The House Committee on Rules passed an open rule for H.R. 2610, the FY14 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies (THUD) appropriations bill, on July 23.This means that amendments will be allowed from the House floor. The bill is expected to go to the floor for consideration on July 30. Floor debate is expected to be contentious with vehement opposition to the low levels of funding provided for HUD programs. H.R. 2610 would underfund Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) contract renewals, locking in the loss of more than 100,000 vouchers. The bill would also provide insufficient funding for all Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) contracts to be renewed for a full year, and continue underfunding the Public Housing Operating and Capital Funds. The HOME Investment Partnerships program would also be cut by 26%. Other programs including the Community Development Block Grants and Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control, would be cut by up to 56% compared to FY13. Homeless Assistance Grants would be increased by 8% but still funded below the President’s budget request for FY14. On July 22, the White House issued a Statement on Administration Policy (SAP) objecting to H.R. 2610. In the SAP, the Administration says that the President’s advisors would recommend vetoing the bill should it be passed into law. “The Administration strongly opposes the $3.0 billion reduction to HUD’s core rental assistance programs…The Committee bill would support approximately 125,000 fewer housing vouchers for very low-income families, and would again require HUD to short-fund contracts with private housing owners and reduce payment to public housing authorities,” wrote the Administration. In the SAP, the Administration also said that the House bill’s funding for Homeless Assistance Grants would “impact more than 86,000 homeless and formerly homeless households, including many veterans.” The Administration also notes that House funding levels for the Housing Opportunity for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program would “result in nearly 5,000 people losing housing services.” The President has threatened to veto appropriations bills that violate the firewall between defense and non-defense discretionary spending caps, as this House bill would. NLIHC joined 146 other organizations calling on Members of Congress to oppose House appropriations levels in a letter organized by the Coalition on Human Needs. “Poor families or people with disabilities perilously close to homelessness after waiting years for a rental voucher have been told they will have to wait longer. While many are reeling from these impacts of sequestration, the appropriations levels set by the House Republicans for FY 2014 are taking even bigger steps in the wrong direction,” wrote the organizations. View the rule: http://1.usa.gov/18wkAvz View the SAP: http://1.usa.gov/12d3SC1 View the CHN letter: http://bit.ly/14cljDW