March 26, 2020
D.C. To Receive $750 Million Less in Federal Relief Package Than States with Smaller Populations, Exacerbating Public Health Crisis
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Attorney General Karl A. Racine today announced he is leading a bipartisan coalition with the National Association of Attorneys General and 37 Attorneys General to implore the Senate, House, and President of the United States to treat the District of Columbia as a state for purposes of receiving state level allocation of funding from the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund. The Coronavirus relief package, passed by the Senate on March 26, allocates at least $1.25 billion in direct relief payments to each state, but only $500 million to the District because it groups the District together with U.S. territories. In a bipartisan letter to President Trump and Congressional leaders, 10 Republican, one Independent, and 26 Democratic Attorneys General insist that the District must be treated as any other state and that shortchanging D.C. by at least $750 million is likely to exacerbate the COVID-19 crisis. Less relief funding will also harm the Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG) ability to enforce critical emergency response measures, such as limitations on business operations, price gouging prohibitions, and other protections for District residents.
Content retrieved from: https://oag.dc.gov/release/36-democrat-republican-ags-join-ag-racine.