“The District confronts daunting financial headwinds,” wrote Ward 3 DC Councilmember Matt Frumin in his Committee on Human Services report, which contained a number of recommended changes to Mayor Muriel Bowser’s $22 billion Fiscal Year 2026 Budget and Financial Plan.
“In FY24, the agencies under the Committee’s purview spent $1,127,458,612. Their combined proposed FY26 budgets are $920,992,102, which represents a 6.5 percent reduction from their $984,467,457 FY25 approved budgets,” continued Frumin, in one of the most sobering opening statements of the many markup reports that legislators approved in their various committees this week.
“It is not possible for any one Council committee to restore more than $63,000,000 in reductions. Additionally, reductions can only be restored by imposing other reductions,” added Frumin.
Maybe he should have repeated that statement to the folks shouting on the steps of the John A. Wilson Building or those sleeping in council offices. Often, elected officials fail to set honest and realistic expectations for residents about what a government can and can’t provide. Truth be told, politicians themselves may not have a firm grip on the appropriate parameters.
Local leaders seemingly have lost sight of the precarious dynamic between the city and Congress. Frequently, as the council pushes forward, asserting DC’s fiscal and public policy independence, members have ignored the fact that the District remains under congressional authority and subject to the whims of representatives and senators looking for opportunities to impose their will. A wrong move can lead to the repeal of local laws, as we have seen over the past several years — even under former President Joe Biden — as well as the serious threat of a hostile takeover.
Inside some budget decisions, particularly those by the Committee on Health, are signs of arrogance, recklessness or amnesia — perhaps all three. At-large Councilmember Christina Henderson appeared not to have adhered to Frumin’s sober approach when pushing for spending changes in the mayor’s budget in regards to Medicaid and the DC Health Care Alliance. If some of the decisions that she and her colleagues made at the committee level aren’t reversed by the full council, no one should be surprised when Congress moves, once again, to overturn an action by District elected officials.
