NEWS: The Trump administration has canceled the 50-year lease given to the National Links Trust to manage the D.C. golf courses at East Potomac Park, Rock Creek, and Langston. The group won the leases five years ago, and had started work renovating the Rock Creek course.


There’s been plenty of chatter in recent months of Trump wanting to take control of at least the East Potomac Park golf course, but this move gives him almost unfettered control to remake the three municipal courses in D.C. that have long been affordable.

A 🧵: It was a wild day for D.C. in Congress yesterday, where a House committee advanced 14 bills targeting the city – everything from banning traffic cameras to giving Trump the power to appoint the city's elected attorney general. I've got a detailed report on all the bills right here in @51st: 51st.news/house-republic…

This is a big step in Trump taking control of MPD. Bondi is repealing a number of existing police orders, which govern how MPD conducts itself, and ordering police to enforce a certain law to its maximum.

https://twitter.com/camiloreports/status/1956171733544710577

If this holds, it means Trump could rescind pretty much any order or regulation that sets out what MPD officers can and cannot do. Body cameras could be gone, regulations on traffic stops and pat downs could change, and more.

NEWS: A proposed Republican spending bill includes a number of provisions impacting D.C. laws and programs. The bill would:
- Repeal D.C.'s assisted suicide law.
- Prohibit D.C. from using traffic cameras, or to ban rights turns on red.
- Repeal non-citizen voting in D.C. The spending bill would also:
- Require that D.C. recognize concealed carry permits from every other state.
- Repeal a police discipline reform bill passed in 2020.
- Prohibit D.C. from enforcing consumer protection laws against oil and has companies for environmental claims.

A quick 🧵 on what happened yesterday in the D.C. Council with Initiative 82: As you may have heard, the council rejected what would essentially have been a repeal of the initiative, which was approved by voters in 2022 and slowly phases out the tipped wage. The proposal the council voted on would have dropped the base wage paid by employers to $8 (from $10 now), but set a "super minimum wage" of $20. (So if a worker getting the $8 base wage can't get to $20 with tips, the employer makes up the difference.)

🧵on the D.C. Council's proposed changes to @MayorBowser proposed 2026 budget.

First up, @CMFrumin has found $6 million to keep all D.C. Public Library neighborhood branches open 61 hours a week. Bowser had proposed cutting those to 40 hours a week, citing staffing challenges. Frumin's Committee on Human Services is also planning to undo Bowser's proposed cuts to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, at least temporarily. Changes may still come to TANF, but the council will have more time to debate them.

D.C. budget update: Today @MayorBowser said that if the House doesn't act this week to fix the mess it created in the city's current budget, plans will be finalized to make more than $400 million in spending cuts. She already ordered a spending and hiring freeze, but agencies have been allowed to request exemptions. She declined to make public any of those waivers, but I know @dcpublicschools got a partial one, and it's a safe bet @DCPoliceDept has also for overtime spending.

As we await the Senate vote on the congressional spending bill that could slash $1.1 billion from D.C.'s budget, a quick historical 🧵: Back in 2011, Congress used D.C. to avert a government shutdown. Local officials were furious. So they did something about it. Then-mayor Vincent Gray and a majority of the D.C. Council went up to Capitol Hill, sat down on Constitution Avenue, blocked traffic, and were arrested. It was symbolic, certainly, but a statement no less. dcist.com/story/11/04/11…

A quick 🧵: The news of Congress potentially blowing a $1.1 billion hole in D.C.'s budget has certainly riled up a lot of people. But it's part of a larger trend of how Congress's years-long budget dysfunctions have bled into D.C.'s municipal government.

https://twitter.com/maustermuhle/status/1899582497089859595

First, the very basic fact that many miss: While D.C. isn't a state and is beholden to Congress in many ways, it is *not funded* by Congress or federal taxpayers. It's budget is funded by locally raised revenue, i.e. taxes and residents and businesses pay.

It's shaping up to be a *very bad week* for D.C. The draft congressional spending bill to avert a federal shutdown would force D.C. to trim $945 million from its current fiscal year budget, which would spark immediate cuts to programs and staff. From @PattyMurray: .@Meagan_Flynn had a very good summary on the potential impacts of slashing that much of D.C.'s budget in one go: washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/…

In writing this story on what Republican control of Washington could mean for local D.C., @chenderson reminded me that when Congress interferes in the city's local affairs, it's often motivated by personal grievances as much as it is ideological fervor. 51st.news/what-republica… And the history of members of Congress using their power over D.C. to address things that annoy them is long. The city's old (and very confusing) taxicab zone system existed for so long because Congress liked it. And so on.

Now that the news is out that @dcist is dead and 15 great people will lose their jobs, some truths. No one at @dcist/@wamu885 was ignorant of the tough realities of media. But this is more a failure of leadership than anything. There have been 20 departures from @wamu885/@dcist since early 2022. Some of those people (myself included) left for other opportunities, but plenty left because they saw no opportunity for growth and no concrete vision from the station's leader.

Given how "normal" it seems deadly gun violence has gotten in D.C. (and the U.S.), I was curious about homicides in Switzerland, where I now live. The statistics I found were both not surprising and surprising at the same time. In 2022, there were 237 attempted homicides in the whole country, population roughly nine million. Of those, 42 were successful, as in someone was killed. Only 20 of the attempted homicides involved a gun, and 11 of the successful homicides.

Per the Brookland Facebook group, there was a black bear in the neighborhood this morning. One was spotted in Hyattsville yesterday, which isn’t far away. Update: The Brookland Bear (should we call him Smokey, given the days?) has been found on the 1300 block of Franklin Street NE! Police and Humane Rescue Alliance are here. Photo courtesy of neighbor Jake Erlich.

OK, the House committees holding a hearing on D.C. elections are back from a brief break. If you're just tuning in, this is what you've missed so far:

https://twitter.com/maustermuhle/status/1666444893537837058

"This is the party of insurrection. When Republicans are talking about election integrity, they're talking about voter suppression," says @RepCori.

The House hearing on D.C. elections is about to start; stay tuned for tweets and highlights. Here's some background on why this is happening, what it could mean for how D.C. residents vote, and some prepared testimony:

https://twitter.com/maustermuhle/status/1666407305158578183

"For years D.C. elections have been mismanaged," starts @RepBryanSteil, saying that Congress has the power and responsibility to dictate how D.C. should conduct its elections. (That can't happen with the states.)

Today a pair of House committees are holding a hearing on D.C.'s elections, with an eye towards a new bill that would mandate photo ID to vote, eliminate same-day voter registration, basically get rid of mail voting, and more. Background: dcist.com/story/23/06/02… One of the main Republican witnesses is Ken Cuccinelli, the former Virginia attorney general and Trump administration official who now fights for "election integrity." In his prepared testimony, he calls D.C.'s elections an "unmitigated disaster," but offers no proof of fraud.

Today the D.C. Council will vote on a bit of an outlier bill from @trayonwhite that would require @DDOTDC to cut down two trees it planted a few years ago on Xenia Street SE. There's not often legislation mandating that trees be cut down, so this is distinct. Per the emergency declaration (basically the narrative describing the issue), DDOT planted 22 trees on Xenia Street a few years back. Some in the community were upset, and got DDOT to remove 14 of them. Now they want two more gone. Concerns are property lines and public safety.

And the House hearing on D.C. has started! Some background here:

https://twitter.com/maustermuhle/status/1641021555420327936

"Our nation's capital has deteriorated and declined," starts @RepJamesComer, saying that crime is up and the city's finances are in "disarray." (That last point is questionable, but D.C. CFO Glen Lee will likely address it.)

Yesterday @AnitaBondsDC held a budget oversight hearing with @Vote4DC, and a good chunk of the conversation was on the estimated $1.1 million it would cost to implement the new D.C. law that allows non-citizens to vote in local elections. Monica Evans of the D.C. Board of Elections said the cost included producing new voter registration applications and brochures, modifying electronic pollbooks, hiring a multilingual staffer for voter outreach (there's currently none doing that work), etc.

Later this morning the House Oversight Committee will hold a hearing on crime, homelessness, and police reform efforts in D.C. (Story: dcist.com/story/23/03/28…) @ChmnMendelson and @charlesallen will be testifying, as will CFO Glen Lee and @DCPoliceUnion's Gregg Pemberton. Testimony has been posted here: oversight.house.gov/hearing/overdu… In his remarks, Pemberton says the D.C. Council's legislation and comments about police have led to an exodus of officers and an "exponential increase in violent crime."