It was the District’s hottest day of the year Friday. Forecasts point to hotter days to come. But for now, Friday’s 95-degree high is the undisputed thermal champion.
Washington, D.C
New turmoil over possible shutdown in D.C. amid warnings of a WIC food program shortfall – Colorado Newsline
![New turmoil over possible shutdown in D.C. amid warnings of a WIC food program shortfall – Colorado Newsline](https://coloradonewsline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/JOHNSONJANUARY112024-scaled-1.jpeg)
WASHINGTON — Meetings on Thursday between U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and conservative lawmakers led to speculation he was about to walk away from the bipartisan spending agreement he signed off on just this past weekend — a decision that would greatly increase the chances of a partial government shutdown next week.
Also Thursday, Biden administration officials highlighted another urgent spending problem, warning that the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, better known as WIC, faces a major funding shortfall due to increased costs and participation. The gap in funding could mean states would have to turn to waiting lists for those who want to enroll, administration officials said on a conference call with reporters.
At the Capitol, a small bloc of House GOP lawmakers who are frustrated with Johnson for brokering the spending deal with Democrats met with the speaker on the next steps in the government funding process.
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While the spending deal is seen by many as a major step forward in moving toward consensus following months of tumult, certain GOP lawmakers want to see changes or possibly additions.
Those talks led to considerable confusion as to whether Johnson was considering a shift in the spending deal.
“Let me tell you what’s going on,” Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, told reporters outside his office.
“We’re having thoughtful conversations about funding options and priorities. We had a cross section of members in today. We’ll continue having cross sections of members in,” Johnson explained. “And while those conversations are going on, I’ve made no commitments. So if you hear otherwise it’s just simply not true. We’re looking forward to those conversations.”
Democrats and some Republican lawmakers expressed concern that Johnson might switch course just days before a government funding deadline that comes more than three months into the fiscal year.
Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, said Thursday afternoon that her staff told her “there are rumors about that,” though she hadn’t heard from Johnson on the issue.
“I certainly hope that’s not true because it increases the chances of a government shutdown,” Collins said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said that senators would continue negotiations with the House based on the agreement for total spending levels that he and Johnson announced Sunday.
“Look, we have a topline agreement,” Schumer said. “Everybody knows to get anything done it has to be bipartisan. So we’re going to continue to work to pass a CR and avoid a shutdown.”
CR stands for continuing resolution, the name often given to the short-term spending bill that Congress approves to give themselves more time to negotiate agreement on the full-year spending bills.
Congress has passed two of those bills so far for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1 and the Senate is on track to vote on a third CR next week ahead of the Jan. 19 funding deadline for some of the annual bills.
Womack: A ‘flawed strategy’
Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray, a Washington state Democrat, hadn’t heard directly from Johnson about whether he planned to withdraw from the spending agreement as of Thursday afternoon.
“I’m doing my job according to the agreement we have and I’m moving forward,” Murray said.
That spending agreement would provide $886.3 billion in defense and $772.7 billion in domestic discretionary spending for the current fiscal year, which began back on Oct. 1.
Arkansas Republican Rep. Steve Womack said Thursday afternoon that he expected to hear soon if Johnson was considering walking away from the topline deal, though he said that wouldn’t be wise.
“Renegotiating for purposes of appeasing a group of people, 100% of whom you’re not going to have, in my opinion, could be a flawed strategy,” Womack said, referring to the conservatives who have been calling for Johnson to scuttle the agreement.
That group of especially conservative Republicans, many of whom are members of the far-right Freedom Caucus, rarely, if ever, vote for spending bills. And it’s unlikely that they would vote for any full-year bills that can garner support in the Democratic Senate, let alone President Joe Biden’s signature.
Maryland Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer, the former House Democratic leader, said that if Johnson were to walk away from the spending deal it would affect his ability to negotiate agreements in the future.
“You can only do that so many times and have any credibility or respect for the way you do business,” Hoyer said.
Renegotiating for purposes of appeasing a group of people, 100% of whom you’re not going to have, in my opinion, could be a flawed strategy.
House Republicans, Hoyer said, have remained a “deeply divided, divisive and dysfunctional party” despite removing their former speaker and electing Johnson to the role.
Congress must pass some sort of spending bill before Jan. 19, otherwise the departments and agencies funded by the Agriculture, Energy-Water, Military Construction-VA and Transportation-HUD spending measures would enter a shutdown.
The remaining departments and agencies funded through the annual appropriations process would shut down on Feb. 2 if the House and Senate haven’t come to agreement on either a short-term spending bill or the full-year bills before that deadline.
The Senate is on track to vote on a stopgap spending bill next week that would keep the federal government funded a bit longer. Schumer took steps Thursday to set up a procedural vote Tuesday that will require at least 60 senators to advance it toward final passage. The details of that stopgap spending bill haven’t been released.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a Thursday press briefing that House Republicans “need to keep their word,” on the spending deal agreement that Johnson made with Democrats over the weekend.
“We cannot have a shutdown,” she said. “That is their basic duty, to keep the government open.”
WIC ‘a ship heading towards an iceberg’
Even if Congress does pass a stopgap measure to keep the government open, the federal program to provide nutrition assistance to children would face a considerable funding shortfall that could have disastrous effects for some who depend on the program.
WIC provides nutrition assistance to about 6.7 million infants, young children and pregnant and postpartum women per month, but could not continue that pace without a funding increase, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters Thursday.
State administrators may soon be faced with difficult choices if Congress does not approve additional spending to account for increased food costs and growing participation, Vilsack and Washington state’s program director Paul Throne said Thursday.
“With rising caseloads, increased food costs and level funding, WIC is a ship heading towards an iceberg,” Throne said.
The federal government spent about $7.5 billion on WIC in fiscal 2023, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
If the USDA and states continued to provide benefits for everyone who qualifies, and Congress does not increase funding, “it would result in a billion-dollar shortfall,” about six weeks’ worth of the program, Vilsack said.
“A funding shortfall of this magnitude presents states with a difficult and untenable decision in terms of how to manage the program,” he said.
To cut costs, states may divert some qualified participants to waiting lists, Vilsack said. Under the program’s rules, postpartum women who are not breastfeeding would be the first placed on waiting lists, then children from 1 to 5 years old without high-risk medical issues, followed by all program participants without high-risk medical issues.
Throne said turning away applicants in need would have “serious” consequences, leaving young children hungry and pregnant women without access to health screenings.
The Washington state program needs additional federal funding to meet its needs, Throne said.
“People are spending more of their WIC benefits, which is a good thing,” Throne said. “But after nearly four years of rising caseloads, my budget is stretched, and I project that I will soon be asking for more help from USDA to feed our 131,000 participants. I’m afraid that this year I may no longer have the budget to serve everyone.”
Vilsack called for Congress to “fully fund” WIC this month.
The first two continuing resolutions of the fiscal year authorized state programs to spend at faster rates to meet the needs of all applicants, but didn’t supply any additional funding.
By not updating spending amounts to reflect higher costs, Congress is putting the program on a path to fail, Vilsack said.
“Through the last two recent continuing resolutions, Congress has indicated to the USDA, the states and the WIC beneficiaries that we should spend current funding actually at a faster rate than Congress has provided funding in order to be able to serve everyone who is eligible” through March, he said. “But Congress hasn’t provided the funds to cover the program once those resources run out.”
A third continuing resolution would keep that imbalance in place for longer, adding to the “major shortages” in funding states would face at the end of fiscal 2024,” Vilsack said.
Ariana Figueroa contributed to this report.
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Washington, D.C
Friday brings the hottest day of the year in D.C. For now.
![Friday brings the hottest day of the year in D.C. For now.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/TDSJQJTCZ75CNXVZUB35OOXZZA_size-normalized.jpg&w=1440)
However, it did seem in a way fitting on that on the first full day after the solstice, the start of astronomical summer, the nation’s capital should welcome the year’s hottest day.
Scholars of weather and everyday residents of Washington might wish to parse the finer points of Friday’s conditions. But the day, and the blaze of its June sunshine, seemed unarguably appropriate to summer.
It could have been considered a kind of atmospheric calling card, a sign that nature had not forgotten us through the weeks of idyllic spring. Friday, with its 95, indicated that nature remained in the summertime heat business, and had not closed up shop.
But efforts to find some summer comfort amid the simmer were rewarded by relatively small victories. In Washington, the air stirred often, offering enough natural ventilation to carry off some of the perspiration produced by the heat.
The heat index climbed well above the temperature, meaning that humidity caused Friday to feel even warmer than it was. But in its hourly reports of conditions in Washington, the National Weather Services never recorded a heat index as high as 100.
Just before 4 p.m., with the official temperature at the day’s high of 95, the heat index was even higher, to be sure. But it stopped short of triple digits, topping out at 99.
And at that time, as at other hours in the afternoon, a ripple of breeze passed over the landscape, offering a bit of relief.
Perhaps the 15 mph breeze, reported simultaneously with the city’s highest temperature, offered a reminder that even 95 degree days are not beyond the power of natural mitigation.
In the catalogue of unpleasant characteristics of the District’s summertime, the “H’s” occupy a prominent section. Under “H” can be found haze, heat and humidity.
Friday, the year’s hottest day, was certainly warm enough to meet the hot requirement.
But humidity seemed at least near the bounds of tolerability.
And the sky often seemed piercing in the clarity of its blue. So water-vapory haze seemed frequently absent.
Nonetheless, with Friday, Washington’s string of 90-degree days reached five. The city has clearly fallen into the clutches of a heat wave.
It began before the solstice and continued afterward. And Friday, its latest member, edged out Tuesday’s 94, and reigned, at least for a day, as the D.C. heat champion of 2024.
Washington, D.C
Opinion | D.C.’s jail is finally getting an update. Just not the one it needs.
Thankfully, the city’s most recent budget allocates $463 million to upgrade the D.C. jail. Even so, that doesn’t mean some of the worst conditions will be fixed soon. In fact, the current plan puts the needs of only a small portion of those held at D.C. jail ahead of the rest.
Local officials agree on replacing the current facility. The main building, which opened in 1976, has experienced 10 deaths in the last 17 months. Five of these deaths occurred this year. The jail’s rigorous covid-19 policy confined detainees to their cells for 23 hours a day during the pandemic. A surprise inspection by the U.S. Marshals Service in 2021 further fueled outrage, finding instances of food withholding and a strong smell of backed-up sewage.
But agreement in principle has not yet led to shovels in the ground. Official discussions for a new jail in D.C. began 14 years ago, when the Department of Corrections requested $420 million in funding for a new facility. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) and corrections officials have consistently argued that the new jail and renovated treatment facility are urgent needs. But, thanks to concerns over a clear execution strategy, any time money for the jail was included in the budget, it was promptly pushed out again. Until this latest round.
Money in hand, now, city officials have to figure out how to spend it to do the most good for the most detainees. Disagreements persist on how to do that — and the city’s current plan has it wrong. The D.C. Department of Corrections released a new timeline this month for the facility’s transformation. Under the plan, renovating the deficient primary holding space would not be complete until 2034 at best. The plan splits up the construction project with into two phases. The city would start by constructing a small administrative and behavioral health facility, then move to upgrading the existing housing for the general population.
The idea is that the current jail has bigger problems than the deterioration of the facility’s physical structure. Broader investment in the DOC, along with enhanced programming, educational opportunities and treatment for detainees’ physical and mental ailments, is necessary to change the current culture of D.C. jail so that its inhabitants can more easily reintegrate into society. And that requires building the behavioral health facility.
But, while accommodating special needs and services is undoubtedly important, D.C. officials should focus on general housing first. Of course, rehabilitation is important for transitioning back to life after detention. But the main facility’s current dilapidated state is not a safe and rehabilitative environment for any of the over 1,300 people locked up. By swapping the two phases and putting general housing ahead of specialized services, officials could provide these people with better living conditions and programming opportunities sooner, rather than leaving them to languish for another decade after so many years of neglect.
That doesn’t mean D.C. should set aside its plans for the behavioral health facility — quite the contrary. The city has an opportunity to join others in the nation committing themselves to comprehensive services for those behind bars, designed not merely to improve living conditions but also to increase their chances of successfully reentering society. Maryland public safety officials, for instance, are pushing ahead with plans for a $1 billion jail, hospital, and mental health and substance use treatment facility in Baltimore at the site of the previous detention center. The complex is set to open in 2029. By allocating funding promptly as well as responsibly, D.C. can start down the same path to providing all in its jail a safe, clean and truly rehabilitative environment.
Washington, D.C
Dan About Town: The Best of Bashes, Balls, and Benefits This Past April
![Dan About Town: The Best of Bashes, Balls, and Benefits This Past April](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_6839c-1-1.jpg)
April 10
Book party for Read Write Own at Café Riggs
![ZSC_0461d - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZSC_0461d.jpg)
April 17
La Grande Boucherie preview celebration
![ZTC_2548e - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_2548e.jpg)
![ZTC_2548e - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_2548e.jpg)
April 17
All In Together’s tenth-anniversary celebration at the Conrad Washington, DC
![ZTC_2067a - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_2067a.jpg)
![ZTC_2067a - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_2067a.jpg)
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April 26
The Washington AI Network’s TGAIFriday Lunch at the House at 1229
![ZTC_6459b - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_6459b.jpg)
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April 26
Comcast NBCUniversal/Motion Picture Association reception at the Motion Picture Association
![ZTC_6571b - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_6571b.jpg)
![ZTC_6571b - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_6571b.jpg)
April 26
Creative Artists Agency White House Correspondents’ Dinner kickoff party at La Grande Boucherie / April 26
![ZTC_6839c - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_6839c.jpg)
![ZTC_6839c - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_6839c.jpg)
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April 27
31st Annual White House Correspondents’ Garden Brunch at Beall-Washington House
![ZTC_7950a - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_7950a.jpg)
![ZTC_7950a - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_7950a.jpg)
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April 27
Time/Amazon MGM Studios WHCD after-party at the Swiss ambassador’s residence
![ZTC_9946a - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_9946a.jpg)
![ZTC_9946a - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_9946a.jpg)
April 27
Comcast NBCUniversal News Group WHCD after-party at the French ambassador’s residence
![ZTC_9632c - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_9632c.jpg)
![ZTC_9632c - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_9632c.jpg)
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April 28
CNN’s “Our Cup of Tea” WHCD Weekend Finale reception at the residence and gardens of the British ambassador
![ZSC_5375b - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZSC_9315b.jpg)
![ZSC_5375b - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZSC_9315b.jpg)
April 10
Book party for Read Write Own at Café Riggs
![ZSC_3912a - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZSC_0461d.jpg)
![ZSC_3912a - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZSC_0461d.jpg)
April 17
La Grande Boucherie preview celebration
![ZSC_3912a - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_2548e.jpg)
![ZSC_3912a - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_2548e.jpg)
April 17
All In Together’s tenth-anniversary celebration at the Conrad Washington, DC
![ZSC_3912a - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_2067a.jpg)
![ZSC_3912a - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_2067a.jpg)
![ZSC_3912a - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_0947a_zm.jpg)
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![ZSC_3912a - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_2059a_zm.jpg)
April 26
The Washington AI Network’s TGAIFriday Lunch at the House at 1229
![ZTC_6879d_zm-edit - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_6459b.jpg)
![ZTC_6879d_zm-edit - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_6459b.jpg)
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![ZTC_6879d_zm-edit - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_6468c.jpg)
April 26
Comcast NBCUniversal/Motion Picture Association reception at the Motion Picture Association
![ZTC_5175b - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_6571b.jpg)
![ZTC_5175b - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_6571b.jpg)
April 26
Creative Artists Agency White House Correspondents’ Dinner kickoff party at La Grande Boucherie
![ZSC_1259a - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_6839c.jpg)
![ZSC_1259a - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_6839c.jpg)
![ZSC_1259a - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_7023e.jpg)
![ZSC_1259a - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_7023e.jpg)
April 27
31st Annual White House Correspondents’ Garden Brunch at Beall-Washington House
![ZTC_8630a - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_7950a.jpg)
![ZTC_8630a - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_7950a.jpg)
![ZTC_8630a - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_8023a.jpg)
![ZTC_8630a - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_8023a.jpg)
April 27
Time/Amazon MGM Studios WHCD after-party at the Swiss ambassador’s residence
![ZTC_8685b - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_9946a.jpg)
![ZTC_8685b - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_9946a.jpg)
April 27
Comcast NBCUniversal News Group WHCD after-party at the French ambassador’s residence
![ZTC_1177a - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_9632c.jpg)
![ZTC_1177a - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZTC_9632c.jpg)
Biden-campaign senior adviser and spokesperson Adrienne Elrod, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and Ashley Biden.
April 28
CNN’s “Our Cup of Tea” WHCD Weekend Finale reception at the residence and gardens of the British ambassador
![ZSC_5375b - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZSC_9315b.jpg)
![ZSC_5375b - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/ZSC_9315b.jpg)
This article appears in the June 2024 issue of Washingtonian.
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