Norton Blasts House Republican Budget Attempt to Eliminate Major Medicaid Share Provision of the D.C. Revitalization Act, at Cost of Hundreds of Millions of Dollars to D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today blasted House Republicans for their fiscal year 2019 budget resolution, released yesterday, which would completely eliminate a critical component of the District of Columbia Revitalization Act and blow a massive hole in the District's budget. The bill would reduce the federal government's share of the District's Medicaid expenditures, known as the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP), from the current 70 percent to 50 percent, which is where it was when the District nearly became insolvent in the 1990s. While budget resolutions do not become law, they articulate the fiscal policies of the majority party. The budget goes even further than a standalone bill introduced last year by Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA) that would reduce the District's FMAP from the current 70 percent to 54 percent.

"We are used to the Republican budget resolution being a radical non-starter, but this year's version has veered into dangerous territory by attempting to completely eliminate the critical Medicaid provision of the Revitalization Act," Norton said. "The District already pays a higher percentage of Medicaid than any city in the nation, even with the current 70 percent match. Republicans and Democrats for more than 20 years have agreed that D.C. is a local jurisdiction that should not bear the full burden of state functions. I have kept the standalone bill to gut D.C.'s Medicaid share from moving forward and intend to fight just as hard to defeat this backwards proposal."

In response to the District's financial crisis in the mid-1990s, Congress, at the request of the District, passed the National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997, which transferred from the District to the federal government the costs and/or operations of several state functions, including prisons, courts and offender supervision. The Revitalization Act statutorily set D.C.'s FMAP at 70 percent. The District's financial crisis was largely a result of the fact that the District was the only city responsible for paying for state functions, while the federal government imposed unique revenue limitations on the District. All of the revenue limitations remain.

The FMAP formula is based on a state's per capita income relative to the national average, and the higher a state's per capita income, the lower the FMAP. The FMAP statutory minimum is 50 percent and the maximum is 83 percent. The budget resolution would subject D.C. to the FMAP formula. If the District operated under the FMAP formula, as it did prior to the Revitalization Act, the federal government would pay only 50 percent of D.C.'s Medicaid expenditures.