by Marilyn Mohrman-Gillis and Lance Davis
The National League of Cities achieved another victory in its campaign to Save CDBG last week when a House Appropriations subcommittee allocated $4.2 billion for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program in the Department of Housing and Urban Development for Fiscal Year 2006.
While this would be a reduction in funds from Fiscal Year 2005, it is a far cry from the President?s proposal to consolidate CDBG with 17 other programs, cut it by $2 billion and move it to the Department of Commerce.
?The committee did not agree to the proposal to eliminate [CDBG], consolidate its functions and transfer the implementation to the Department of Commerce,? according to a press release from the committee.
Representative Joe Knollenberg (R-Mich.), chair of the Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development subcommittee, said in presenting the bill, that one of his priorities was to ?retain and restore, to the maximum extent possible, the formula funding for cities and towns across America through the Community Development Block Grant.?
Referring to the Administration?s proposal, Knollenberg said, ?I have had many, many meetings with members, groups and constituents on this bill. Not one ? not even one of them ? agreed with the proposed move of CDBG to the Commerce Department.?
?This is the latest victory in our campaign to keep CDBG intact and at HUD,? said NLC Executive Director Donald J. Borut. ?We are gratified that members of Congress in the House recognize the importance of the CDBG program to their cities, and have ? at every stage of this budget process ? indicated their strong intent to keep the program at HUD.?
The $4.2 billion for the program would constitute about a $500 million decrease from Fiscal Year 2005. Of significance to cities, the bill would provide $3.86 million in formula funds for entitlement communities and states, a reduction of $250 million from Fiscal Year 2005 levels.
?While we were disappointed that CDBG was not level funded in the subcommittee bill, we will be working with the Senate appropriators to increase the level of CDBG funding in the final bill,? Borut added.
Knollenberg also cited Section 8 Housing Vouchers, another key NLC issue, as a top priority for his bill. He stressed the importance of protecting all extremely low-income families receiving Section 8 and public housing rental assistance, and noted that ?failure to fully meet this commitment would have resulted in thousands of families losing their assistance and becoming homeless.?
The House bill would increase funding for Section 8 Vouchers by $765 million for total funding of $15.53 billion. As explained by the committee, the increase is intended ?to restore the reduction mandated last year and fund all anticipated increases in costs.?
While this is $314 million below the President?s request for the program, it represents a solid commitment to the Section 8 Voucher program.
The bill would also fund the Project-Based Rental Assistance program at $5.10 billion, $210 million below last year and $16 million above the President?s request.
Other housing programs received mixed results. The subcommittee bill would provide level funding for the HOME Investments Partnership program at $1.9 billion, but it would eliminate funding for HOPE VI and other ?lower priority? programs as requested in the President?s budget.
?There is no question that NLC and its coalition partners made a difference in this bill. The subcommittee?s top two housing priorities were NLC?s priorities: CDBG and Section 8 Vouchers. This is a real testament to the grassroots power of local elected officials across the country,? said Borut.
The subcommittee is also responsible for funding transportation programs. The subcommittee committed $37 billion for highway spending, an increase of $1.6 billion over the President?s request and $1.9 billion more than the FY 05 enacted level. This is generally consistent with the $284 billion transportation bill, passed by the House and currently in conference with the Senate bill.
Aviation spending was increased by $877 million to $14.427 billion. This includes $8.2 billion for Federal Aviation Administration operations, $3.6 billion for the Airport Improvement Program and $104 million for essential air service.
Amtrak, funded at $550 million, took a cut of $657 million due to what the committee considered poor fiscal management and an over-reliance on Congress to fund the troubled rail service.
?For too long, Amtrak has played a Chicken Little game with Congress over its funding levels. Officials would declare a crisis, threatening immediate shut downs of service because of supposed inadequate funding,? the committee said in a prepared statement. ?Further analysis reveals that Amtrak alone is to blame for the bulk of their problems ? most notably taking on nearly $4 billion in debt ? yet failing to make the infrastructure investments along the Northeast Corridor that are so critically needed to maintain efficient operations.
?In a time of flat budgets and large deficits, taxpayers cannot continue to subsidize poor management and unprofitable services,? the committee stated.
The bill prohibits federal funding for any Amtrak route that requires a subsidy of $30 or more per passenger. The bill permits Amtrak to use federal funds to support operations for all routes in the Northeast Corridor, routes running through Pennsylvania, most corridor routes in the Midwest; trains running from Portland, Ore., to Vancouver, Wash.; and corridor routes in California.
NLC is pleased with the appropriation for highways and transit, and supports the decision to fund fully the Airport Improvement Program and Essential Air Services. However, NLC is disappointed that the bill does not adequately fund Amtrak.
The full House Appropriations Committee will consider the Subcommittee bill early this week. The Senate has yet to act on appropriations for housing or transportation programs.