The Senate Appropriations Committee approved on September 12 the topline funding numbers, known as 302(b) allocations, for each of the twelve spending bills for fiscal year (FY) 2020. The Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (THUD) bill received $74.3 billion, about $1.5 billion less than the House spending proposal. The committee vote on the allocations was along party lines. Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-VT) offered alternative allocations that would move funds for Homeland Security to other nondefense priorities, including more than a billion additional dollars for the THUD spending bill.
The Senate THUD Subcommittee is expected to consider their spending bill this week. Congress needs to pass all twelve funding bills or a stopgap funding measure before the start of the new fiscal year on October 1.