The authority for congressional review and approval of the District of Columbia's budget is derived from the Constitution and the District of Columbia Self-Government and Government Reorganization Act of 1973 (Home Rule Act). The Constitution gives Congress the power to "exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever" pertaining to the District of Columbia. In 1973, Congress granted the city limited home rule authority and empowered citizens of the District to elect a mayor and city council. However, Congress retained the authority to review and approve all District laws, including the District's annual budget. As required by the Home Rule Act, the city council must approve a budget within 56 days after receiving a budget proposal from the mayor. The approved budget must then be transmitted to the President, who forwards it to Congress for its review, modification, and approval through the annual appropriations process. This typically includes subcommittee hearings, which may take place before the actual budget submission to Congress; subcommittee and committee markups in the House and the Senate; committee reports and votes; floor action; conference report consideration; and final passage. This budget review and approval process must be completed within approximately 120 calendar days before the beginning of the District's fiscal year on October 1. Congress not only appropriates federal payments to the District to fund certain activities, but also reviews, and may modify, the District's entire budget, including the expenditure of local funds as outlined in the District's Home Rule Act. Since FY2006, the District's appropriations act has been included in a multi-agency appropriations bill; before FY2006 the District budget was considered by the House and the Senate as a stand-alone bill. It is currently included in the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill (FSGG). Table 1 tracked the District's appropriation for FY2016 as it moved through the congressional review process. District of Columbia appropriations acts typically include the following three components: 1. Special federal payments appropriated by Congress to be used to meet certain statutory obligations and to fund particular initiatives or activities of interest to Congress or the Administration. 2. The District's operating budget , which includes funds to cover the day-to-day functions, activities, and responsibilities of the government; enterprise funds that provide for the operation and maintenance of government facilities or services that are entirely or primarily supported by user-based fees; and long-term capital outlays such as road improvements. District operating budget expenditures are paid for by revenues generated through local taxes (sales and income), federal funds for which the District qualifies, and fees and other sources of funds. 3. General provisions are typically the third component of the District's budget reviewed and approved by Congress. These provisions can be grouped into several distinct but overlapping categories, with the most predominant being provisions relating to fiscal and budgetary directives and controls. Other provisions include administrative directives and controls, limitations on lobbying for statehood or congressional voting representation, congressional oversight, and congressionally imposed restrictions and prohibitions related to social policy. It should be noted that Congress has, from time to time, included language authorizing new programmatic initiatives or amendments to the District of Columbia home rule charter in the District's Appropriations bill. For example, in 1995, Congress included language authorizing the creation of public charter schools in the District of Columbia as part of P.L. 104-134 , a consolidated appropriation measure. In 2004, Congress included statutory provisions creating a school voucher program as part of the District of Columbia Appropriations, which was a component of a consolidated appropriations act, P.L. 108-199 . On February 2, 2015, the Obama Administration released its detailed budget request for FY2016. The Administration's proposed budget included $760 million in special federal payments to the District of Columbia, including court services, offender supervision and public defender services, which is $80 million more than the District's FY2015 appropriation of $680 million. The proposed $80 million increase included additional funding for the Tuition Assistance Program, court operations, and court services. The request also included $20 million in funding for a mix of new initiatives, including the promotion of solar energy, the redevelopment of the St. Elizabeths campus, affordable housing, and funds for the arts. Approximately 80% ($612.4 million) of the President's proposed budget request for the District would have been targeted to the courts and criminal justice system. This included $274.4 million in support of court operations; $49.9 million for Defender Services; $244.7 million for the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia, an independent federal agency responsible for the District's pretrial services, adult probation, and parole supervision functions; $1.9 million for the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council; $40.9 million for the public defender's office; and $565,000 to cover costs associated with investigating judicial misconduct complaints and recommending candidates to the President for vacancies to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and the District of Columbia Superior Court. The President's budget request totaled $83.6 million in support of education initiatives, including $43.2 million to support elementary and secondary education, $435,000 to support the D.C. National Guard college access program, and $40 million for college tuition assistance. These amounts represent 10.9% of the Administration's budget request for the District of Columbia for FY2016. The President's budget also included a general provision in support of budget and legislative autonomy for the District. On April 2, 2015, the mayor of the District of Columbia submitted a proposed budget to the District of Columbia Council. On July 9, 2016, the District of Columbia Council approved the District of Columbia budget which was signed by the mayor on July 10, 2016, and forwarded to the President for transmittal to Congress. The FY2016 budget request included $13.0 billion in total operating expenditures, including enterprise funds, and $1.1 billion in capital outlays. The special federal payments section of the budget request as passed by the District of Columbia Council was consistent with the Administration's budget submission, excluding funding for court services and public defender offices. The budget request passed by the District of Columbia Council (the Council) also included general provisions that would have granted the District greater self-governance. The act proposed to provide some level of budget autonomy in the expenditure of local funds and legislative autonomy. Specifically, the act, if approved by Congress, would have amended the District's home rule charter by removing language that currently subjects the District's general fund budget to the congressional appropriations process. Also, the proposed amendment would have made the annual operating/local budget effective upon passage by the District Council. The proposed amendment, if approved by Congress, would have directed the mayor to submit to the President for transmittal to Congress that portion of the budget with respect to special federal payments for its review and approval. The amendment would have only required the mayor to notify the Speaker of House and the President of the Senate regarding that portion of the budget covering the expenditure of local funds. No congressional action would be required. In addition, the Council's budget request for FY2016 included provisions intended to advance the principles of home rule. The proposal would have amended the District's Home Rule Act by eliminating provisions governing congressional review of legislative acts of the District government, which currently allows Congress 30 legislative days to review non-criminal-code legislation passed by the District of Columbia Council and 60 days for legislation related to criminal offenses, procedures, and prisoners; eliminated language that would have excluded Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, and any day on which neither chamber was in session because of an adjournment sine die, a recess of more than three days, or an adjournment of more than three days beginning on the day the legislation was transmitted to the House or Senate; and no longer subjected proposed charter amendments to the 35-day congressional review period. As a fallback position, should Congress fail to enact the mayor's proposal, the mayoral budget request also included language that would have allowed for the expenditure of local funds as outlined in an approved budget request act or continuing budget resolution if Congress failed to enact a District appropriations at the beginning of a fiscal year starting with FY2017. This provision would have been void if Congress approved amendments to the home rule charter granting the District budget autonomy or if Congress enacted the Local Budget Autonomy Amendment Act of 2012, as passed by the District of Columbia Council and ratified by District voters. In the weeks and months following the President's transmittal to Congress of the District's budget request, Congress reviewed and considered additional federal assistance to the District as part of the appropriations process for FY2016. This section of the report will discuss congressional action as it occurred. On July 9, 2015, the House Appropriations Committee approved the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act of 2014, H.R. 2995 , with an accompanying report ( H.Rept. 114-194 ). The bill included $678.0 million in special federal payments to the District. This amount was $1.63 million less than appropriated for FY2015, $81.8 million less than requested by the Obama Administration and $10.7 million less than recommended by the Senate committee bill. The bill did not include funding for the District's Water and Sewer Authority, and recommended a substantial decrease in the amount proposed to be appropriated for the Resident Tuition Support (college access) program ($20 million less than the amount requested by the Obama Administration and $10 million less than appropriated in FY2015). The bill also recommended $45 million in funding to support the District of Columbia Public Schools ($15 million), public charter schools ($15 million), and private school vouchers ($15 million).