House/Senate Debate Supplemental FY 1998 Appropriations Bill
Both houses of Congress spent much of this week debating four supplemental appropriations bills, two in each house, relating to funds for various issues. Among the issues debated are: disaster relief funds for floods, tornadoes, mud slides caused by El Nino, an increase in borrowing authority for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), back payment of UN dues, and funds for the continued deployment of U.S. troops in Bosnia. The House of Representatives has approved two bills related to supplemental appropriations. One of approximately $2.4 billion for disaster aid to U.S. Communities and additional funds to support troop deployment in Bosnia and the second that includes $18 billion in additional borrowing authority for the International Monetary Fund and the payment of back dues to the UN in the amount of $505 million. These two bills were kept separate to ensure that emergency funding had a good chance of passing, as the debate is sure to be fierce on the bill containing the UN payment of dues as it will include anti-abortion language. This bill is not scheduled to go to the floor before late April. House Republicans are expected to require that all additional funds be offset by cuts in domestic programs, i.e.; low-income housing (Section 8 reserves), airport projects, AmeriCorps, and bi-lingual education programs.

The Senate, which currently stands at $4.4 billion, unlike the House approved an amendment to merge the administration's IMF request into the disaster relief/military aid bill. The Senate has not chosen to address the Administration's request for almost $1 billion in back dues to the UN until the House moves on a separate authorization bill that contains the abortion language the House insists should accompany any payment of UN dues. The Senate most likely will not request that supplemental spending be offset by cuts in other programs. According to Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD) due to the emergency nature of the bill would not allow enough time to research the issue.

Note: It is believed by most members in Congress that emergency spending, primarily due to unforeseen events, need not be considered part of the spending caps agreed to in the balanced budget agreement. The real issue seems to be how "emergency" defined. Supplemental bills often contain funds for programs and projects that don't meet the emergency definition. Many Republicans in the House believe that funds for continued troop involvement in Bosnia doesn't constitute an emergency because the Administration should have adequately budgeted for continue troop deployment. When the two bills come to conference, this debate should be interesting, particularly if members wish to have a supplemental appropriations package to the President before the Easter Recess which beings on April 3^rd.

House Transportation And Infrastructure Committee Passes Highway $217 Billion Bill (BESTEA)
HR 2400 the Building Efficient Surface Transportation and Equity Act (BESTEA) passed the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Monday, makes it one of the largest public works bills in history. According to Representative Bud Shuster (R-PA) author of BESTEA, "This initiative is...the most significant piece of transportation legislation in our country's history since the creation of the interstate highway system in the mid 1950's..." BESTEA Proposes a 42 percent increase, which is $30 billion — over the next six years— more than is allowed under the balanced budget agreement. The committee will provide offsetting recommendations to cover this increase.

The passage of BESTEA at the committee level clearly shows that Congress is on a fast track to clear new highway legislation by their self-imposed drop dead date of May 1^st . Although the two bills are very similar in scope and size, ($3.4 billion more in the House version than in the Senate version) there are many details to iron out, such as; lowering the allowable blood alcohol level for legal intoxication while driving, the highway spending formula in the House bill is more generous than the Senate's, and the House bill does not contain any funding for the Woodrow Wilson Bridge which has an estimated cost to repair of $1.6 billion. Other details that remain to be addressed are the demonstration projects that each house has included in its separate bill. The House version contains $18 billion or five percent of the total bill in "earmarked" projects targeted in four-fifths of the Congressional Districts across the country. The Senate version has very few projects of this nature. Traditionally the Senate has held off earmarking projects until both bills reach conference. It is expected that HR 2400 will go to the floor early next week so that the conference work can be completed by the May 1^st deadline.

Lazio Reports Progress on Public Housing Reform
In remarks to the members of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) at their annual legislative conference, Representative Rick Lazio (R-NY) Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Development reported "strong progress" in his talks with Senate housing subcommittee chairman Connie Mack (R-FL) on HR 2 and S 462, the two public housing and Section 8 reform bills that have been stalled since the holiday recess. Lazio pledged to make a commitment to have a public housing reform bill on the President's desk before Congress adjourns for the year.

Neither Lazio nor Mack have provided any details on agreements reached, or on what issues have been resolved. It is assumed that the same sticking points on income targeting, repeal of the 1937 Housing Act, the home rule provision in HR 2, rent choice for public housing residents, minimum rents, and public housing authority accreditation remain to be worked out. It has been the opinion of most of the housing advocates that public housing reform bills as broad as HR 2 and S 462 don't stand a chance of passing in this shortened Congressional year. However, it appears that Lazio and Mack are committed to getting something done this election year.

APPROPRIATIONS UPDATE

GAO and HUD "Discover" Over $600 Million in Excess Budget Authority
In preparing its FY 1999 budget request, it appears that HUD overlooked some $600 million in budget available authority. This means that HUD has at least $600 more than they originally assumed. If you recall, HUD requested a $1.8 billion increase from FY 1998 levels in additional budget authority for FY 1999. This could mean that Congress may reduce HUD's request of additional funding by this $600 million, if they choose to honor the request for additional funding at all.

Cuomo Testifies Before Senate VA/HUD Appropriations Subcommittee
On March 12^th HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo testified before the Senate VA/HUD Appro-priations Subcommittee where he explained HUD's decision to cut the elderly and disabled housing programs (Sections 811 and 202) by nearly $500 million. Cuomo explained that state and local governments make better decisions than HUD about these projects. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) ranking minority member on the panel, said she does not support HUD's decision on the Section 202 proposal and suggested that $439 million, part of the recently classified $600 million, as excess budget authority could be better used for the Section 202 program. Secretary Cuomo assured Senator Mikulski that HUD would work with the appropriators on this request.

Senator Christopher Bond (R-MO) chair of the subcommittee questioned Secretary Cuomo about the HUD reorganization and the large reduction in staff. Senator Bond is concerned that HUD can not be effective with such great staff reductions. He said, "I liken HUD to the tragic sinking of the Titanic. Instead of making port, this ship of HUD is torn apart by poor management decisions, structural weaknesses, and deficiencies in HUD's housing and community development programs, and an overload of activities and programs." Bond also noted that GAO continues to designate HUD as a high-risk area of government vulnerable to waste, fraud and mismanagement, and that the HUD Inspector General and the National Academy of Public Administration also have concerns about HUD's management. Cuomo explained that a "massive" consolidation of programs will be necessary if the goal of reducing staff from the current 9,200 positions to 7,500 by 2002 is to be achieved.

Cuomo explained that considering all of HUD's programs, that to get the size and scope of the agency down to the GAO recommended levels, program consolidation must happen. "This is the best HUD we can get at this point [9,200 staff]. If we want to get to 7,500 staff, we need further program consolidation, massive program consolidation." As a first step toward this goal, HUD has submitted legislation to Congress to repeal and streamline 81 programs. Some of the programs targeted for repeal have not received funding for several years, while some have functions that can be absorbed into other programs. Cuomo said, "This legislation is not essential to our effort, but it will help us move forward to reinvent and improve the department through management reforms." Cuomo said that HUD and Congress will have to examine more significant program consolidation, including the possible combination of the CDBG and HOME programs.

HUD NOTICES

We can't emphasize how important conducting CD Week activities are during an election year. The recent trend in the proliferation of set-asides within the CDBG and HOME programs could be exacerbated when members of Congress are seeking re-election. Regardless of the President's budget proposal, set-asides happen during the conference sessions on the appropriations bills. Conducting events during National CD Week and encouraging participation from your Congressional Delegation is an excellent way of getting the word out on the importance of reducing set-asides, thereby increasing funding to Congressional Districts based on locally determined needs. A listing of the National CD Week activities that communities all across the country are undertaking is attached to this mailing. If you are participating in National CD Week and your community is not represented, please call or fax in to NCDA your planned activities. We will be including this list in our briefing package to members of the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee on April 23, 1998.

More Technology News
In just a couple of weeks, the NCDA homepage metamorphosis will be complete. The new and improved homepage will provide more services and links to other sites. It will allow members to communicate more effectively with each other and NCDA staff. We are still investigating how we can provide members with membership discounts if there use the internet to receive NCDA mailings and publications. It will greatly reduce the amount of time it takes for members to receive information and, allow them to make the information available to their entire staff. The Peer Assistance Line (PAL) will be linked to the homepage as will members' e-mail addresses. It will be a wonderful system and hopefully encourage more members to make use of the internet. The possibilities are endless.

• The NCDA Washington Report is now available on the internet! Just point your browser to http://www.ncdaonline.org

 
• NCDA's e-mail address is michael@ncdaonline.org — DO WE HAVE YOURS???

12:00 - 5:00 p.m. Registration and Information

1:00 - 5:00 p.m. CDBG Nuts and Bolts

1:00 - 5:00 p.m. HOME Refresher Course

6:00 - 8:00 p.m. NCDA Board of Directors Meeting

6:00 - 10:00 p.m. Hospitality Suite
 
Thursday, June 4

8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Registration and Information

8:30 - 9:00 a.m. New Members Orientation

9:00 - 10:30 a.m. Welcoming Brunch - 1999 CD Week Poster Development and Report on 1998 CD Week Strategy

10:30 a.m.- 12:30 p.m. Broadening the Community Development Political Base: Getting to Know Your State Counterparts and the Smaller Communities. We are closer than we think.

12:30 - 1:30 p.m. State Whips/Membership Committee Meeting

1:30 -3:00 p.m. Committee Meetings

• Community Development Committee
• Economic Development Committee
• Professional and Program Development Committee
• Housing Committee, HOME and Homelessness
• Technology Committee

5:00 - 7:00 p.m. Welcoming Reception

Friday, June 5

8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Registration and Information

9:00 - 10:00 a.m. Opening General Session : HUD Briefings

10:00 a.m. - 1:00 a.m. City Projects Bus Tour

1:30 - 3:00 p.m. Concurrent Sessions

3:00 - 4:30 p.m. Topical Roundtable Discussions

5:30 - 9:00 p.m. Special Conference Event
 
Saturday, June 6

8:30 - 10:30 Closing Breakfast

10:30 - 1:00 p.m. Professional Development Session: Becoming a More Effective Manager

6:00 - 10:00 p.m. After Conference Event
 

Hotel Registration Information  Hyatt Regency Miami  At Miami Convention Center  400 SE Second Avenue  Miami, Florida 33131-2197 (305) 358-1234 or  1-800-233-1234  To request a room reservation within the NCDA block, please ask for the NCDA Annual Conference, so that you receive the special conference rate of $110 per night. Conference participants have until May 13, 1998 to reserve a room at the guaranteed rate of $110 per night. After that date NCDA cannot guarantee that you will be guaranteed a room, or a room at the conference rate.

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