Aparna Raj claims that the federal government's decision to withhold a billion dollars from the D.C. budget is an act of power and a punishment directed at the city.

“It is. I mean, their reasoning is DC can't manage a budget. You know, DC um can't do this stuff, but it's basically just their way to like try to flex their power over us. and feel like DC has been the testing site for a lot of the Trump administration's um attempts to take over Blue City.”