The Journal. - D.C. Mayor Talks DOGE, Trump and Budget

Episode Date: June 16, 2025

This year, Washington D.C. has faced thousands of federal jobs cuts due to President Trump’s DOGE work. Also, the city has a $1 billion budget shortfall after Congress passed a funding bill forcing the District to revert to its 2024 budget. Jessica Mendoza sat down with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to discuss the city’s challenges, the weekend’s military parade, and her relationship with Trump.  Further Listening: - Inside DOGE’s Campaign of Secrecy  - Can the GOP Unite Around Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’? Sign up for WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Friday, I sat down with Muriel Bowser, the mayor of Washington, D.C. She's been mayor for 10 years. But 2025 has proved particularly challenging for the nation's capital. President Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOJ, has slashed the federal workforce, meaning the city is facing an estimated loss of more than 40,000 jobs over the next four years. That's a huge blow to the local economy here. And DC is also facing a big budget shortfall. That's because in March, the US Congress,

which approves DC's budget, passed a bill that cut roughly a billion dollars from the city's funding. I asked Bowser about how she intends to address these issues, including her plan to support local businesses and a major deal to rebuild a football stadium for D.C.'s NFL team, the Washington Commanders. And of course, the interview was on Friday, the day before the military parade here, celebrating

the Army's 250th anniversary. Saturday's parade went off without any major incidents. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of protesters around the country used the day to demonstrate against Trump's policies. That's where our conversation started. You can watch the interview as a video on Spotify. Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Jessica Mendoza. It's Monday, June 16th. Coming up on the show, an interview with Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser. Madam Mayor, thanks for being here.

My pleasure. Thanks for having me. We're talking on the eve of the military parade that will take place here in DC to honor the 250th anniversary of the US Army, and it's happening on President Trump's birthday. We are in a moment of national tension, especially with regards to the protests in California with the president sending troops without the governor's approval. In light of this, should the military parade still go forward? If it was up to you, would you do it?

Well, I'm really here to talk about Washington, DC, how we stay strong politically and economically, and how this is really an unprecedented time in DC. So as we move forward, I have charged my team with making sure that we are focused on how our economy shifts and every opportunity we have with the federal government. For them to kind of pause the Doge actions, look at the federal footprint and certainly right size it, but right size it with the notion of how can we have the most productive workforce for America? And certainly as the nation's capital,

we have special events all the time. And our role, especially in this case, because it's a national special security event, is to support our federal partners in having a safe event. Are you concerned that this sends a message that the president wants to militarize the country, given just the tensions that are cropping up? Well, I think Americans have a lot of reasons to be concerned about the state of our federal government, about global affairs, and the way that we all have to deal with them is

in our individual roles. Mine as mayor is to protect the values of DC residents, to work with our federal partners, and to make sure that we run our government autonomously. I think Americans all across our country who are concerned are calling the Congress people. They are planning on how they're going to vote, they are holding marches and protests, and all of those things are appropriate in the system that we're in. I think everybody is anxious about the state of our democracy. Trump has threatened that any protests here will be met with, quote, very heavy force. It's unclear exactly what he means by that.

But if he does send or deploy troops in DC... I think those questions are appropriate for the president. I understand that. But we've just seen that he's already deployed some of these troops in other places. I would just like to know what would happen if that happened here over the weekend. What is happening in California would happen here, except he wouldn't have to federalize the National Guard because the DC National Guard is already a federal guard. We will talk a little bit about the budget and the DC economy. I know that's what we're here for.

I hope that's what we're talking about next. But the Pentagon does say that this parade could cost up to $45 million. How much of that is DC on the hook for? Nothing. Nothing? Mm-hmm. Okay. I would like to ask you just one more,

a couple more questions about your relationship with the president, given that we are in a moment where here in DC. Sure. Let's take a couple minutes, okay? Okay. All right, thanks. At this point, the mayor left the room for about a minute and a half. When she came back, we turned to DC's budget shortfall.

For our national listeners who may not realize, DC is unique because the city's budget needs congressional approval. And Congress passed a funding bill that cut the budget by a little more than a billion dollars in March. Could you talk about how you're addressing that problem? Well, it is true that most people wouldn't realize that an approved budget, which our FY25 budget was, was basically rescinded. And we had to revert to our 24 budget numbers, which were quite different.

So we worked very hard with the president and Congress to get that fixed. In fact, Susan Collins moved a fix, the president endorsed it, and it still hasn't come out of the House. So as a result, we had to adjust our 25 approved budget along with advancing our 26 budget that represents a lot of cuts for the district, took a lot of time and distracted us from the business at hand. But we were able to do it without cuts or layoffs but significant challenges for our agencies. So we introduced our 26 budget which would start in October that's really focused on right sizing and growth.

Mm-hmm. You spoke of growth. So this proposed budget reduces taxes for businesses. Yes. It also does do some cuts to social safety net programs. Well, we have over a billion dollars in the next four years. Another unique thing about DC is that we have to balance our budget with a four-year plan. So this budget is not only for FY26, but all the way through FY29. So it represents about a billion dollars less forecasted revenue.

That's right. And the choices that you made were to reduce some of these social safety net programs like Medicaid eligibility and scaling back paid family leave. Those are some of the decisions you had to make. Absolutely, because we have to balance our budget. We have to have a balanced budget. And then a big aspect of the budget is funding the new stadium at RFK for the Washington commanders to come back to the city. That commits about a billion dollars, a little over a billion dollars of taxpayer funds to

the project. Given that we're trying to balance the budget here, why is this such a priority for you? We're trying to shift our economy. This budget has two goals, right sizing, spending, and growing the economy. In the district has experienced just really wild success with our sports investments. Starting from the Capital One arena many, many years ago when we welcomed the Capitals and the basketball team back to the city, all the way through Audi Field,

Nats Park, and now in RFK when we'll bring our team back. We actually, this budget represents $10 billion in capital spending, about 500 million of that will be invested in stadium infrastructure. Mm-hmm. And so how does that, you were talking about sort of diversifying the economy, how does that help given that that doesn't really make up for the 40,000 estimated federal jobs that will be lost over the next four years?

Oh, no one thing will. What will is making sure that we're changing our business environment in the city and attracting more businesses. So while RFK is part of our growth agenda, it's not the entire agenda. Driving down taxes is a big part of it. Cutting red tape, reforming some outdated laws related to the construction of affordable housing, for example, or costly construction projects or development projects that have too much uncertainty. All of that is how we will drive up more business interest in the city, create more jobs in the city, and replace the economic activity of a projected loss of 40,000 jobs.

The DC Council has expressed that they want to separate the vote on the stadium. If that happens, does it throw your budget into disarray a little bit? It could. So the council is, they, by statute, by home rule charter, I should say. The council has 70 days to deliberate, which ends in August. They're working on a lot of important matters, over $20 billion of spending, including very catalytic economic development projects. So this is a budget matter. My agreement with the team runs with the budget. And so we want to keep

our exclusive seat at the table. We want them to stay on their timeline. And we want them to be able to open in 2030, which would activate that site for the first time in many decades. If it does find up being delayed to the degree that we lose the deal, do you have a backup plan? It will be a very long time in coming. So we don't have a plan B. We don't plan to lose what is, we think, rightfully ours, our home team, or the opportunity to activate 180 acres. Does this mean that you see DC as a place that won't be so reliant on the federal government moving forward? Well, we've always had that vision because the federal government has been, they haven't

been growing the number of federal jobs in the last several years. They have been like either pausing or reducing their footprint in DC for a number of years. So we've always looked to ways to diversify. And we've been investing in tech for some time as well. We do see some new opportunities and different technologists, more capital interested in DC related to tech. So we wanna make sure if you're a West Coast company,

you're thinking about DC as your East Coast headquarters. Up next, the impact of Doge on DC. A lot of this has come because top of mind for so many people is, as we've talked about, the federal cuts as a result of the Department of Government efficiency. In your eyes, what has DOJ meant for DC? I think DOJ has kind of devastated and traumatized our residents who work in the federal government, not just us. Obviously, we're in the center of the national capital region, so the same is true in Virginia, the same is true in Maryland.

It's upended small businesses that work with the federal government and created a lot of uncertainty. I think there's a lot to be learned about the impact that it's actually having on the agencies and the American people. One of the things that you've been doing too in this Trump term, and I bring this up because of Doge, is working a little bit more closely with the president and with Republicans in Congress. Is that a strategy that you're employing this time around? Would you characterize it that way? That's always

our strategy. We are the nation's capital and we have a relationship with the US president that's different than any city and with the Congress for that matter. And so I have been, I have worked in every iteration of leadership that there is from different parties in charge of the House, of the Senate, and the White House. And so my job is, whoever is in power, is to make sure that the district is well represented. And is that why you shared the podium with President Trump when you announced that the 2027 NFL draft is happening here. I understand that you are in regular communication with him.

You flew to Mar-a-Lago before his second term. Is that all in service of that? I flew to New York or I caught the train in New York City in his first term. So I meet with all the presidents, including President Trump. Are you afraid of President Trump? Afraid of what? Of him, you know, taking power. He's threatened to pull home rule and get Congress to do that and, you know,

interfere a little bit more. I'm afraid isn't a word that I would use for a leader and certainly not me. You've been a winning mayor of DC, three terms in a row. You've been mayor for ten years. The National Democratic Party is looking for leadership at the moment, struggling to convey its message to the American people. What would you say to other Democrats about what it takes? What should Democrats be talking fearful right now and I think we all, whatever party we're in, we need to be protecting our democracy. And part of that is, and our message in the district is we need to be a real part of it.

In the special status that we have as a federal district, even though 700,000 people live here and pay taxes here, it has to end. And so we continue to carry the message. We'll carry it to the next convention that DC needs to become the 51st state. There's a lot of talk about Canada being the 51st state. We're going to be the 51st state. I meant to ask if the last five months have only made you more or less determined to push for DC statehood, actually.

We're equally determined. But I think what, not even just the last five months, but I would say post COVID, that DC residents know what it means to not have representation despite paying taxes. But I think our fellow Americans, especially Democrats, realize what it means not to have everybody represented in the Senate or everybody represented in the House with a vote. And so our call as we talk about our democracy is DC needs to be the 51st state and have full representation in the Congress. That's important. So the democracy issue I think is important, but I don't necessarily know that that's the winning national message. winning national message. I think focusing people, staying focused on being able to live, have a good job, raise a family, have healthcare, have access to quality food is what people

are looking for. Of course. Is there anything that the Trump administration has done that you feel like they've done right? I think their focus on bringing federal workers back to the office was the right message. Unfortunately, it was coupled with firing a lot of them. So I think that a focus on efficiency that was legal and planned would have been the way to make the federal government more efficient without destroying services to Americans. We've been talking about DC, its character, its economy.

What would you say or what would you like other Americans who maybe have never been here or who only think of the nation's capital as the nation's capital, what would you like them to understand about the city? I think that's a great question because when everybody comes here, they seem surprised at how clean and green the city is, how many things there are to do here, a lot of free activities to do here, that there are activities for families here, that there is a great nightlife and restaurant scene here. So we're not all politics. We're a lot of fun.

Thank you so much, Madam Mayor. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, guys. That's all for today, Monday, June 16th. The Journal is a co-production of Spotify and The Wall Street Journal, videography by Whitney Shafdie, and additional footage from Getty Images. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow.