Senate Appropriations’ Amendments to the House Continuing Resolution
The Senate is considering its version of the FY 2013 continuing resolution (H.R. 933) “Making Appropriations for the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and Other Departments and Agencies for the Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 2013”. On Monday, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Ranking Member Richard Shelby (R-AL) introduced their managers’ amendment to H.R. 933.
This substitute bill from the Senate would provide $1.043 trillion dollars in budget authority to the federal government. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s overall discretionary spending amount for FY 2013 would be $20.532 billion. Of this amount, Rural Development will receive $2.219 billion in budget authority.
The Senate CR includes the following full year appropriations bills in separate divisions for FY 2013:
- Agriculture, Rural Development and, FDA;
- Commerce, justice, and science;
- Department of Defense;
- Homeland Security; and
- Military Construction and Veterans Affairs
The Senate CR, like the House continuing resolution, H.R. 933, leaves sequestration in place. HUD receives its appropriations under the CR, which will generally fund programs at FY 2012 levels. However, the bill provides a modest $25 million increase in Housing Choice Voucher administrative fees, for a total of $1.375 billion. This would increase administrative oversight of the Section 8 program. This amount would be subject to sequestration, so the total amount is closer to approximately $1.307 billion.
Housing Choice Voucher renewals would not be provided with additional funds under the Mikulski-Shelby bill. However, the bill provides some flexibility for HUD to prevent tenant eviction and the termination of low-income family assistance may. The bill authorizes the Secretary of HUD to use a portion of the renewals set aside to curtail housing agency shortfalls.
To View the full text of amendments,
please click here.
Two Important Amendments to Continuing Resolution
On Wednesday, March 13, Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) submitted an amendment to the continuing resolution (H.R. 933) that would increase the multifamily and healthcare facility lending commitment authority of the FHA by $5 billion, raising the total commitment authority to $30 billion. NAHMA signed an industry letter in support of this amendment. Currently, the Senator is gathering bipartisan support with Senator John Isakson (R-GA) cosponsoring the amendment. This commitment authority is crucial to FHA’s ability to secure mortgage insurance for multi-family properties.
NAHMA strongly urges its members to contact their Senators no later than Monday morning and ask them to support this Senate Amendment to the continuing resolution. Failure to provide the additional commitment authority may cause significant disruptions to financing for apartments, hospitals, and health care facilities that serve millions of Americans.
In the ongoing debate on the continuing resolution H.R. 933, Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and John McCain (R-AZ) proposed a last minute amendment to the bill which would severely compromise the positive dialogue created when federal employees attend association conferences. The amendment, S.A. 67, would limit federal agencies to sending no more than 25 employees to any domestic meeting. This includes private and government sponsored conferences.
NAHMA signed an industry letter circulated by the American Society of Association Executives which opposes this amendment.
The advocacy process works best with face-to-face interaction between federal agency employees and the public. The hard work of every association would be compromised if federal employees were barred from attending conferences. Crucial policy information and strategies to improve operations are exchanged at conferences, and this exchange would be harmed under the Coburn-McCain amendment.
NAHMA strongly urges its members to contact their Senators no later than Monday morning and ask them to oppose S. Amendment 67 to the continuing resolution. Please communicate to your Senator, and urge him/her to:
- Oppose the Coburn Amendment #67 limiting attendance of federal agencies at all meetings and conferences within the United States.
- Understand that the dialogue that occurs at conferences between the federal government and the private sector is invaluable to the policymaking process. Public-private collaboration works best when there is a face-to-face exchange of knowledge and ideas.
To find your Senator, please click:
Senators
Senate Budget Committee’s Concurrent Budget Resolution
On Thursday, March 14, the Senate Budget Committee passed a concurrent budget resolution proposed by Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA), titled “Foundation for Growth: Restoring the Promise of American Opportunity”. The concurrent budget resolution will revise the budgetary levels for FY 2013 and will set forth the budgetary levels for FYs 2014-2023. This piece is a blueprint for future budgeting and will not become federal law. For our purposes, it is important to note that the Murray proposal will repeal sequester, but maintain the principal of federal spending reduction. The budget resolution calls for replacing sequestration with $1.85 trillion in deficit reduction that will be achieved by:
$975 billion in deficit reduction by closing loopholes and eliminating wasteful spending in the tax code;
$975 billion in spending cuts:
- $240 billion saved by cutting defense spending to align with the drawdown of troops in our overseas operations;
- $242 billion saved in reduced interest payments; and
- $493 billion of domestic spending cuts, including $275 billion in health care savings.
After hours of talks, the Committee approved the budget proposal and it will now go to the Senate floor to face more discussions and another vote. This concurrent budget resolution may reach the Senate floor next week.
Paul Ryan Introduces Budget Plan
This week, Congressman and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) introduced a budget proposal entitled “The Path to Prosperity: Restoring America’s Promise”. This is a similar to the Ryan budget plan that first surfaced in 2012. While his budget is a set of benchmarks rather than a proposed law, it is important to look at the effects of his plan.
Again, Paul Ryan pursues a repeal of the Affordable Car Act (Obama Care), a voucher program included in Medicare, and a massive revision to the tax code that will lower tax rates. Ryan’s budget seeks to reduce federal spending by $4 trillion dollars over the next decade. His plan caps discretionary spending below $1.1 trillion dollars. In FY 2013, the discretionary-spending reductions are accomplished with a sequester. In FY 14–21, the discretionary-spending reductions are achieved through caps on discretionary spending. A sequester is by design inflexible and arbitrary. A cap, however, allows Congress and the President to act through the appropriations process to set priorities within that spending level.
According to Ryan: “The problem with the sequester is not how much it cut, but how it cut. Sequesters are needed only when Washington can’t figure out how to live within a budget. Our budget set priorities and makes responsible reforms to get spending under control”.
The plan’s 2012 proposal passed in the House of Representatives but failed to pass in the Senate. It is likely that this outcome will happen again as Republicans have maintained House majority and Democrats have maintained Senate majority. The bill proposes a balanced budget in 10 years.
You can read the budget by clicking here:
Ryan Budget
