House passes bill to prevent DC from blocking Trump's tax cuts on tips and overtime pay

The House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday that takes direct aim at local Washington, D.C., after officials in the capital tried to stop key parts of the tax reform pushed by President Donald Trump.

The initiative, led by Congressman Brandon Gill (R-TX), passed by a narrow 215-210 vote, with no Democratic support. The pointed goal is to prevent the city from opting out of federal provisions that eliminate taxes on tips, overtime pay and other tax benefits aimed at both workers and businesses.

The conflict began when the city council, with a progressive majority, approved a measure to block local implementation of certain provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Local officials argue that full implementation of the tax package would cause a nearly $600,000,000 drop in city revenue.

Gill rejected that stance and defended the reform as a relief for the working class.

"Republicans want more money to be in the hands and in the pockets of working-class families, and Democrats want that money to be in the hands of government," he told Fox News.

From the Democratic side, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents DC in the non-voting Congress, described the resolution as "unprecedented and deliberate administrative and fiscal sabotage" against the U.S. capital.

Republicans, however, argue that the local government's decision is politically motivated to attack President Trump and hurts the city's own residents.

"Whenever we passed that tax law, we expected Washington, D.C., to conform to those tax provisions. And unfortunately, they decided that they were going to try to separate from them," Gill said.

The lawmaker also highlighted some of the benefits that, in his view, the city is trying to eliminate: "So to give you a few examples, you have no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime pay, a variety of pro-growth, pro-business tax provisions that they decided they wanted to decouple from."

Congress has the authority to reverse most of Washington's local laws thanks to the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973, a quirk stemming from its status as a federal territory.

Yet the bill must still pass the Senate. If it becomes law, some experts warn it could cause confusion in the middle of tax season, since many residents of the capital have already begun filing their returns.