House Marks Up Budget Views and Estimates
The House Committee on Financial Services marked up its “Views and Estimates” for the FY13 concurrent budget resolution on March 6, 2012. The Committee’s Views and Estimates primarily contains criticism of the Administration’s FY13 budget request for HUD programs, but includes some scattered praise. The document included comments on a variety of HUD programs and comments on key programs are included below:
- McKinney-Vento – Regarding the Administration’s requested increase for Homeless Assistance Grants, it will monitor the administrative changes to consolidate McKinney-Vento programs.
- HOME Investment Partnerships programs – Comments were focused on oversight issues it raised during 2011. The Committee stated its support for HUD’s budget request of $1 billion, consistent with FY12 funding and a 37% cut below FY11 funding. It praised inclusion of budget language specifying that funding will not be awarded to organizations without demonstrated development experience.
- Section 202 Housing for the Elderly and Section 811 Housing for People with Disabilities programs –The committee expressed concerns for the programs having “unexpended balances” and said it plans to review these funds.
- Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program – It was criticized as having slow spend-down rates. The Committee also stated it was “concerned about questionable uses of CDBG funds,” and that it will examine whether funds can be “better targeted to benefit economically distressed communities.”
The Committee approved the amended Views and Estimates by a party line vote of 26 to 19.
Click here to read the Views and Estimates.
Click here to view Mr. Frank’s amendment.
