In a letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, twenty-five Democratic Senators—including presidential candidate Bernie Sanders—criticized last week’s $2 trillion economic stimulus package for shortchanging the District. In the package, D.C. would receive less than half the amount of relief money that is to be allocated to the states.
Led by Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) and Thomas Carper (D-Delaware), the senators wrote that the lack of funds is “shameful,” and that “drastically underfunding an urban area that is closely connected to its surrounding states and the northeast corridor is shortsighted.” They urged McConnell and Schumer to work to ensure that D.C. receives more emergency funds.
Other signees included Virginia Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, along with former presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), Kamala Harris (D-California), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York), Michael Bennet (D-Colorado), and Cory Booker (D-New Jersey).
D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton thanked the senators for their support in a statement on Wednesday, writing, “Because our residents are not spread out but live in close quarters in rowhouses and apartments, the District is particularly vulnerable to the spread of this highly contagious virus.”
Maryland, Virginia, and the other 48 states stand to receive $1.25 billion in aid while D.C. will get roughly $500 million, leaving the city about $700 million short of its surrounding jurisdictions.
As of Wednesday, the District had reported 653 known cases of COVID-19, more than double that of some states.
While D.C. is often treated like a state for the purposes of federal funding, it was classified as a territory in the bill along with Guam, Puerto Rico, and three other territories. This despite the fact that District residents pay federal taxes.
Local officials quickly denounced the decision. Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson penned a letter to the Senate leaders asking them to reconsider, which was co-signed by the rest of the council.
“D.C. is treated as the 51st in so many ways when it comes to federal funding, and this should be no different,” Bowser said in an interview last week.
On Sunday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a “major disaster declaration” for D.C., which makes FEMA funds available to the District to supplement recovery work and provides money for some private non-profit organizations.
The decision to classify D.C. as a territory in the relief bill also highlights issues at the heart of D.C.’s long battle for statehood. In February, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform voted in favor of legislation that would make D.C. the 51st state, which would enshrine full Congressional voting rights and self-governance into law. The bill is expected to make its way to the House floor for a vote, but has little chance of passing in the current Republican-controlled Senate.
