What Cities Need to Know as Congress Ramps Up Community Prioritized Investments

By:

Brittney D. Kohler

March 23, 2021 - (6 min read)

Congress is getting ready to take suggestions on worthy city projects ready for investment, but the opportunity to submit them is going to move quickly. Before the end of April, the House Appropriations Committee is requesting Community-Based Project requests and the Transportation Committee is taking Local Transportation Priorities from Members that may be used in the upcoming transportation reauthorization bill this spring. Additionally, the traditional collection of programmatic and language changes by Appropriations subcommittees is also moving forward.

Earmarks are Back

This type of Congressionally directed project spending was discontinued for several years, but both the House Democratic majority and House Republican minority made changes to their rules to allow for the new version of “earmarks” to return. This move is meant to encourage bipartisan cooperation and ensure that Congress was not over delegating their investment authority to unelected Administration officials. Here’s what city leaders need to know to engage in this process.

Every Member of Congress Gets to Pick and Rank Community Projects

Your Member of Congress will get to rank and submit only ten Community Project Funding requests across all Subcommittee areas and only a handful may actually be funded. Each Member of Congress is responsible for identifying their office’s own preliminary process and submission timelines, and many of your Members of Congress will have deadlines coming up in late March and early April.

If city leaders want to participate in sharing a project with your Member of Congress, check their website for details and ensure that you note their office’s deadlines and all the required information. Guidance from the Committee on submitting Community Project Funding requests is here and all the subcommittee instructions are here. The earlier that your city can provide input, the earlier that the Members can review your input and catch any issues before they hopefully move forward with submitting your priority project.

Members Have Three Ways to Support Local Priorities

In addition to projects, Members can add programmatic and language across all Subcommittees. These changes to programs can be very effective in ensuring strong programs for local governments. Here are some transportation examples from the THUD Subcommittee:

Community Project Request: a funding request for a specific governmental entity or non-profit organization to carry out a specific community project.
- Example: Provide $100,000 for capital improvements to a community center in City, County, State.
Programmatic Request: a request to fund a specific program in the bill at a specified level.
- Examples: Provide $100,000,000 for the Low and No Emission Bus program; Support highest possible funding for Community Development Block Grants.
Language Request: a request to include specific bill or report language that does not direct funding to a particular entity but encourages, urges, or directs some type of action by an agency.
- Example: The Committee encourages the U.S. Department of Transportation to integrate considerations of the impacts of climate change into all aspects of the Department’s transportation planning and into competitive grant and formula programs.

Every Member of Congress Gets to Submit and Rank Highway and Transit Projects

The Transportation Committee has announced preliminary details for Members of Congress to submit highway and transit transportation requests as part of the process for the FAST Act federal transportation reauthorization. The formal process will be announced later this month. The Committee has strongly encouraged Members to begin gathering this information now and working directly to get your city and MPOs project requests.

In addition to basic project information, the Committee will require all submissions to include the following information for each project requested:

Documentation that the project is on the State, Tribal, or territorial transportation improvement program (STIP); and on the metropolitan transportation improvement program (TIP), if applicable
Sources of funding for the full share of the cost of the project beyond the amount requested
Letter(s) of support from the State department of transportation, or local government, transit agency, or other non-Federal sponsor
A description of the process that has been or will be followed to provide an opportunity for public comment on the project
Project phase (e.g. Planning, Final Design, Construction)
NEPA category of action (e.g. Categorical Exclusion, Environmental Assessment, Environmental Impact Statement)
Status of environmental review
Whether the project has received Federal funding previously, and if so, the source and amount
Certification that the Member, their spouse, and other immediate family members do not have a financial interest in the project

Check back for additional information on their website here.

Community Support is Required

The Committees have made it a requirement that community engagement and support is crucial in determining which projects are worthy of federal funding. Only projects with demonstrated community support will be considered.

As a city, you can provide evidence of community support such as:

Letters of support from elected community leaders (e.g. mayors or other officials);
Press articles highlighting the need for the requested Community Project Funding;
Support from newspaper editorial boards;
Projects listed on State intended use plans, community development plans, or other publicly available planning documents; and/or
Resolutions passed by city councils or boards.

Projects Can Have Two Congressional Supporters

If your project is lucky enough to have two or even more Congressional champions, it’s possible for everyone to show their support. According to the Committee, if Member #1 wishes to sign onto a letter of Community Support that Member #2 intends to submit as part of a formal request, Member #1 should take the extra time to also include a financial disclosure statement to ensure the highest ethical standards in the process.

Resources:

Congressional Briefing

NLC is planning to host a Congressional briefing as more information is available. If you would like to receive a direct invitation to this upcoming briefing, please fill out this form.

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