A bill to restore more than $1 billion in funding for Washington, D.C., that Congress blocked earlier this year has stalled in the House, where Republican resistance to the measure has left its fate in doubt.
G.O.P. leaders say they still intend to bring up the bill, blaming the delay on the competing priorities of passing President Trump’s agenda. But some ultraconservative Republicans are opposing it outright, arguing that Washington — a Democratically run city that is home to a significant number of federal workers and Black residents — should not get to spend its own money unless it abides by Republicans’ wishes on voting, abortion and other issues.
The lack of action leaves D.C. in limbo, facing a cut of hundreds of millions of dollars from this year’s budget that could lead to steep reductions in city services. That is because the Republican-led Congress, when it passed a stopgap funding bill in March, omitted standard language routinely included in appropriations bills to approve the city’s budget. Without the approval, Washington was forced to revert to last year’s funding levels, amounting to a roughly $1.1 billion cut halfway through the fiscal year.
Republicans and Democrats quickly moved to rectify the issue. Immediately after passing the federal spending measure, the Senate overwhelmingly approved a separate bill that would allow D.C. to continue operating under its current budget without interruption. President Trump urged the House at the time to “immediately” pass the fix, which top Republicans signaled they would.
But nearly two months later, that legislation has yet to come up in the House.
“Nobody’s talking about it,” said Representative Andy Harris, Republican of Maryland and the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. “We just don’t see the urgency.”
Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters this week that he had assured Mayor Muriel Bowser last month that he would try to pass the bill “as quickly as possible,” but he gave no timeline and indicated that it did not have enough support to pass as in its current form.
“I had a conversation with the mayor a few weeks back,” Mr. Johnson said on Tuesday. “This is not a political thing that we’re doing. It’s just a matter of managing our schedule. I’ve got to build a consensus around it to make sure we have the votes, and we’re working on that.”
As part of that consensus building, Mr. Johnson would likely need to modify the bill to placate the right flank of his party, which wants to prevent D.C. from spending money on programs and policies that are out of step with conservative priorities.
“We believe that, you know, freezing spending for D.C. is not a bad idea, and if they want to increase their spending, we should put some restraints on it,” Mr. Harris said.
Although he has not released a formal list of amendments that the group would propose, Mr. Harris said the Freedom Caucus would likely insist on adding a provision to repeal Washington’s law to allow noncitizen voting and also ban reparations payments for Black residents.
Several Republicans, including Mr. Harris and Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma, the Appropriations Committee chairman, have also said that the bill should include language that prevents D.C. from spending any taxpayer dollars — local or federal — on abortion services.
In the absence of a fix, the city has ratcheted up pressure on members of Congress to move the bill forward. After Congress departed last month for a two-week break without acting on it, Ms. Bowser went public with her plans to plug the funding gap, ordering citywide spending and hiring freezes, including overtime for police and fire departments, and raising the possibility of furloughs in the future.
But some Republicans say making D.C. whole again ranks low on their priority list.
“That’s not been top of mind, for me at least,” said Representative Andy Ogles, Republican of Tennessee and a member of the Freedom Caucus. “Because of reconciliation, we’re all busy in our committees.”
Also potentially dampening the urgency was Ms. Bowser’s decision in April to use a 2009 federal law to increase local appropriations by 6 percent this year, narrowing the billion-dollar gap to $410 million.
Mr. Ogles said he would push for an amendment that puts D.C. entirely under federal control by repealing the 52-year-old Home Rule Act, which allows residents of D.C. to elect a mayor and council. He also said he wanted to see more guardrails on how D.C. could spend its money.
“I’m not opposed to funding if there’s accountability,” he said.
Other Republicans who back the funding fix are bewildered by the demands and delays.
“Those riders are already in there,” Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, said in an interview, referring to the abortion care restrictions some Republicans are insisting upon adding, which she argued already apply in D.C. “It is perplexing to me that the House is not passing a bill that allows D.C. to spend its own money, and it’s going to force the District to make cuts in such vital services as police protection.”
“The president has strongly endorsed the bill,” she added, “so I don’t know what is going on.”
Among those concerned about the funding lapse is Representative James R. Comer, Republican of Kentucky and chairman of the Oversight Committee, which oversees D.C.’s laws and budget. He said he had been “in constant communication with the mayor’s office” and “advocating for her to receive the funding that she had planned on receiving.”
“I’ve expressed my support to fully fund D.C.,” Mr. Comer said. “So hopefully it’ll be restored.”
Campbell Robertson contributed reporting.