House advances measure to block DC tax code decoupling

Nina Heller, CQ-Roll Call on Feb 4, 2026

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WASHINGTON — Congress took steps on Wednesday toward blocking changes to D.C.’s local tax code, even as District officials warned it could wreak havoc on tax season and smash a hole in the city’s budget.

The House narrowly passed a disapproval resolution that would reverse a decision by the D.C. Council to reject some of President Donald Trump’s signature tax policies, such as “no tax on tips.” The final vote was 215-210, with no Democrats lending their support.

Speaking on the House floor, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., said the move by Congress could “sabotage” a tax filing season that is already underway and deal another blow to D.C.’s autonomy.

“There is never justification for Congress to legislate on local D.C. matters,” said the longtime delegate, who recently announced she would retire at the end of this term.

A number of states have also chosen to decouple from certain tax provisions included in what’s known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, citing the prospect of lost revenue. But unlike them, the District is subject to tighter oversight, and Congress has the right to squash local measures passed by the D.C. Council.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved its own version of the joint resolution on Wednesday as well, advancing it on party lines.

Resolutions of disapproval are not subject to the filibuster and would need only a simple majority to be passed by the full Senate.

Republicans like Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas, who sponsored the disapproval push in the House, described it as an attempt to rein in “misguided” local officials bent on withholding tax breaks that could help working families.

“The D.C. Council would rather punish their own residents, their own people, than recognize the achievements of President Trump’s legislation,” Gill said during floor debate.

But local officials cited projections that the District stood to lose hundreds of millions in revenue over the next five years if it conformed to the federal code. Decoupling freed them up to put resources toward a local child tax credit and an expanded earned income tax credit, they said.

In a letter to House and Senate leaders, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson said the congressional action would potentially require the District to suspend its tax filing season, which has already begun, for several months to redo instructions and forms that were changed after the council passed the bill late last year.

Beyond those practical implications, it could create a slippery slope for further federal incursions into local affairs, some Democrats said.

“Undermining democracy in D.C. isn’t new. It’s just wrong. The people who live in the capital of the world’s greatest democracy deserve that democracy,” said Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., on the House floor.