The complex relationship between the District and federal governments can best be understood through garbage. If the federal government shuts down, city officials say there will be no trash pickup from residences for the first week. After that, the Department of Public Works will resume its garbage responsibilities.
That’s because “the District was at one time a federal agency and still hasn’t gotten out from under that classification,” Ward 2 D.C. Councilman Jack Evans explained. Unlike any other city in the nation, the local taxes D.C. collects can’t be spent on local services without Congress first giving its approval. Like the spending for any other federal agency, approval for the District’s funding is tucked inside the appropriations bill on which Congress can’t agree.
