In a dramatic turn of events on July 31 and August 1, the House and Senate dashed any hope that the FY14 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) appropriations bill would be passed this fiscal year. The bill’s downfall began with the House leadership pulling its THUD bill, H.R. 2610, from the floor on July 31 after determining it would not gain enough votes for final passage. Senate Republicans, except Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), who until then had been supportive of their chamber’s THUD bill, S. 1243, quickly fell into line behind Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to vote down the Senate bill 24 hours later.
The Senate began consideration of S. 1243 on July 23 with a strong bipartisan vote for cloture to bring the bill to the floor for consideration. A subsequent vote, a motion to table a motion that would have reduced the FY14 THUD 302(b) subcommittee allocation, was more along party lines but was still supported by several Republicans. The Republicans who had voted favorably for initial cloture were expected to continue to support the bill in the August 1 cloture vote to end debate. Cloture limits debate on a bill and ensures that the bill will receive a vote on its own. Cloture requires 60 votes. Without cloture, Senators may filibuster a bill.
Meanwhile, the House began consideration of its bill on July 30, voting on amendments that same evening. A second round of votes was scheduled for the morning of July 31, but House leadership postponed the votes, and shortly afterwards, the bill was pulled from floor consideration because there were not enough Republicans in favor of the bill for it to pass.
Appropriations Committee Chair Hal Rogers (R-KY) said in a statement, “The Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development funding bill that was pulled from floor consideration today was the first major attempt by the House to consider and pass an Appropriations bill that funds domestic programs under the austere level delineated under the Budget Control Act and the House budget resolution... the House has declined to proceed on the implementation of the very budget it adopted just three months ago. Thus, I believe that the House has made its choice: sequestration – and it’s unrealistic and ill-conceived discretionary cuts – must be brought to an end.”
Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) wrote a “Dear Colleague” letter in response to H.R. 2610 being debated on the House floor and took the opportunity to promote his legislation to fund the National Housing Trust Fund and other HUD programs through mandatory funding. H.R. 2610, “underfunds, cuts, or eliminates numerous HUD programs including the major rental housing programs. The bill slashes funding for affordable rental housing in nearly every way possible… There is a better way. My bill, the Common Sense Housing Investment Act of 2013 (H.R.1213) would expand the supply of affordable rental housing for extremely low-income families.”
Following the House decision, Senate Republicans began to change their positions and one by one fell into line behind Senator McConnell to vote against the bill. The Senate vote for cloture to end debate on the THUD bill was supported by only one Republican, THUD Subcommittee Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-ME). Prior to the vote, Senator Collins spoke about the need to pass a THUD bill, to proceed with regular order in appropriations, and about the value of HUD programs that S. 1243 would fund. Even as she gave her floor speech, Senator Collins spoke in the past tense, as if the vote had already failed, despite her extensive efforts to maintain the strong bipartisan support demonstrated by the Committee on Appropriations.
After the cloture vote failed, Senator McConnell said in a statement that voting for the bill would have indicated a willingness to disregard the Budget Control Act (BCA) discretionary spending caps. The Senate’s top line FY14 spending figure assumes repeal of the sequester’s mandatory discretionary cuts and provides $1.058 trillion for discretionary funding for FY14. The House’s top-line budget number is $967 billion for discretionary spending for FY14. Senate Republicans have been unwilling to name members to a Committee on the Budget conference to allow the House and Senate to negotiate a top line spending figure.
A litany of HUD amendments were filed on S. 1243, many of which would have been damaging to HUD programs. Only one HUD amendment, S.Amdt. 1744, offered by Senator David Vitter (R-LA) was considered by the chamber. Senator Vitter’s amendment would have prohibited persons convicted of certain aggravated sexual assault crimes from receiving subsidized housing resources. Other amendments that NLIHC opposed, including ones to reduce HUD funding for Homeless Assistance, the HOME Investment Partnership program, and the Community Development Block Grant, did not come to the floor for a vote.
The House and Senate have departed for August recess and neither chamber is expected to resume its THUD work in September. Congress’s failure to advance this discretionary appropriations bill leaves Congress at an impasse with the entire FY14 appropriations process. With the House Republicans unwilling to pass bills that make deep cuts resulting from their own FY14 budget, and the Senate unable to gain sufficient bipartisan support, the likelihood of other appropriations bills passing both chambers is slim, in particular for non-defense bills where the House and Senate are most divided on top line spending levels.
When Congress returns, Members are expected to focus on brokering a budget agreement for FY14. This will include negotiations around replacing sequestration, increasing the debt ceiling, and a continuing resolution. Without early agreement on a FY14 budget, it is assumed that Congress would end up passing a continuing resolution (CR) to provide funding at FY13 post-sequestration levels in lieu of negotiating all of its FY14 appropriations bills. Congress may first pass a short term CR to provide funding from the start of the fiscal year on October 1 until a budget agreement is negotiated and then pass a second CR to provide funding for the remainder of FY14.
View Chair Rogers statement: http://1.usa.gov/1aX8yMG
View Representative Ellison’s “Dear Colleague” letter: http://bit.ly/13f1pCh
View a list of HUD related S.1243 amendments: http://bit.ly/1b6Dme0