The federal government could shut down Friday if Congress doesn’t come up with the funding to keep it going, but D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton says the District itself is exempt from such federal shutdowns.
Though the District’s locally-generated funds are subject to congressional approval, Norton said Monday a provision she had inserted in the fiscal 2022 D.C. appropriations bill exempts the city government from federal government shutdowns in fiscal 2023.
Norton has gotten the D.C. government exempted from federal government shutdowns each year since the fiscal year 2015.
“Until my annual provision was enacted, shutdown threats forced the District to invest time and money preparing contingency shutdown plans, even if shutdowns were avoided,” Norton said. “If the District government shut down, not only could D.C. services be disrupted, D.C. could default on certain financing agreements and leases. D.C. partners, Wall Street took special note of the elimination of the D.C. shutdown threat in evaluating the District’s finances.”
Norton points out that federal government shutdowns harm the credit rating of the District government. Credit rating agencies, she said, have favorably cited the District shutdown exemption provision.
Norton said if the District were a state, Congress would have no say or control over the local budget.