The House Appropriations Committee approved, by a party-line vote of 30-22, spending limits for its fiscal year (FY) 2020 spending bills on May 8. For FY20, the Committee would provide the Transportation-HUD spending bill $75.8 billion, an increase of $4.7 billion or 6.6% over its FY19 funding level.
This robust increase in funding should be enough to cover the estimated $2.1 billion decline in Federal Housing Administration receipts that offset spending in the HUD budget, as well as the increases needed to fully renew housing vouchers and project-based rental assistance contracts. The Committee has already begun writing spending bills to these limits and seeks to pass all of its FY20 bills by the end of June. Congress must still, however, reach a bipartisan deal to lift austere spending limits required by law to avoid across-the-board cuts known as sequestration in FY20. Under sequestration, discretionary programs would be cut by about 10% or approximately $125 billion.