Senator Ankit Jain Denounces 2026 DC Appropriations Bill

(WASHINGTON, DC)—The Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee today marked up the portion of the FY 2026 budget dealing with Washington, DC. The subcommittee voted 9-6 on a party-line vote to advance the bill. It next goes to the full House Appropriations Committee for further consideration.

The bill contains a long list of restrictions on DC’s authority. A full list of the restrictions is available on DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton’s website: https://norton.house.gov/media/press-releases/norton-calls-dc-appropriations-bill-text-unreasonable-and-patronizing-700000.

United States Senator Ankit Jain (D-DC) issued the following statement on the vote.

“This bill has a long pathway through Congress, and I am confident that we will be able to stop all but the legacy riders from being enacted. We are prepared and ready to fight back against these egregious attacks on DC.

Congressional Republicans, through this bill, are using DC as a laboratory for their extreme MAGA agenda. If Republicans get their way, employers in DC will be encouraged to discriminate against women who get abortions, violent criminals will be able to carry concealed weapons in DC and on Metro with few questions asked, and Washingtonians trying to have children will have a harder time accessing in-vitro fertilization, among many other attacks. Is this what the constituents of House Republicans such as Congressman Nick LaLota (NY-01) and Congresswoman Ashley Hinson (Iowa-02) asked for? They are starting with DC, but if we don’t stop them now, they will expand these policies nationwide.

This bill is a billboard for DC statehood. The only way to stop legislative assaults such as this is by achieving statehood for the more than 700,000 citizens who reside in our nation’s capital, the seat of American democracy. I will continue to make the case for statehood to members of Congress, and bills like this only make that case more clear.”