D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown has asked the city’s chief financial officer and members of Mayor Vincent Gray’s administration to brief the council on the city’s contingency plan if Congress and the president can’t agree on raising the U.S. debt ceiling.
On Wednesday Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi warned that if the U.S. defaults on its debt – the outcome if no agreement is reached by Tuesday – then D.C. could once again find itself under the thumb of the federal control board. Brown has asked that the briefing be held Monday.
“I remain confident that a crisis of such magnitude ultimately will be averted,” Brown said Thursday. “But stand ready to undertake the necessary measures to preserve the District’s sound financial footing and maintain government services for our residents.”
