The organization has also created a number of independent nonprofits and subsidiary bodies, which have worked on range of issues, from the D.C Policy Center and the Washington Housing Conservancy, to waterway restoration to crime.

[5] Graham was deeply concerned about the decline of the District of Columbia in the post-World War II period and the city's rapid loss of population and business to suburbs in Maryland and Virginia.

[13] The Federal City Council was active in a wide range of issues in the 1950s, including slum clearance,[14] and is credited with successfully lobbying the Eisenhower administration to expedite the razing of much of Southwest Washington[15][16][a] It was also involved in an attempt to locate the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency in the District of Columbia,[17] urban planning,[18] demolition of the temporary Main Navy and Munitions Buildings on the National Mall,[19] the site of the proposed D.C.

When the 1963 legislation moved to the House, Representatives John Dowdy and John L. McMillan attached a number of riders to the bill that required competitive bidding, forced federal agencies to give displaced businesses priority in receiving federal assistance, required the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to develop plans for relocating low-income residents, and placed limits on the number of redevelopment projects that could be approved or constructed at any given time.

A large subway system was equally important, as the Federal City Council concluded that surface transit alone could not meet the needs of the rapidly growing D.C. metropolitan area.

[29] The organization also wished to ensure that wealthier suburbanites would be able to reach the downtown D.C. shopping district, in the hopes this would reverse or at least stop the flight of retail out of the city.

[34] Although portions of the Inner Loop were constructed, the majority of highways that comprised the system (including the elements most destructive of neighborhoods and the environment) were cancelled by federal court decisions and by changes in national transportation policy during the late 1960s and the early 1970s.

[5] In June 1983, the Federal City Council proposed that a huge $300 million structure be built on unused land adjacent to Maine Avenue SW.

In late 1986, the association began pushing for construction of the trade center on a parking lot in Federal Triangle, an area originally intended for a major government office building in the 1930s but never built due to the financial distress caused by the Great Depression.

[50] The organization's study, released in March 1986, said Metro faced a financial crisis by 2000 caused by significant cuts in federal funds as well as rapidly growing capital improvement needs (such as replacing subway cars and worn equipment and track).

[5] The General Services Administration initially tried to lure the Securities and Exchange Commission to Buzzard Point by offering to construct it a new office building there in 1978, but this effort failed.

[66] As part of its interest in social programs, the Federal City Council also turned its attention for the first time to the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS).

[67] To build support for implementing the report's findings, the council created the D.C. Committee on Public Education (a group of parents and business, religious, and civic leaders), in 1988.

[107] In 2004, the Federal City Council led an effort to raise private money to help improve the salary of the Superintendent of the District of Columbia Public Schools.

In 2001, at the behest of Natwar M. Gandhi, D.C.'s chief financial officer, the organization agreed to update its 1994 study on city revenues in order to build a consensus in Congress for a restructuring of the District's financing mechanisms.

[126] The organization also joined an effort, spearheaded by The 2030 Group, to plan a multi-decade strategy for helping seven key industries in the region grow as well as how to encourage greater economic diversification.

The commission recommended changes to the District's tax code (including adding a bracket for middle-income earners and an increase in the standard deduction) which made it the second-most progressive in the nation.

[122][132] As part of its Anacostia River initiative, the council supported legislation (enacted in 2014) banning the use of polystyrene foam containers for use by food carryout providers.

The Federal City Council said it would attempt to build a coalition,[137] consisting primarily of the region's largest employers and businesses with the most revenue,[138] to support the changes.

[139] The council first drew media attention in 2016, when the organization's executive director agreed to co-chair a mayoral panel studying improvements to the city's public and charter schools.

As part of its lobbying effort, the Federal City Council sent representatives on a trade mission to China and worked to defeat a proposed paid family leave bill.

Short-term initiatives include a 1963 effort to demolish temporary building on the National Mall,[31] a 1988 task force to win federal approval for the construction of an international trade center,[47] the early 1990s Downtown Interactive Task Force,[9] a 2002 effort to lobby the federal government for more money for the District of Columbia (led by Robert G. Liberatore, a senior vice president at DaimlerChrysler),[118] and a 2012 working group to identify new means of financing infrastructure.

[146][147] The Economic Club was founded by Federal City Council members Ed Hoffman (president of Woodward & Lothrop) and R. Robert Linowes (a successful local attorney).

The goal was two-fold: First, to provide a way for business leaders to socialize, become acquainted with one another, and form a sense of community; second, to expose its members to new thinking and ideas in the realm of economics.

[149] The organization, dominated by private developers, would have broad power (including eminent domain and the right to own property) to direct planning and engage in redevelopment of the city's downtown and business corridors.

[149][154] The trust worked to obtain government and corporate grants to help at-risk youth and build after-school programs at city public schools.

Agenda began collecting funds from the public as part of a political campaign to support a referendum that would dramatically alter the powers of the D.C. State Board of Education.

King said its power rivaled that of the city council in 2006,[109] while Post reporters Marc Fisher and Valerie Strauss in 1997 said the group consisted of "Washington's corporate and governmental elite".

He also asserted it lacked effective and visionary leadership, that globalization of local businesses had robbed the organization of support, that excessive partisanship at the federal and state levels make progress nearly impossible, and that many of the problems now confronting the city are regional in nature.

[6] The group has also been criticized for ignoring the views of residents affected by Federal City Council projects,[9] of lacking accountability, and pursuing an agenda at odds with those of the public.