What’s going on in Congress? May 2026 Updates
Safe and Beautiful = Expensive and Antidemocratic 💸
Trump’s fiscal 2027 budget request includes a staggering $403 million “to advance the goals” of Trump’s “DC Safe and Beautiful” executive order from March 2025. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy testified May 19 before the Senate Transportation and HUD Appropriations Subcommittee and Free DC was there.
Despite the fact that this is proposed funding for an EO rather than legislation passed by Congress — and despite the fact that even Republicans on the subcommittee decried the proposed budget’s lack of funding for basic infrastructure — not one senator on either side of the aisle questioned the purpose or scale of the massive proposed DC Safe and Beautiful outlay.
If the appropriations bill were to pass with this intact, $403 million would be available for Secretary Duffy to use at his direction on the Trump administration’s DC-related priorities without Congress passing any legislation supporting their goals.
Whose streets? Our streets! ⛔️
Free DC packed the room again Wednesday morning to oppose another Congressional Republican attempt to meddle in DC’s local affairs. Rep. Scott Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican who represents Harrisburg (population 50,000) and environs, is trying to dictate how DC manages its own streets. His bill, D.C. Rejecting Oppressive Automotive Driving Surcharges (DC ROADS) Act, would prohibit DC from implementing a congestion pricing program that would charge drivers for bringing cars into downtown during peak hours. However you feel about congestion pricing, DC makes the laws about DC streets — not congressmembers from central Pennsylvania.
When the House Oversight Committee debated the bill on May 20, Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) stood in solidarity with DC, shaming her fellow committee members to stop “tinkering in the everyday affairs of our capital city.” Unfortunately, not all our usual allies were so steadfast. (Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, shame on you.)
As a reminder, Council has not passed such a toll, nor are there plans for Council to consider any related legislation. Congress already has what amounts to a veto power over legislation passed by DC Council, making a preemptive attack like this especially unnecessary and especially harmful in undermining DC Home Rule. Unfortunately, the bill got enough votes to move to the House floor.
Updates on pending approps bills 🏛️
Congress is still considering a fiscal 2027 defense bill which would expand and indefinitely extend the National Guard presence in DC. The bill is slated for a full committee vote June 24.
The Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) appropriations bill for fiscal 2027 includes a slew of anti-democratic riders that would overturn our local decisions and harm DC residents, in areas ranging from reproductive health to public schools and from gun control to drug policy. The bill has passed out of committee and is awaiting a vote on the floor of the House.
