(Week of Sept. 1-5, 2025)

• Mayor Bowser Changes Her Tone on Federalization, Residents Resist, and Congress Plans Tighter DC Reins

• DC Hospitals Urge Reconvened Congress to Roll Back Medicaid Cuts

• New COVID-19 Vaccination Rules Prompt Major DC Pharmacies to Require Prescriptions

• Federal Sex Education Funding Threatened if DC Doesn’t Remove Gender Ideology

DC STATEHOOD/FEDERAL OVERREACH: Eight out of 10 DC residents oppose the current “anti-crime” federalization in the city by the Trump administration, but Mayor Bowser still reversed her past opposition and instead welcomed the thousands of federal and DC National Guard to remain on patrols for an “indefinite” period and said DC officers would cooperate with them all according to the city’s law. In response to immediate backlash, she followed up Wednesday by saying that she sees no need for a declaration of a federal emergency. However, protests have continued, especially on Labor Day, to “Free DC.” The newly reconvened Congress has already seen an influx of pending and new DC-related bills, including the Make D.C. Safe Again Act to extend the crime emergency for six months and Keep Offenders Off Our Streets Act, which would ban cashless bail. Others would ban camping on public property, ease restrictions on charging youth as adults, grant Trump the power to appoint the city’s attorney general, and strengthen laws that allow Congress to block DC laws.

MEDICAID: DC hospitals continue to pressure elected officials to roll back broad Medicaid cuts passed by Congress in July. Without it, the hospitals are predicting higher emergency department volumes, more uncompensated care, higher burnout among already-strained clinical staff, and even potential closure or drastic scaling back of services. With Congress now back in session, Democrats say they’re restarting roll back efforts to draconian cuts of President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.” The now-signed law sets new limits on state-directed Medicaid-managed-care payments, phases out provider tax incentives, and does not renew end-of-year cutoff for Affordable Care Act premium tax credit eligibility.

HEALTH DISPARITIES: CVS, Walgreens, and other major pharmacies in DC have announced that new federal limits mean that people must have a formal doctor’s prescription to receive the new COVID-19 vaccination, even patients with pre-existing, qualified conditions such as depression. People outside of the newly defined recommended groups such as anyone over age 65 may not be covered by insurance, which healthcare providers fear could reduce access of nearly 2 million Virginians on Medicaid since the shots can cost more than $140. COVID rates have been climbing in DC—especially in schools and assisted living facilities–and continue to be a health risk, especially for hospitalization or even death among vulnerable populations.

LGBTQIA2S+: DC officials have received a federal letter demanding removal of all references to gender ideology in their Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) educational materials within 60 days. The letter claims, “Federal funds will not be used to poison the minds of the next generation or advance dangerous ideological agendas. The Trump Administration will ensure that PREP reflects the intent of Congress, not the priorities of the left.” DC and 46 other states and territories that received the letters from the Administration for Children and Families must comply or will have federal PREP funding withheld, suspended, or cut. For the District, that could mean a loss of more than $400,000.