Senate Plans to Move THUD Appropriations as First FY14 Bill

The full Senate is expected to begin its FY14 appropriations work the week of July 22 and bring the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) bill, S. 1243, to the floor. The Senate Committee on Appropriations passed its FY14 THUD bill out of committee on June 27 (see Memo, 7/28) with bipartisan support. Several Republican members voted against the bill because they object to the Committee’s FY14 top line spending figure of $1.058 trillion [the 302(a) allocation]. However, six Republican members voted to pass the bill out of committee. Given that the THUD bill is the first FY14 appropriations bill to go the floor, the disagreement over the top line number may be the focus of Senate floor debate, rather than the content of the bill. The House Subcommittee allocations and its FY14 bills are based on a top-line House budget number of $967 billion for discretionary spending for FY14. The Senate’s top line number, which assumes repeal of the sequester’s mandatory discretionary cuts while maintaining the Budget Control Act’s spending limits, provides $1.058 trillion for discretionary funding for FY14. The Senate Committee’s FY14 THUD allocation would provide $10 billion more than H.R. 2610, the House THUD bill, with more than $6 billion of that funding difference is applied to HUD programs. Before Senate leadership brings S. 1243 to the floor for consideration, the Senate will first take a cloture vote to decide whether to consider the bill. It is unclear whether the Senate will have the 60 votes needed to bring the bill to the floor for debate. The first vote on whether to consider the THUD bill is expected as early as July 23. The Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding (CHCDF) sent a letter to appropriators on July 22, urging passage of S. 1243. “The Senate’s THUD bill would help pull programs back from the abyss created by underfunding and sequestration in recent fiscal years,” wrote the 37 organizations. CHCDF is a campaign of national organizations that advocates for strong HUD and USDA housing funding and is facilitated by NLIHC.The Preservation Working Group (PWG) also sent a letter in support of passage of the THUD bill on July 19. PWG commends the appropriators for increasing funding for the Project-Based Rental Assistance program above the President’s funding request, providing funding for Tenant Protection Vouchers, and including policy provisions to “facilitate the conversion of expiring Rent Supplement and Rental Assistance Payment (RAP) contracts to long-term project based Section 8 contracts or project-based voucher contracts.” PWG is a network of national, state, and local organizations that advocate for strong resources for preservation of HUD subsidized units and is facilitated by the National Housing Trust. NLIHC joined 28 organizations in signing the PWG letter.View the CHCDF letter: http://bit.ly/160kJox View the PWG letter: http://bit.ly/12BZqHO