Senate Passes FY12 THUD Bill

by Clare Duncan, National Housing Conference

Yesterday, the Senate passed a “minibus” appropriations bill which includes the FY12 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD); Commerce, Justice and Science (CJS) and Agriculture, Rural Housing and Food and Drug Administration appropriations bills by a vote of 69 to 30. This bill includes $37 billion for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), a decrease of $4.1 billion below FY 11. Most HUD program funding levels are the same as what passed the Senate Committee on Appropriations on September 21st.

On September 8th, the House T-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee held a mark-up of the FY 2012 THUD budget. The House bill includes $38.1 billion for HUD, a decrease of $3 billion below FY 2011 numbers and $4 billion below the President’s FY 2012 request. While, the House has not brought any FY12 appropriations bill to the floor yet, the House and Senate are in a pre-conference stage as they sort out funding allocations in the bills. Both the House and Senate are currently operating under a continuing resolution of the FY11 budget, which will expire on November 18th.