D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray urged Council Chairman Kwame Brown and other city lawmakers Wednesday to approve a controversial plan to pay District workers for furlough days taken in 2011, a proposal that Gray and labor unions have championed. “I wish that we had already dealt with this,” Gray said. “But the chairman hopefully will bring it up again, and hopefully it will get enough votes.”SClBThat’s been a problem in the past: To date, lawmakers have defeated versions of the plan three times. SClBBut Brown told The Washington Examiner in a brief interview that he expects the council will reconsider the measure, which a council aide said will also include $5 million for affordable housing programs, on Tuesday.SClBThe vote could put an end to a months-long struggle that has pitted Gray against a restive council.

District leaders in 2011 ordered workers to take four furlough days as the city tried to close a $188 million shortfall, but the D.C. government ultimately posted a $240 million surplus.