Martin Austermuhle
Wandering reporter with @51st.news, Switzerland and D.C. Formerly of WAMU 88.5 and DCist.
- An interesting fact: D.C. has already received 18,000 individual tax returns and 300 corporate returns. The Republican resolution repealing the city's tax law passed the House today, and if it passes the Senate and is signed by the president, many of those returns will have to be redone.
- A Senate committee just approved the resolution that would repeal a D.C. tax bill, sending the measure to the Senate floor. It will get a full vote in the House today.
- "The D.C. Council would like to undermine every single move President Trump makes, every promise he makes to the American people. But to deliberately deprive residents of the chance to keep more of their hard-earned dollars is simply unfair and absurd," said Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida).
- "We’re here to mark up a bill that claims the federal government knows better than local government when it comes to the local government’s own finances. The people of D.C. through their elected representatives have a right to decide their own tax policy," said Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-New Hampshire).
- "If they were in states, red or blue, there would never be the suggestion that we would override their local or state tax decision," added Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut). "People ought to be respected in the local decisions they make about their own lives."
- As the @51st.news's first full-time reporter, I don't actually disagree with this. We're building something new one brick at a time, but at this point it's simply not a one-for-one replacement for what's being lost at the Post. (Please read and support us, though!)
- The Post had talent and scale; there were enough reporters to cover specific beats everyday and others who could take longer to really dig into big stories. No one else in D.C. has matched that.
- That's not to say that smaller newsrooms and outlets can't do impactful reporting, though. Sometimes there's value in being picky about what you report on, and not having to chase daily stories. @wcp.bsky.social in its heyday was a great example.
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View full threadI like that @51st.news is being built from the ground up, and with support from individual readers. But that we are building something this way makes what Jeff Bezos did to the Post even more shameful. He has endless resources to sustain a great newspaper. He chose not to.
- If you're a D.C. resident, be aware: Paying your taxes this year could be total chaos. Why? Republicans in Congress are again trying to mess with the city's local budget and finances, something they know little about: 51st.news/republican-b...
- NEWS: Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White's defense attorney is asking a federal judge to delay his bribery trial's start date from March 24 to June 8. He replaced public defenders last October; he says they had conducted "no investigation of any significance" into the case and evidence against White.
- REMINDER: If you've got time to kill and some questions, I'm doing an AMA over on the D.C. subreddit from 1-3 p.m. today! www.reddit.com/r/washington...
- "My biggest criticism has been comms. [The mayor] should have had a daily briefing to the public, if not the council," says @brianneknadeau.bsky.social about storm cleanup in D.C. "Lack of communication, lack of communication, lack of communication," agrees @cmcharlesallen.bsky.social.
- Bowser did daily press briefings starting last Wednesday, but wasn't particularly public on Monday or Tuesday, right as the storm cleanup issues and complaints were at loudest volume. Her aides say they made other city officials available for interviews, which is true.
- I get that snow makes parking difficult, but this is just lazy.
- "The [D.C. Council's] approach would rob D.C. residents of new tax cuts, thereby increasing taxes on families, seniors, and small businesses," says Rep. Virginia Foxx. "By passing this disapproval, we can strike down Democrat-imposed tax hikes."
- Technically, the council's bill decoupling the city's tax code from the federal one wouldn't actually increase taxes for D.C. residents. It would just maintain the status quo. (The Republican tax cuts hadn't yet taken effect in D.C.)
- Democrat Rep. Jim McGovern criticizes the Republican disapproval resolution, calling it "another crummy bill to strip the District of even more autonomy." "It is shameful," he says. "This Republican-led Congress tries to micromanage their budget and their lives, and it’s wrong."
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View full thread"But blowing a huge hole in their budget? Seriously? You guys can’t even manage the federal budget, which is your actual job," said McGovern to Comer, who chairs the House Oversight Committee, which oversees D.C.
- A new report from @chmnmendelson.bsky.social says the D.C. Department of Buildings (successor to DCRA) is failing to prevent and punish illegal construction in the city. The report says there's not enough inspectors, they aren't well trained, and there's no system to track repeat offenders.
- One interesting outtake from the report: D.C. has five illegal construction inspectors, and they are pretty much slammed with work.
- Another very interesting outtake: Inspectors don't have the capacity to connect the dots by linking property owners or contractors repeatedly engaging in illegal construction at different properties. Connecting the dots isn't that hard, it just takes time.
- The report has loads of recommendations for changes at the Department of Buildings: chairmanmendelson.com/wp-content/u... Mendelson has done some pretty consistent oversight of DOB (and DCRA before it) over the years. He ultimately wrote the bill splitting DCRA into DOB and DLCP.
