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Administration Proposes $17 Billion in Budget Cuts
The Obama Administration proposed to eliminate or reduce $17 billion from 121 government programs and to dedicate $1.2 trillion to discretionary spending when it released details of its $3.6 trillion budget for fiscal year 2010 on May 7.
The budget comes on the heels of the Administration’s broad budget outline that was released in late-February. It serves as guidance for members of Congress as lawmakers work through the fiscal 2010 appropriations process.
The annual appropriations process determines the levels of federal spending for each of the federal departments and agencies and all programs within their respective jurisdictions. While the President's budget recommends spending levels for the next fiscal year, it is not legally binding. Congressional appropriators will have the final say in program realignment and spending levels.
Of interest to NAHB members are funding levels for several key housing and labor related programs:
Department of Housing and Urban Development
- Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) — $4.5 billion
- Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (Section 8) — $17.8 billion
- Project-Based Rental Assistance (Section 8) — $8.1 billion
- HOME — $1.8 billion
- Housing Counseling Assistance — $100 million
- Housing Trust Fund — $1 billion
- HOPE VI — $0
- Rural Housing and Economic Development — $0
- Choice Neighborhoods Initiative — $250 million (new program)
- Section 108 Community Development Loan Guarantees — $0
- FHA/Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund Single Family Loan Guarantees — $400 billion
- Section 238 and 519 Loan Guarantees — $15 billion
- Office of Lead Hazard Control — $140 million
- Healthy Homes Initiative — $20 million
Department of Agriculture
- Section 502 Loan Guarantees — $6.2 billion
- Section 502 Direct Loans — $1.1 billion
- Section 515 Rental Housing — $69 million
- Section 538 Guaranteed Multi-Family Loans — $129 million
Department of Labor
- Workforce Investment Act (WIA) — $3.8 billion
- Adult Employment and Training (under WIA) — $861 million
- Ex-Offender Activities, including job training — $115 million
- Green Jobs Initiative — $28 million
- Job Corps — $1.7 billion
- OSHA (total) — $563 million
- OSHA Susan Harwood Training Grants — $10 million
- OSHA Enforcement — $227 million
- OSHA Safety and Health Standard development — $20 million
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Labor Force Statistics — $276 million
The House and Senate appropriations committees have already begun drafting the fiscal year 2010 appropriations bills, so it is unclear how much of an impact the Administration’s budget blueprint will have on that process.
House appropriators are scheduled to begin marking up their versions of the spending bills within the next few weeks and the House hopes to complete floor consideration of all of the fiscal year 2010 bills before the end of June.
The Senate will likely begin marking up its own spending bills sometime in late June.
The House and Senate always work towards meeting the goal of having all appropriations bills completed and signed by the President prior to the fiscal year-end deadline of Sept. 30. Fiscal year 2010 will begin on Oct. 1, 2009.
NAHB will continue to monitor the appropriations process as funding decisions are made on key housing and labor programs.
For more information, e-mail Jenna Hamilton at NAHB, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8407.
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