Government Shutdown Continues
As of Friday, October 04, 2013, the Federal Government is still partially shutdown. Members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate have yet to agree on a continuing resolution (CR) to fund government programs for fiscal year 2014. A CR was needed because the full range of appropriations bills necessary to fund government programs were not finalized by October 1st, the start of FY 2014. Without appropriations for programs and agencies, the government had to close numerous offices and furlough approximately 800,000 federal employees.
The major area of focus continues to be the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which Republicans initially tried to defund through an amendment to the CR. Democrats in the Senate were strictly opposed to any contingencies that would have impacted the health care law, and a stalemate between the two political parties developed.
Republicans have since tried other methods of delaying or augmenting the ACA, but Democrats have not agreed to their proposals. Multiple bills have been introduced in the House which would fund specific programs individually (also known as piecemeal bills), but no consensus has been reached for a complete federal funding bill. A bill to fund HUD programs individually has not been introduced.
NAHMA initially expected the shutdown to be resolved in a few days, but a final outcome is currently unpredictable. Up until the October 1st deadline, lawmakers were sending a CR (H.J. Res. 59) back and forth between the two chambers of Congress, with House Republicans adding amendments targeting the ACA and Senate Democrats removing those provisions and sending them back.
While HUD offices remain closed and nearly all of its employees are on furlough, the Department will still provide essential subsidy payments for Project-Based Section 8, Housing Choice Vouchers, and Section 202/811 properties while appropriations remain. HUD has approximately $400 million in advanced appropriations that will safeguard these payments. The Department’s contingency plan is a great source for information regarding what HUD operations will continue under this shutdown. The FAQs towards the end of the document contain specific program details. For USDA’s Rural Housing Service, contracts in the Section 521 Rental Assistance program that had received funding commitments before September 30th will still be funded.
To view HUD’s Contingency Plan, please follow
this link.
