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JULY 18, 1997
SPENDING ISSUES PREDOMINATE - CONGRESS MOVES FORWARD ON HUD APPROPRIATIONS
House Action
The House approved HR 2158, the FY98 VA, HUD and Independent Agencies
appropriations bill on July 17, by a vote of 397 - 31. This action came
after the subcommittee reported out the bill on Tuesday, July 8, with full
committee approval following on June 25. The measure provided $91.7 billion
to the Departments of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) and 17 independent agencies, such as EPA and NASA. ( See NCDA Washington
Report, 7/11/97 for a detailed report of House action).
Senate Action
The Senate Appropriations Committee, chaired by Ted Stevens, (R-AK)
passed a $90.9 billion FY98 VA, HUD and Independent Agencies appropriations
bill, 28 - 0 on July 17. Senate action on the HUD spending measure came
after the subcommittee, chaired by Senator Christopher "Kit"
Bond, (R-MO) completed work on the "extraordinarily tight" 602(b)
allocation.
The measure funds CDBG at $4.6, with a significant reduction in the July 11 level of set-asides from the House passed version. As noted in the NCDA Washington Report, 7/11/97, the House Appropriations committee approved $313.9 million in CDBG set-asides, while the Senate full committee whittled down that amount to $204 million.
The Senate funded HOME at its current level of $1.4 billion, a slight increase over the Administration's request of $1.3 billion, but down from the House level of $1.5 billion. Within the HOME account, both the House and Senate provide funding for Housing Counseling. The House approved $15 million while the Senate Full Appropriations committee provided $20 million.
Neither the House nor the Senate full appropriations committee funded a second round of Empowerment Zones/Enterprise Communities or Homeownership Zones. The Administration's Brownfields proposal was not funded, however, in the Senate measure, Brownfield redevelopment becomes a CDBG eligible activity.
Both the House and Senate bills appropriated $9.2 billion for the renewal of project based and tenant based Section 8 contracts. (Please see the attached funding chart for further details.)
The Senate cut the entire $125 million the Administration requested for the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI). While in the House members debated an amendment offered by Representatives Mark Foley, (R-FL) and Spencer Bachus (R-AK) for two hours on whether or not to cut $75 million for the CDFI program. The extensive discussion on CDFIs was generated because of allegations of improprieties surrounding program grant recipients. In the end, the House froze the CDFI program, which provides grants and loans to financial institutions to support small business in low income urban and rural communities, at its current funding level.
It is expected that the HUD funding bill will go to the Senate floor for debate the week of July 21 Senate leadership has accelerated the scheduled so that a majority of funding bills will have cleared the chamber prior to the Congressional recess, now scheduled for August 1.
It should be noted that the Senate passed measure is $800 million less than the House passed amount. That deficiency, along with specific funding levels will have to be worked out once the measure is approved by the full Senate and forwarded to the House - Senate Conference which will be appointed once Congress reconvenes after the Labor Day recess. At that time House- Senate negotiators will begin to iron out the differences in the two bills.
Budget Update House and Senate negotiators and White House officials continue working on H.R. 2015, the spending portion of the Budget Reconciliation bill and H.R. 2014 the tax portion of the budget reconciliation bill, designed to balance the federal budget in five years.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors and National Association of Counties have been working hard to convince the House-Senate conferees to increase funding in the bills for brownfields tax incentives, empowerment zones and enterprise communities, CDFI, and a welfare-to-work tax credit, among several other local priority items. The House has included a $3 billion Welfare-to- Work program, however not much progress has been made in the other key policy areas.
Compromise continues to be the key word as the Congressional Conferees work to hammer out an agreement over several contentions issues ranging from the level of the capital gains tax relief to Medicare. The twin bills must not only pass in the House and the Senate, but win the approval of the White House as well. Congressional leaders continue to insist that final action on the bills can be completed before the August 1 recess.
CONGRESS CONTINUES TO ATTRACT SAMPLING IN CENSUS 2000
Recently, numerous attempts have been made in Congress to pass legislation prohibiting the use of statistical sampling in the 2000 census. The most recent of which was by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary, the funding subcommittee responsible for the Census Bureau's annual appropriation, which was proposed a budget of $381 million for the decennial census. Although this amount exceeds the President's request for the census, only $100 million would be available initially, none of which may be spent on sampling activities. The remaining $281 million would be set-aside pending further legislative direction from Congress on how the census may be conducted. Last week, the counterpart Senate appropriations subcommittee also passed a census funding measure at a level of $354 million -- lower than the House but equivalent to the President's request, however it did not contain any "anti-sampling" language.
Since an actual head count of each individual is not possible due to costs and personnel, the U.S. Census Bureau uses the sampling technique to account for individuals who do not respond to the Census questionnaire or to follow-up visits. Without the use of sampling Census Bureau officials believe the 2000 census will be significantly less accurate than the 1990 census, which missed 1.6 percent of the population. In addition, an accurate census count is extremely important in that it provides the basis for determining congressional districts and for allocating federal funds to cities for such programs as CDBG and HOME among other federal programs. It is also important to note that the sampling data helps provide important poverty information and other critical data used in the calculation of the CDBG and HOME formulas.
The congressional proposals are also positioned to eliminate the census "long form" as well. The long form collects essential demographic, economic and housing information to support sound social and economic policy decisions through the public and private sectors.
Amidst these attacks there are attempts underway in Congress in support of the Census Bureau and sampling. On Jul 9, the Congressional Caucus on the Census, chaired by Representatives Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Christopher Shays (R-CT), hosted a press conference to voice support for full funding, continuation of the census long form and an accurate census, including the use of sampling to correct an undercount. In addition, on July 9, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published in the Federal Register the recommendations of its interagency task force for revisions to the categories for collecting data on race and ethnicity. The public will have 60 days, until September 8, to comment on the proposed changes to the OMB recommendations. A report from the Interagency for the Review of Racial and Ethnic Standards is available electronically at http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/OMB/html/fedreg.html or from the OMB Publications Office, 725 17th Street, NW, NEOB/Room 2200, Washington, DC 20503.
Sampling is one of the vital methods used for ensuring an accurate census count in the year 2000 and the collection of important data used in many federal and local programs. In cooperation with efforts by the U.S. Conference of Mayors NCDA is urging members to contact your congressional delegation and inform your subrecipients and nonprofits, press and public to explain the importance of sampling and the need for this data collection tool.
NCDA SUBMITS TESTIMONY ON HOMELESS CONSOLIDATION — CONTINUES TO SUPPORT SINGLE BLOCK GRANT AND KEY ROLE FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT
As reported in the NCDA Washington Report, 6/27/97, Representative Rick Lazio, Chairman of the House Banking Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity held a hearing on, the "Homeless Housing Programs Consolidation and Flexibility Act", H.R. 217 on June 26. Although, representatives from numerous nonprofit groups were asked to testify there was a conspicuous lack of representation from state and local governments. As a result, NCDA requested the opportunity to submit written testimony and did so on June 30 on behalf of ourselves, the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties and the Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies.
The testimony did acknowledge that the problem of homelessness is complex in nature and we are therefore supportive of the "continuum-of-care" approach which provides localities with flexibility and encourages coordination. We are however supportive of a single block grant approach, rather than the two block grants proposed in H.R. 217. The areas in which were are in concurrence with the House bill include:
The testimony also included comments on our key areas of disagreement including:
NCDA and the other national organizations representing state and local governments were concerned regarding the tone of the hearing on June 26, in which the nonprofits were questioned regarding the concepts of 100% match from local government and 100% pass through of funds to nonprofits. It became obvious from the discussion that several members of the subcommittee, including Chairman Lazio, are somewhat skeptical about the role that local governments do and should play in the homeless assistance system. It is for these reasons that NCDA is urging members to contact members of the House Banking Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity and make them aware of the way in which you are involved in the success of your continuum-of-care strategy as well as your attitudes and opinions on H.R. 217. For copies of the NCDA testimony or further information on H.R. 217 please contact NCDA.
The House Banking Subcommittee members are: Rick Lazio (R-NY) - Subcommittee Chair Joseph Kennedy (D-MA) - Subcomm. Ranking James Leach (R-IA) - Full Committee Chair Henry Gonzalez (D-TX) - Full Comm. Ranking Marge Roukema (R-NJ) John LaFalce (D-NY) Douglas Bereuter (R-NE) Barney Frank (D-MA) Richard Baker (R-LA) Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) Michael Castle (R-DE) Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) Jack Metcalf (R-WA) Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) Robert Ney (R-OH) Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) Robert Ehrlich (R-MD) Darlene Hooley (D-OR) Jon Fox (R-PA) James Maloney (D-CT) Sue Kelly (R-NY) Julia Carson (D-IN) Merrill Cook (R-UT) Rick Hill (R-MT) Pete Sessions (R-TX)
The Senate has not yet introduced a homeless consolidation bill, but it intends to do so sometime before the end of the congressional session. Although, it is highly unlikely that we will see much further action on homeless consolidation this year, it is important to make sure that both the House and the Senate are aware of your opinions on this issue and to quickly dispel any misguided concepts regarding the role of local governments in the system.
LIMITATION OF NONPROFIT ADVOCACY ACTIVITY -- "ISTOOK AMENDMENT PART II" — RETURNS TO CONGRESS
Representative Ernest Istook (R-OK) is proposing an amendment to the Labor, HHS, Education Appropriations bill to limit the advocacy voice of local nonprofits. His amendment, known as "Istook Amendment Part II" or "Son of Istook" would prohibit "any activity designed to influence legislation or appropriations pending before the Congress, any State legislature or a legislative body of any political subdivision of the State." Without further clarity this provision could considerably limit policy communications not only at the federal level, but more importantly and directly, at the local level as well.
As you may recall, Representative Istook made several attempts in the 104th Congress to considerably limit the voice of non-profits in the policy debate. Although, this current provision is not nearly as intrusive as his earlier proposal it is once again an attempt on his part to begin to whittle away at the ability of nonprofits to voice their views on legislation and regulations that pertain to their daily activity and missions.
We encourage members to make your subrecipients aware of this action and encourage them to voice their concerns with their congressional delegation. NCDA will continue to keep you updated on the issue. For a sample letter and/or more information, contact Margaret McGilvray , at NCDA, (202) 293-7587.
DISASTER MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES DISCUSSED AT NCDA ANNUAL CONFERENCE -- GUIDEBOOK DUE OUT BY END OF THE YEAR
A key session during NCDA's 28th Annual Conference last month was "Natural Disasters: Is Your Community Prepared? A FEMA Disaster Management Session." The session, moderated by NCDA past-president Dr. James E. Huger, featured seasoned pros from Florida, California and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with extensive experience negotiating the aftermath of disasters.
Two panelists, Tom Pierce, Chief of the Bureau of Community Development for the State of Florida, and Bill Bruce, Director of the Program Support Division in the Community Development Department for the City of Los Angeles, each gave accounts of disasters that have affected their communities and detailed the role federal, state, local and private assistance played in the rebuilding process. A third panelist, FEMA's Janet Odeshoo, discussed disaster management from the perspective of a federal official.
The session was an important precursor to NCDA's upcoming Disaster Response Guidebook, a publication funded through a $15,000 grant awarded to NCDA last fall from the Federal National Mortgage Association ("Fannie Mae"). The guidebook, to be authored by Mr. Pierce, Mr. Bruce and Robert Schulte, Special Assistant for Federal Programs to the City of Des Moines, Iowa's Community Development Department, is intended to serve as a guide for community development professionals as they attempt to prevent and address complications resulting from hurricanes, earthquakes and floods. The publication is scheduled for distribution by the end of the year and will address issues such as:
The role of CDBG and HOME in relief efforts; Strategies/materials for conducting emergency education programs; The role of players in disaster relief, such as HUD, FEMA and the Red Cross; and Disaster mitigation through prevention.
The authors of the guidebook have been invited to speak to NCDA members at the Executive Symposium to be held September 4-7, 1997 in Newport, RI. Call The Inn at Newport Beach directly at 1-800-786-0310 to reserve your place!
CALL FOR AGENDA ITEMS FOR NCDA BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1997
In order to encourage and extend opportunities to the general NCDA membership to bring issues of interest or particular concern to the attention of the Association's Board of Directors, we hereby issue a CALL FOR AGENDA ITEMS, in anticipation of the next Board meeting scheduled for Thursday, September 4, 1997, in Newport, Rhode Island.
Procedure:
Those members who wish to place an item on the Board agenda may do so in one of two ways:
1) through sponsorship of a current NCDA Board member in your region, who in turn should submit the item to NCDA office (A listing of Board members by region is enclosed); or,
2) through the concurrence of three active NCDA members who sign onto a proposed agenda item and submit it to the NCDA office.
NOTE: The sponsoring Board member, or NCDA members proposing the item should be prepared to present the issue(s) and a broad written position statement at the Board meeting.
The NCDA president will make final decision as to which items to include on the Board agenda based upon national implications for the membership. Should an item be considered inappropriate for inclusion, the Board will be advised of the item along with the reason it was not included.
SUBMISSION DATE: All proposed items for the Board of Directors meeting must be received at the NCDA office by Friday, August 8, 1997.
HUD PUBLICATIONS
The State of the Cities - A report released in June by HUD outlining
the decline of city life from the 1970's through the 1990's, the challenges
that remain and an a semblance of the Administration's "urban agenda."
Although, the report provides a moderately interesting and brief review
of recent urban history, it does not contain any substantive information
regarding the details of the Administration's urban agenda. For copies
call the HUDUser 800-245-2691 or on HUD's Homepage, http://www.huduser.org/publication/hsgpolicy/
tsoc/contents.html.
