House lawmakers on Wednesday advanced a Republican bill that would block D.C. from raising taxes or fees without approval from Congress.
The bill is sponsored by Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
“Radical D.C. Democrats want to solve their spending problem by reaching deeper into taxpayers’ pockets and driving further on the path to socialism,” Comer said.
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Comer alluded to but did not name D.C. Council member Janeese Lewis George, who is likely to become the city’s next mayor after winning the Democratic nomination.
D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton said the bill would mark a major blow to local control.
“If enacted, this will be the most consequential reduction in D.C.’s authority to govern itself since the D.C. Home Rule Act was passed in 1973 the entire modern history of D.C. home rule,” Norton said.
For all the latest developments in Congress, follow WTOP Capitol Hill correspondent Mitchell Miller at Today on the Hill.
Mayor Muriel Bowser also opposed the legislation in a statement Wednesday.
“This would render the District incapable of recovering from the debilitating impacts of COVID, federal remote work, and DOGE,” Bowser said.
In a letter to Comer, D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson said the bill “would straitjacket District government while not adding to Congressional authority over the District. Congress already has the authority to disapprove any and every tax increase adopted by the Council.”
Council member Robert White, the Democratic nominee in the 2026 election to replace Norton as D.C.’s congressional delegate, said the bill “would be devastating.”
“Our budget would become a request we sent to Congress that dies the moment they ignore it. That’s not oversight. It’s a veto over our own city,” White said.
If the bill eventually gets a vote on the House floor, it will still face an uphill battle in the Senate, where Democrats would likely block it with a filibuster.
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