The Senate was set to vote on amendments to its FY16 THUD funding bill earlier today. But disagreement over an amendment to bar federal services to refugees from 34 countries derailed the THUD bill’s consideration.
The THUD bill that was up for Senate floor action today mirrored the bill that came out of the Senate Appropriations Committee in June with two exceptions. First, the bill would increase funding for HOME by $834 million, to $900 million. Second, the bill would increase funding for CDBG by $100 million, to $3 billion.
Generally, advocates are pleased the new bill would have saved the HOME program from a $66 million funding level, but want to see greater investment in housing programs that meet the needs of the lowest income households, especially given the availability of $33 billion additional nondefense discretionary funding provided by the Bipartisan Budget Act. The Senate bill does not raid the National Housing Trust Fund as its House-passed counterpart does.
While consideration of the Senate THUD bill has stalled, advocates are still urged to reach out to their Senators on the harmful amendments filed to the bill. The issues raised by the amendments could come back to threaten a final FY16 THUD bill.
Advocates are urged to use the time provided by the stalled THUD bill to educate Senators about the harmful impact of these filed amendments:
- Senate Amendment 2838: HOME Program– Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) offered an amendment to fund HOME at $66 million, returning it to the level of the original Senate THUD bill that the Appropriations Committee passed in June, which effectively ends the HOME program.
- Senate Amendments 2840 and 2858: Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH)– Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) offered amendments to prohibit HUD from implementing the AFFH rule and its assessment tool.
- Senate Amendment 2835: Stopping HUD payments to troubled properties– Senator Flake offered an amendment to require HUD to cease payments to properties deemed troubled for life-threatening deficiencies or poor physical conditions. Passage of this amendment would harm residents, properties, surrounding communities, and the FHA insurance program. The underlying bill that 2835 would amend already includes, in section 224, a long list of remedies the HUD Secretary must take for troubled properties. Similar provisions have been in previous THUD bills and have been THUD policy since former Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) offered a similar amendment to Senator Flake’s in 2013.
- Senate Amendment 2843: Limiting assistance to refugees– Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) offered an amendment to prohibit resources from THUD appropriations be used to assist refugees or asylees from a list of 34 countries, almost all of which are nations with a Muslim majority population.
- Senate Amendment 2836: Restricting uses of HUD funds– Senator Flake offered an amendment to prohibit the use of any HUD grants to be used for the repayment of HUD loans. This amendment could seriously hurt HUD grantees who also have HUD-insured loans.
- Senate Amendment 2831: Over-income households – Senator Flake has offered an amendment to prohibit HUD assistance to households with incomes over $100,000 for any period of two years. The House Committee in Financial Services is working to address the issue of so-called “over income” households; this issue is best left to authorizing committees.
- Senate Amendment 2816: HUD assistance to ex-offenders– Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) offered an amendment to prohibit any HUD assistance to individuals who have been convicted of aggregated assault, sexual abuse, murder, or any federal state offense involving domestic violence or child abuse. The amendment would work against recent efforts by the Obama Administration to expand housing opportunities for returning prisoners and is duplicative of current HUD rules barring some of these populations from assistance.
The path forward for the FY16 THUD bill is murky. The continuing resolution that keeps the federal government open absent FY16 spending bills expires on December 11. After Congress returns from Thanksgiving recess on November 30, appropriations bills are expected to be high on Congress’s agenda. NLIHC encourages advocates to use this time to reach out to your federal delegations.
To contact your legislator, call the Congressional switchboard at 877-210-5351, or click below.
Click Here to Find Your Elected Officials: http://capwiz.com/nlihc/officials/congress/?azip=&submit.x=14&submit.y=8
Please email outreach@nlihc.org with any feedback you receive from your Senators’ offices.