relationship with Congress. The Constitution gives federal lawmakers authority over the District of Columbia, while the Home Rule Act of 1973 lets residents elect a mayor, a council and neighborhood commissioners. But Congress maintains significant control, including approving the budget and all laws passed by the D.C. Council.
The office of House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, did not respond to questions on the budget. The House returns Monday. A White House official contacted by The Associated Press reiterated that Trump's position has been made clear, publicly and privately, to House Republicans.
Bowser's government is unveiling a series of preliminary belt-tightening steps. A mayoral order last week established a spending freeze that paused all new hires, promotions, bonuses and new contracts. A freeze on all overtime starts Sunday. That includes police officers, although the Metropolitan Police Department — which relies heavily on overtime hours — may apply for a waiver.
Bowser also has invoked a 2009 law allowing the city to increase spending by 6%, shrinking the shortfall to $410 million. The office of the city administrator has been given a Friday deadline to present Bowser with a detailed plan for layoffs, furloughs and the closure of city facilities.
Bowser has spent months walking a public tightrope between her elected responsibilities and the demands of Trump and congressional Republicans. It's a challenge observers say is unique in American urban governance.
“People say being mayor of New York City is the toughest job in the country, and I’m like, hell no, it ain’t,” said Cliff Albright, executive director and co-founder of Black Voters Matter. “The toughest job is being mayor of D.C. because you’ve got all the constraints that every other city has. But you’ve got some extra constraints that no other city has to deal with.”
Bowser and Trump had a tense relationship during his first term. Now she is trying to work with the Republican leader, repeatedly emphasizing what she calls their "shared priorities." She cleared homeless encampments after Trump's complaints and ordered the dismantling of Black Lives Matter Plaza amid pressure from congressional Republicans.
Bowser acknowledged that her move on BLM Plaza would be unpopular among many voters. But she has publicly cast her current challenge in stark terms, suggesting that one of her biggest responsibilities is helping Washington maintain what autonomy it can while delivering residents the services they deserve.
With hundreds of thousands of federal employees expected to lose their jobs, Bowser said her focus must be on “making sure our residents and our economy survive.”
Bowser said she believed voters would trust her judgement as she navigated the second Trump administration. “They want us to be smart and strategic and get to the other side, and that’s my job," she said.
Phil Mendelson, D.C. Council chairman, said that while he would not have removed Black Lives Matter Plaza the way Bowser did, he sympathized with her position.
“The mayor is trying to find ways to minimize conflict with the administration, and unfortunately there's a need for that,” he said.
At-large council member Christina Henderson said the mayor and city officials must consider wider impacts at a time when Republicans control Congress and the White House, leaving the city minimal leverage and few options. “They can always take away home rule," she said. "Then where will we be?”
Unless the House restores the funding, Bowser has to come up with a supplemental budget to go into effect in the summer when the city "is getting ready to host the FIFA Club World Cup games, World Pride, the Fourth of July, and president now wants his military parade," Henderson said. "Who's staffing that if I don't have money to do overtime?"
The budget issue also has rekindled public calls for D.C. statehood. Anne Stauffer, vice president for issues and advocacy of the League of Women Voters of the District of Columbia, said the situation has placed the city's lack of basic autonomy in clear focus.
“We have a lot of empathy for all the choices that our elected leaders have to make given the sort of anti-democratic system that we’re under," Stauffer said.
The remedy, she said, is statehood: "States control their budgets.”
Some Bowser critics contend that she's been too quick to surrender in the face of pressure from Trump and congressional Republicans. Bowser “doesn’t have to be so complicit,” said NeeNee Taylor, co-founder of Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, an activist group against police overreach.
Taylor also said that D.C. statehood has become a nonissue and that city leaders and activists should focus on more immediate forms of resistance against encroachments on local autonomy.
“Right now we have to stop the grabbing of the power," Taylor said. "That’s what should be the message now instead of just yelling out, ‘Statehood.’”
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