Republicans are revving up for a D.C. smackdown

Republicans in Congress are deluging D.C. with countless new proposals to nip away at Democrats' power, squash regulations, and roll back local laws.

Why it matters: I recently wrote about how a second Donald Trump presidency could usher in a new age of federal micromanaging over local Washington. A live preview is underway of the intervention Republicans are capable of if they win both chambers and the White House.

State of play: House Republicans have many ideas : ban all traffic cameras, ban D.C. from banning right-turns-on-red, prohibit non-U.S. citizens from voting in local elections, and repeal the assisted-suicide "Death with Dignity" law.

• Another proposal, from Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles, would defund D.C.'s statehood commission — no more shadow senators.
• South Carolina's Nancy Mace wants to loosen requirements for becoming a D.C. child care educator .
• These may be longshots with a Democratic-controlled Senate, but the torrent of amendments is striking fear in city hall.

Friction point: A new worry emerged this week when Mayor Muriel Bowser declined to sign the D.C. Council's $21 billion budget — short of a veto, but a rare mayoral move not to endorse the city's spending plan.

• Her critics fear Republicans will see that as a tacit invitation to intervene. As they did right before overturning a D.C. crime law last year, Republicans might think: The mayor didn't sign the budget, so we'll fix it.

What they're saying: In returning the budget unsigned, Bowser criticized the D.C. Council in writing for spending more on social programs, levying a "mansion tax," and increasing taxes on businesses.

• To which D.C. Council chair Phil Mendelson told me in a statement: "By her critical letter, is the Mayor asking, once again, that Congress take note and intervene in our local affairs?"

The big picture: The mood in the Wilson Building is glum. If Republicans win total control of the federal government, they can make good on Trump's promise to "take over our horribly run" capital city.

• Observers believe a flood of intervention into D.C. laws — from the sweeping to the picayune — is more likely than a total revocation of home rule (though there is a longshot bill for that, too).
• But even so, there are memories of the control board of the 1990s, when Congress took over D.C.'s bankrupt finances.
• The thought has spurred officials within the Bowser administration to begin planning for the possibility of a Trumpian assault on the city, according to NBC4's reporting this week .
• "Home rule is fragile," said Council member Christina Henderson, referring to the 1973 law that President Richard Nixon signed to give the city a locally elected mayor and legislature. "We need to do our part in pushing back."

The bottom line: The meddling will mean more work for council members. Their job description now includes not just making laws but lobbying Congress to keep them from being overturned.

• "I was not elected to make fact sheets for 535 members of Congress," Henderson says. "[But] that is the job."

💭 Town Talker is a weekly column about money and power in Washington. Tell me about the talk of the town: cuneyt@axios.com.