Set operating fund at $3.1b, capital fund at $2.9b
House and Senate conferees on the FY 2000 VA/HUD spending bill met Thursday, October 7 to hash out a final VA/HUD appropriations bill for the new fiscal year, which began the first of this month. The bill's funding levels for public and assisted housing are fairly positive, especially compared to some earlier versions produced by each chamber. Conferees hope to bring the latest bill back to each floor for final passage the week of October 11.
Because lawmakers were unable to agree on a spending measure -- and many other spending bills -- prior to the start of the new fiscal year, Congress agreed to a continuing resolution (CR) to keep programs temporarily funded through October 21. The CR funds all programs at last year's levels.
Operating Fund
The House and Senate bills differed in several major areas affecting public and assisted housing programs. The House bill, for example, funded operating subsidies at $2.818 billion compared to $2.9 billion in the Senate version. PHADA estimates the House bill allocated roughly 88-89 percent of total Performance Funding System (PFS) needs compared to about 90-91 percent in the Senate. Surprisingly, the final conference agreement contains about $3.138 billion for operating subsidies, which PHADA estimates would fund PFS at about 98 percent capacity.
Capital Fund
Both bills contained $2.55 billion for the capital fund, the amount HUD proposed in its FY 2000 budget last February. PHADA vigorously opposed this provision since it would represent a cut of 15 percent compared to FY 1999. The association asked Congress to boost capital funding to $3 billion, reminding Congress that residents will bear the brunt of the modernization cuts. The conference committee subsequently agreed to $2.9 billion.
Section 8 Renewals
The House and Senate conferees also had to address differences in their bills regarding Section 8 contract renewals. The House bill included more than $10 billion for the renewal of all expiring Section 8 contracts. In contrast, the Senate version contained about $6 billion. Another $4 billion is borrowed form next year's appropriations to make up the difference. The Senate employed this strategy as an accounting device to save money in its overall appropriation for FY 2000. The conferees agreed to the Senate approach.
PHDEP and HOPE VI
Conferees faced a less difficult job in resolving the spending differences in the HOPE VI account and the public housing drug elimination program (PHDEP). The House bill appropriated $575 million for HOPE VI, while the Senate version contained $500 million. The House's higher funding level was included in the agreement.
The numbers for PHDEP were also fairly close. The House version included $290 million, and the Senate funded PHDEP at $310 million. PHADA preferred the Senate bill, which was adopted in conference.
Incremental Section 8
The issue of incremental Section 8 vouchers remained on the table even though neither chamber included money in the bill. The conference committee ultimately agreed to funding for 60,000 new vouchers in FY 2000.
Policy Provisions
In other important news, the conferees agree to delete Senate language that would have capped public housing executive directors salaries at $125,000. They also reportedly altered a plan to terminate the Community Builder program. The terminations would now occur on September 1, 2000.
The House conferees included: Representatives Bill Young (R-FL); James Walsh (R-NY); Tom DeLay (R-TX); David Hobson (R-OH); Joe Knollenberg (R-MI); Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ); Roger Wicker (R-MS); Anne Northup (R-KY); John Sununu (R-NH); David Obey (D-WI); Alan Mollohan (D-WV); Marcy Kaptur (D-OH); Carrie Meek (D-FL); David Price (D-NC); Robert Cramer (D-AL).
Senators on the committee included: Christopher Bond (R-MO); Richard Shelby (R-AL); Larry Craig (R-ID); Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX); Jon Kyl (R-AZ) Barbara Mikulski (D-MD); Daniel Inouye (D-HI); Patrick Leahy (D-VT); Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ); Tom Harkin (D-IA); Robert Byrd (D-WV).
