Mayor Muriel Bowser won’t sign the budget approved by the D.C. Council, but she’s also not trying to stop it.
In a letter to Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, Bowser said council members restored funding for programs such as childcare subsidies and legal services that she’d cut to help close a budget gap of more than $1 billion.
The mayor argued the council is using one-time money to pay for ongoing programs, creating a predicament for the next mayor and council.
“I have warned that choosing to fund recurring programs with one-time money is setting up the next Mayor and Council with an $837 million fiscal cliff,” she wrote.
Bowser defended her own proposal, writing that it closed the gap through “real, difficult decisions,” including spending reductions, budget savings and the use of prior-year surplus funds.
“It is Council’s prerogative, of course, to either solve tough budget problems or simply kick the can down the road,” she stated.
The disagreement comes after the council restored hundreds of millions of dollars for programs that had been reduced in the mayor’s budget proposal, including childcare, legal services and other programs.
But Bowser, who’s term will end in January as she opted against running for reelection, stopped short of a veto. By returning the budget unsigned, she’s putting her objections on the record while allowing the spending plan to continue moving forward.
The budget now heads into congressional review, where the split between the mayor and council could attract extra attention, but Bowser’s decision does not prevent it from becoming law.
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