Agriculture and HUD Appropriations Start Moving through Congress (July 25, 2002)

The Agriculture Appropriations bill continues to be one of the earliest bills in the appropriations process. Once again this year, due to strong support on the Hill and the lobbying efforts of the National Rural Housing Coalition and Rapoza Associates, it looks like USDA's Rural Development is going to do okay this year (with a couple exceptions) in the House, and even better in the Senate. The following are some of the numbers that came out of the full Appropriations Committee on the Agriculture bill on July 11th in the House, and July 25th in the Senate.

In a race to beat the House with Appropriations bills, the Senate has already started its work on VA-HUD-IA appropriations and Labor-HHS-ED appropriations. In HUD funding, only the Senate Appropriations Committee has voted so far. HOME was set at $1.95 billion (with no funding for the President's Downpayment Initiative), CDBG at $5 billion, Rural Housing Economic Development at $25 million, and CDFI at $73 million. The House is expected to mark-up their bill after Labor Day.

After a strong push by the National Rural Housing Coalition and Rapoza Associates, housing for farmworkers under the Department of Labor was funded at this year's level in the Senate. In fact the entire National Farmworker Jobs Program would receive funding under the Senate bill, after being zeroed out in the President's budget.

It is unlikely that Congress will complete action on many appropriations bills prior to the end of the session in mid-October. A lame duck session after the election is probable.

 

HUD and USDA Funding for Selected Programs

(dollars in millions)

Program

FY 02

Enacted

FY 03 Administration

FY 03 Senate Full Committee

FY03 House

Full Committee

 

 

 

HUD/Independent Agencies

 

 

 

 

HOME 
Downpayment Prog.

 

$1,846

     (50)

$2,084

  (200)

$1,950

(0)

 

 

CDBG
Formula funding

5,000

(4,341)

 

4,732

(4,436)

5,050

(4,610)

 

Housing Counseling

20

35

40

 

SHOP

22

65

22

 

CDFI Fund

80

68.3

73

 

Neighborhood Reinvestment Corp

$105

$105

$110

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dept. of Labor

 

 

 

 

Farmworker Housing

4.78

0

4.78

 

 

 

 

 

 

USDA

 

 

 

 

 

Section 502 direct

$1,079

$957

$1,084

1,005

Section 502 guar.

3,137

2,750

3,194

2,750

Section 504 Loans

32.3

35

35

35

Section 504 Grants

31.5

31.5

31.5

31.5

Section 515

114

60

115.8

120*

Section 514

28.5

36

36

36

Section 516

18

17

20.4

16.9

Section 523

35

34

35

35

Section 538

100

100

100

0

Rural Rental Assistance

701

712

722

730**

Housing Preservation Gts

8

10

10

10

Supervisory TA Grants

 1

1

1

 1

Community Facilities Loans

330

250

250

250

Community Facilities Grants

14

17

22

17

Community Facilities Guarantee

210

210

0

10

Water-Waste Water Loans

879

814

814

814

Water-Waste Water Grants

584

587

718

587

Solid Waste

3.5

3.5

3.5

3.4

Rural Business Grants

40

44

44

 

Intermediary Re-lending

38

40

40

40

RCDI

6

0

6

10

High energy cost grants

30

0

0

30

Economic Impact Grants

25

 0

 0

25

Ag. Process Worker Assisted Housing

7

5

0

4***

 

* Allocation: $50 million for new construction, $50 million for repair and servicing and $20 for preservation.

** Includes $12 million for debt forgiveness for long-term use incentives for sec. 515.

*** Limited to Wisconsin.