As Gothamist and DCSOB have pointed out, diplomats may start to think twice before parking illegally. In the omnibus spending measure pushed through before the Thanksgiving holiday, Congress mandated that nations with outstanding parking tickets in the United States would stand to have part of their foreign aid cut.

The measure was pushed by New York’s senators, as New York City stands to pull in $195 million in unpaid parking tickets from those hiding behind the shield of diplomatic immunity. We assume the District stands to collect some revenue from this provision.

DCist isn’t keyed into the ins and outs of diplomatic immunity, but we’ve been at embassy-affiliated parties where hosts have claimed diplomatic privilege to avoid noise violations when the cops came knocking. While locals often complain about the diplomatic corps for various reasons, relations with the city have calmed significantly since a Georgian diplomat took responsibility for the tragic 1997 death of Joviane Waltrick, who he killed while driving drunk on Connecticut Avenue approaching Dupont Circle.