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Written by

Joe McAndrew

Published on

April 18, 2016

On Friday, April 15, the Senate Appropriations Committee announced they will introduce and mark up the annual FY2017 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (T-HUD) the week of April 18. This announcement comes on the heels of the release of top-line funding levels for all 12 annual appropriation bills, including T-HUD.

The Senate FY2017 funding allocations does not include any of the more than $50 billion in new mandatory spending proposed in the President’s FY2017 budget request. However, it remains consistent with the amounts approved in the 2015 Balanced Budget Act.

The Senate allocations total $1.07 trillion in base funding and $74 billion in funding for Overseas Contingency Operations. Under the subcommittee breakdown of these totals, the T-HUD funding allocation is $56.474 billion. This represents an $826 million decrease compared to current FY2016 funding at $57.3 billion. (See allocations for all subcommittees here). Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), chair of the T-HUD subcommittee, has indicated that the housing side of the T-HUD bill should include “some offsetting receipts that help us from the federal mortgage insurance programs” and thinks this will provide for solid funding levels.

During the release of the funding allocations on Thursday, April 14, Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), ranking member of the full committee, thanked the committee for the expeditious way that appropriations are moving forward and remarked that the allocations were ‘fair but snug’. She also expressed hope that all of the 12 appropriations bills would continue to move forward in a timely manner and in line with three principles: (1) adhering to the 2015 Balanced Budget Act, (2) ensuring parity between defense and non-defense spending, and (3) without any poison pill riders. There were a few comments that the budget process needs improvement, but overall the allocations were agreed to 29-1 with the dissenting vote made by Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS).

The House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) announced on April 13, 2016 that House movement on appropriations will be slow due to House Republican leaders who continue to disagree over the FY2017 budget. Representative Rogers noted that the House Appropriations Committee may still produce funding bills totaling $1.07 trillion, but approval of funding allocations will be done one by one for each bill as they advance out of subcommittees. However, no House spending FY2017 bills will move to the floor without a budget or a waiver.

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FY 2017 THUD