WASHINGTON - A proposal to change the formula that determinants the annual federal payment to the District of Columbia will have to wait another year.
The House Committee on the District of Columbia late Monday voted to freeze the payment for fiscal 1996 at the authorized fiscal 1995 level of $660 million. Fiscal 1995 starts Oct. 1.
A bill sponsored by committee chairman Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., to revise the formula and possibly result in higher payments was put on hold because of congressional distress over the district's troubled finances.
The measure approved Monday by voice vote requires the mayor to submit to various congressional entities annual "performance accountability" plans and reports that spell out how the district government will eliminate projected gaps between spending and revenue.
There was a slim chance late yesterday that the Senate would finish work on the House-Senate conference report approving the fiscal 1995 budget, including the federal payment.
The Senate voted last week to approve the conference report, but the measure stalled when Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Tex., offered an amendment related to the crime bill passed recently by Congress. The Gramm amendment would not affect the budget total.
