By ASHRAF KHALIL, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is pushing the House of Representatives to pass a measure that would prevent immediate financial disaster for the District of Columbia even as he continues to level harsh criticism at the city and its leaders.
In a Friday morning post on Truth Social, he wrote, “The House should take up the D.C. funding ‘fix’ that the Senate has passed, and get it done IMMEDIATELY.”
It’s the first direct public indication from the Republican president that he supports efforts to restore a $1.1 billion hole in the district’s budget, and it’s a major boost for Democratic Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser’s campaign to reverse a legislative change that she says would devastate the capital city.
Earlier this month, the House passed a federal government funding bill that would force the district’s government to revert to its 2024 budget parameters, effectively cutting $1.1 billion from its budget midway through the financial year.
Bowser spearheaded an intense congressional lobbying campaign to prevent the change, saying it would result in immediate across-the-board cuts to staffing and programs, including teachers and police officers being laid off.
The Senate approved the funding bill with the cut but immediately followed up with a separate bill that would make the district’s budget whole again. That measure now awaits House approval, and Bowser has delayed unveiling her 2026 budget plan until the issue is resolved.
Despite indications that Trump supported the budget fix, he had not publicly weighed in until now. The House adjourns for its spring recess on April 11, and House Republican leadership has remained vague on the topic, with Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana saying Tuesday that it was too early to confirm when the House would vote on the budget fix.
“We’re working through that,” Johnson said.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana said earlier this week that the district’s claim of financial ruin “sounds overstated.”
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said Thursday that the April 11 recess provides a natural deadline and a sense of urgency.
“It needs to happen before we go on the next district work period, which means it should occur either next week or the week after next,” Jeffries said.
Speaking before Trump’s Friday posting, Jeffries said, “apparently even Donald Trump himself has expressed support for the need to correct this egregious error.”
Trump’s endorsement of the budget fix comes amid a flurry of attention on the nation’s capital, with the president issuing a series of statements and executive orders targeting crime, homelessness, immigration policy and gun control in the district.
On Thursday night, Trump issued an executive order establishing the inter-departmental D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force, which he said would coordinate with local officials on such things as enforcing federal immigration law, including deporting people living illegally in the city, boosting the law enforcement presence and increasing the speed and lowering the cost of processing applications to carry concealed weapons.
“America’s capital must be a place in which residents, commuters, and tourists feel safe at all hours, including on public transit. Its highways, boulevards, and parks should be clean, well-kept, and pleasant,” the order stated. “Its monuments, museums, and buildings should reflect and inspire awe and appreciation for our Nation’s strength, greatness, and heritage.”
And despite the support for the budget fix, Trump’s Friday morning posting also came with criticism of the nation’s capital and a warning: “We need to clean up our once beautiful Capital City, and make it beautiful again.”
“We will be TOUGH ON CRIME, like never before,” Trump wrote. “I will work with the Mayor on this and, if it does not happen, will have no choice but to do it myself.”
Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district’s non-voting delegate in the House, hailed Trump’s support for the budget fix and tied the issue into Washington’s longstanding and increasingly beleaguered campaign to become the 51st state.
“As surprised as I am to have an occasion to agree with President Trump, in this instance, we agree that D.C. should be able to spend its own local funds at its own locally enacted levels,” Norton, a Democrat, said in a statement. “This ordeal, however, only helps to highlight the need for D.C. statehood so that D.C. can finally govern itself to the same extent afforded to the states, including making decisions about how to use its own local funds.”
Associated Press writers Darlene Superville, Kevin Freking and Leah Askarinam contributed to this report.
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Source: Paradise Post