A third push for the bridge occurred in 1936. Although the Great Depression in the United States was improving, there was a significant effort being made to balance the federal budget. (This budget-tightening would significantly contribute to the Recession of 1937–38.) City commissioners submitted a budget of $47.9 million to the Bureau of the Budget, but saw $4.3 million cut from it. However, a request for $25,000 for a bridge study was retained. On January 21, the Southeast Businessmen's Association and several citizen associations in the area sent a letter to the Subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations and to the Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Appropriations asking for appropriation of the study funds. In addition to underscoring the dangerous nature of the traffic problems and the deleterious economic effect the out-of-date bridge created, they pointed out that the 67,337 people living east of the river paid 15.5 percent of all city tax revenues but received just 3 percent of its expenditures. On April 6, the Federation of Citizens Association (an umbrella group representing all citizens associations in the city) endorsed the study request in a hearing before the Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Appropriations. The fate of the District's budget was placed in jeopardy on May 21, 1936, when Representative Thomas L. Blanton (D-Texas) refused to compromise with Senate conference committee members on a wide range of issues (including the "federal payment" to the city's budget). The city was faced with the prospect of having no budget, and all its funding directly approved by President Roosevelt as "relief". With Congress racing to a June 20 adjournment, Roosevelt threw his weight behind the Senate. Although the House initially resisted, the final bill (with only minor changes from the Senate version) passed on June 19 and was signed into law by President Roosevelt on June 23. It included the hard-won $25,000 appropriation for a Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge study.