On July 11, the House Appropriations Committee approved, by voice vote, the FY2008 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies spending bill (as-yet-unnumbered). A House Appropriations Subcommittee approved the measure on June 11 (see The Source, 6/15/07).
According to a committee press release, the measure will allocate $50.7 billion in discretionary funds in FY2008, $3.2 billion more than FY2007 and $2.8 billion more than President Bush’s request.
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Community Development Block Grants (CDBG): The bill would provide level funding of $4 billion for CDBGs in FY2008, $228 million above FY2007 and $963 million above the budget request.
Section 8 Housing: Section 8 tenant-based vouchers would be funded at $16.3 billion in FY2008, $410 million more than FY2007 and $200 million more than President Bush’s request.
Department of Transportation
Highway Safety Grants: As requested by President Bush, these grants would receive $599.3 million in FY2008, $11.5 million over FY2007. The grants are used to “encourage safety belt use, prevent drinking and driving, improve child safety, motorcyclist safety, and other initiatives.”
The measure also would “require the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] to produce plans to improve diversity in the controller and safety personnel workforce, including methods to attract underrepresented groups and establish benchmarks to measure plan effectiveness. FAA is required to produce a report on its efforts by January 1, 2008, and annually thereafter.”
Additional information will be available when the committee report accompanying the bill is printed.
