Nation's Cities - November 21, 2011

Spending Bill Cuts Funding For Hometown Priorities

by Carolyn Coleman, Mitch
Herckis and Michael Wallace
With the November 23
deadline quickly approaching
for the Joint Select Committee
on Deficit Reduction to make
recommendations on $1.2 tril-
lion in budget cuts and no
agreement in sight, the House
and Senate did manage last
week to pass a $128 billion
package to fund several federal
departments that oversee pro-
grams important to cities and
to avoid a government shut-
down for the agencies whose
spending levels have yet to be
agreed to.

“Our communities and families need more from the federal
government, and we will continue to urge Congress to step
up to the plate as the appropriations process continues.”
— NLC President Ted Ellis, mayor, Bluffton, Ind.

In reaction to the agree-
ment, NLC President Ted
Ellis, mayor, Bluffton, Ind.,
said, “Our communities and
families need more from the
federal government, and we
will continue to urge Congress
to step up to the plate as the
appropriations process contin-
ues.”
The agreement calls for cuts
in total spending for hous-
ing and development pro-
grams to $37.3 billion, $3.8
billion less than last year.
Unfortunately, nearly every
program that falls under the
Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD),
which provides essential seed
funds for improving housing
and neighborhoods in cities
and towns — large and small,
across the country — is impact-
ed by budgetary concessions
reached as part of the Budget
Control Act (“debt deal”) ear-
lier this year.
Under the agreement, the
Community Development
Block Grant (CDBG) pro-
gram formula grants to cities
and states, for instance, will
be reduced to $2.9 billion, a
$420 million cut below last
year’s level. The sizable cut is
driven, in part, by a deal struck
with budget hawks to include
disaster recovery funds within
the discretionary budget, which
is subject to spending caps,
instead of the past practice of
treating disaster assistance as a
non-budget emergency spend-
ing item.

Congress Repeals 3 Percent Withholding

by Lars Etzkorn
Legislation repealing 3 percent with-
holding as passed by the House last
week awaits President Obama’s signa-
ture.

Policy and Advocacy Committee, and council member, Gadsden, Ala.

NLC, with its public and private sector coalition partners, argued that implementation of 3 percent withholding imposed significant unfunded financial and administrative burdens for local governments.