District of Columbia FY2025 Budget Status: In Brief

The U.S. Constitution provides Congress with plenary legislative authority over the District of Columbia (DC) as the federal capital. With the passage of the 1973 District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act (Home Rule Act; P.L. 93-198), Congress granted DC limited home rule authority and empowered DC residents to elect a mayor and city council. The Home Rule Act also outlines the process by which the DC government establishes its budget and manages local finances, subject to congressional approval and oversight. Congress retains ultimate legislative authority over DC. As it pertains to the DC budget process, Congress has historically exercised this authority through approval of the annual DC budget (including planned expenditures of local revenues), provision of federal payments for certain activities in DC, and the inclusion of general provisions (often referred to as “riders”) that direct or limit how the local government expends funds. In some cases, in the absence of full-year appropriations, Congress has included provisions in continuing resolutions allowing DC to expend local revenues pursuant to its current fiscal year budget, prior to formally approving the District of Columbia budget in an appropriations act. In FY2025, Congress enacted appropriations through two interim continuing resolutions (P.L. 118-83 and P.L. 118-158) and one full-year continuing resolution (P.L. 119-4). The interim continuing resolutions enabled the DC government to expend locally generated revenues at the city’s FY2025 budgeted levels. The full-year appropriations act, as enacted, required DC to revert its FY2025 expenditures to FY2024 budget levels. Standalone legislation that would have enabled DC to spend local revenues at FY2025 budgeted levels passed the Senate but not the House.