Congress reached a fiscal year 2017 (FY17) budget agreement—the Omnibus Appropriations Act—late in the evening Sunday, April 30, 2017. The bill funds the federal government through September this year. The FY17 Omnibus Appropriations Act packages 11 regular appropriations bills, as well as additional Trump administration requests on national defense and border security.

The spending package is expected to be voted on in the House and Senate this week before the current Continuing Resolution ends on May 5. The Omnibus Appropriations Act provides $1.070 trillion in base discretionary funding. The final budget agreement upholds the bipartisan deal made in late 2015 to lift the spending caps—sequestration—required by the Budget Control Act for defense and non-defense programs.

The FY17 budget agreement does not include any of the $18 billion in cuts requested by the Trump administration in the “skinny budget” proposed for FY18.

Looking ahead, FY18 begins October 1, 2017. In a typical year, the President releases his budget proposal on the first Monday in February. Congress then begins its work on a budget resolution and on appropriations legislation. President Trump released a “skinny budget” in March. The full administration FY18 request is expected in mid-May. This timeline has prevented Congress from even beginning regular order budget conversations. Refer to this Prosperity Indiana blog on the FY18 spending proposal—the “skinny budget.”

 The following links are legislative text and summaries for each of the FY17 appropriations bills incorporated into the omnibus legislation. These files are provided by the House of Representatives Rules Committee and Senate Appropriations Committee:

• Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2017 
  
• Additional Appropriations for Defense, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs 
  
• Additional Appropriations for Homeland Security 
  
• Additional Appropriations for Disaster Relief 
  

• Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
• Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related
• Commerce, Justice Science, and Related Agencies
• Defense
• Energy and Water Development
• Financial Services and General Government
• Homeland Security
• Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
• Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
• Legislative Branch
• State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs

Department of Housing and Urban Development

The FY17 Omnibus Appropriations Act funds many HUD programs the same as last year FY16 or with small increases. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s (NLIHC) detailed budget chart, this is true for Tenant-Based Rental Assistance, Family Self-Sufficiency, Native American Block Grants, Native Hawaiian Block Grants, Community Development Block Grants, HOME Investment Partnerships programs, Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP), Homeless Assistance Grants, Project-Based Rental Assistance, Section 202 Housing for the Elderly, Housing Counseling, Policy Development and Research, and Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. The programs to see funding cuts compared to FY16 were the Public Housing Operating Fund and Section 811 Housing for People with Disabilities.

This budget chart from Enterprise Community Partners provides additional program detail. Prosperity Indiana’s national partner NLIHC summarized the major housing provisions of the Omnibus Appropriations Act.

The agreement provides $20.292 billion for tenant-based rental assistance, $18.355 billion renews previous contracts. The bill allocates $47 million for Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH), $7 million of which is to serve Native American veterans. The bill also provides $10 million to support new Family Unification Program (FUP) vouchers and $120 million for Section 811 mainstream vouchers. The bill provides $10.816 billion to renew project-based rental assistance contracts for calendar year 2017, an increase of $186 million from the FY16 funding level.

The public housing capital fund saw a small increase, while the operating fund received a $100 million cut. The operating fund allocation fell from $4.5 billion in FY16 to $4.4 billion, while the capital fund allocation increased from $1.9 billion to $1.942 billion to help address lead-based paint hazards in public housing. The bill directs $35 million of the capital fund to be used for supportive services and service coordinators.

The bill increases the number of public housing units that can convert under the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program from 185,000 to 225,000 and extends the program’s sunset date to 2020. Under RAD, public housing agencies leverage public and private debt and equity, largely through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, to rehabilitate public housing stock and make capital improvements.

The bill increases funding for homeless assistance programs to $2.383 billion from $2.25 billion in FY16. The bill targets $43 million to address youth homelessness and waives the requirement that youth 24 years of age and under provide third-party documentation to receive housing and supportive services within the Continuums of Care. The bill extends the authorization for the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) by one additional year. It is now set to expire next year, October 1, 2018.

The bill provides $502 million to the Section 202 Housing for the Elderly program, enough to renew all existing contracts and provide $10 million to build new units or provide rental assistance. The bill also reduces funding for the Section 811 Housing for People with Disabilities program to $146 million, $5 million less than the FY16 level. The bill does not include language allowing Section 202 Project Rental Assistance Contract (PRAC) properties to convert under the Rental Assistance Demonstration.

The bill level-funds the HOME Investments Partnerships program (HOME) at $950 million and the Community Development Block Grant program at $3 billion. The bill also provides a four-year suspension of the 24-month funding commitment deadline under the HOME program. Because of the additional requirements on project selection, underwriting standards, and developer capacity under the HOME program, many communities have struggled to meet the two-year commitment deadline, which led to funding being lost. This language removes this barrier while keeping in place other, more meaningful deadlines.

Funding for the Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA) program was increased to $356 million to account for changes made to how the program funds are awarded by the Housing Opportunities Through Modernization Act. The Choice Neighborhoods Initiative received an increase above FY16 funding, $125 million to $138 million. Jurisdictions receiving Choice grants must ensure that at least $50 million is made available to public housing authorities.

The bill provides $145 million to the Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes’ grants, a $35 million increase above FY16, and proposes initiatives to address lead-based paint hazards in affordable housing. The bill directs HUD to establish a process to improve data on how PHAs are complying with lead-based paint regulations in properties that use Section 8 vouchers.

The bill also takes steps to address the physical conditions of HUD-assisted housing to ensure residents are living in decent and safe homes. It requires HUD to act against property owners receiving rental subsidies that do not maintain safe properties. The language authorizes the HUD secretary to replace the property’s management agent with one approved by HUD, impose civil monetary penalties, change HUD’s contract with the property owner until the program is resolved, transfer the property or contract to a new owner, and relocate tenants, among other actions.

The bill funds the HUD’s office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at the same level as FY16. The bill also prohibits HUD from directing local governments to change zoning laws under the agency’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule or with the AFFH assessment tool.

Department of Agriculture

The FY17 spending bill includes $2.94 billion for rural development programs, an increase of $166 million above the FY16 enacted level. The Agriculture section of the omnibus includes a provision setting aside at least 10 percent of most rural development programs for counties with at least a 20 percent poverty rate for the last 30 years (10-20-30).

The bill funds USDA’s Section 521 Rural Rental Assistance program. It also provides a modest increase to USDA’s Section 515 Rural Rental Housing Loan program and the Multifamily Preservation and Revitalization demonstration. It provides increases for rural housing programs including Section 502 Single Family Direct Loans, Section 504 Housing Repair Grants, and Section 521 Rental Assistance.

The Agriculture section of the bill provides $24 billion in loan authority for the Single Family Housing guaranteed loan program, equal to the FY16 level. It includes $1 billion, $100 million above the FY16 enacted level for the direct loan program that provides low-income rural families with home loan assistance. In addition, $1.4 billion, $15 million more than current levels, is included for the Rental Assistance program, which helps low-income families and the elderly in rural communities obtain affordable rental housing.

The bill directs the USDA secretary to incentivize nonprofit organizations and public housing authorities (PHAs) to assume ownership of rental housing properties and to ensure that they remain affordable by allowing these entities to receive a return on investment and asset management fee up to $7,500 per property. According to NLIHC, a record number of USDA rental homes were lost last year due to prepayment or maturity of their USDA Section 515 loan. When that occurs, tenants are no longer eligible for USDA’s rental assistance program and may be subject to rent increases. These incentives are aimed at making it more financially feasible for nonprofit organizations and PHAs to maintain properties as affordable for the long term.

The bill provides discretionary funding, as well as mandatory funding required by law, for food and nutrition programs within the USDA. This includes funding for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and the Child Nutrition programs. WIC funding is $6.35 billion, the same as FY16 level. SNAP receives $78.5 billion in required mandatory spending, this is $2.3 billion below FY16. Child Nutrition Programs are funded at $22.746 billion in mandatory funding. This is $637.2 million above the FY16 enacted level. This funding will provide free or reduced-price school lunches and snacks for 30.3 million children who qualify for the program.

The bill supports a $946.8 million grant and loan level for rural business and industry programs to promote small business growth in rural areas. It provides $1.25 billion for rural water and waste program loans, the same as the FY16. The measure provides $6.94 billion for rural electric and telephone infrastructure loans.

The Omnibus funds the communities facilities program at $2.6 billion, a $400 million increase from last year. This program provides low-cost loans to build critical community infrastructure like hospitals, schools and public safety facilities. It targets historically underserved rural communities throughout the country.

A portion of this funding supports the Department of Agriculture’s relending program, which leverages Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) partnerships to build and repair critical community facilities.

Department of Treasury

The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund received a $14.5 million funding increase above FY16 levels to $248 million – the largest appropriation in the history of the fund. The bill places emphasis on serving persistent poverty counties and supports the enhancement of CDFI presence and activities in underserved rural communities.

The Omnibus funds the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) grant program in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) at $15 million, level funding from the previous year. This provides certainty to VITA programs that the grant funding will continue for at least the near future.

In other policy matters in the IRS section of the legislation, the agency is prohibited from finalizing any regulation or guidance clarifying the 501(c)4 determination process. Recall, controversy erupted in 2013 when the IRS was accused of targeting nonprofit groups by scrutinizing their political activity while assessing applications for 501(c)4 nonprofit status.

Small Business Administration

The Omnibus Appropriations Act provides $886.8 million for the Small Business Administration (SBA) The bill funds business loans at $157 million. The bill also funds $125 million for Small Business Development Centers, $10.5 million for SCORE, formerly the Service Corps of Retired Executives, and $12.3 million for veteran outreach programs.

Department of Justice

Funding for community safety provisions at the Department of Justice includes $2.4 billion for State and Local Law Enforcement activities, including the Office on Violence Against Women, juvenile justice programs, and community crime prevention grant programs. The bill contains $103 million to fund the recently authorized Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016 (CARA) grant program, which consolidated and expanded existing grant programs to combat opioid abuse, and $10 million for Community Oriented Policing Services’ (COPS) anti-heroin task forces grants. The bill also contains: $403 million for Byrne Justice Assistance Grants (JAG).

Health and Human Services

The Assets for Independence (AFI) program at the Department of Health and Human Services is not funded. According to CFED, “AFI’s $18.95 million in funding that fueled Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) across many programs and states was eliminated as part of a broader $900 million cut to the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and Education.”

Additional funds are directed at fighting opioid abuse, $801 million, an increase of $650 million or 430 percent is provided to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) programs. Specifically, the bill provides a $50 million increase above FY16 levels for CDC opioid abuse programs and a $51 million increase to SAMHSA for treatment and overdose reversal, of which $20 million is for Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) authorized programs. The bill also provides $50 million for Community Health Centers treatment and prevention.

Community Health Centers (CHCs) are funded at $1.49 billion, the same level as FY16. There are more than 10,400 Health Centers nationally, serving over 24 million patients per year. Health centers advance the preventive and primary care model of coordinated and comprehensive care, coordinating a wide range of medical, dental, behavioral, and social services in communities.

SAMHSA and HRSA received $1.2 billion for mental health programs. This level includes an $80 million increase above FY16 for key mental health investments. The bill provides $541.5 million, an increase of $30 million above FY16, for the Mental Health Block Grant, and continues a 10 percent set-aside for serious mental illness activities. The bill also provides $50 million within the funding for Community Health Centers to provide mental health services.

Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) is funded at $2.9 billion, an increase of $95 million above FY16. Head Start receives $9.3 billion, an increase of $85 million above FY16. Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is funded at $3.39 billion, equal to FY16.

Department of Transportation

The bill provides funding for the Department of Transportation based on levels enacted in the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. For discretionary transportation programs, the measure provides $500 million for new TIGER grants and $2.4 billion for New Starts transit grants. New Starts will see a boost of $236 million in FY17This includes $50 million for Indianapolis’ transit expansion.

Department of Labor

Several community development related programs are included in the Department of Labor budget. YouthBuild is a program to help at-risk high school drop-outs develop skills and knowledge to obtain industry-recognized job credentials, apprenticeships, and employment. It receives $84.5 million, equal to the FY16 level.

The Apprenticeship Opportunities effort also receives $95 million, an increase of $5 million above FY16, to continue and expand a grant program established focused on the range and number of apprenticeship opportunities available in a wide variety of fields nationwide. A component of the program will also help involve more women and other workers, who have not traditionally participated in apprenticeship programs.

Environmental Protection Agency

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) receives $8.058, $81 million below the FY16. This includes $1.394 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and $863 million for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, both, equal to FY16. Brownfield grants receive $47.7 million in funding.

Legal Services Corporation

The legislation provides $385 million for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) equal to the FY16 level. The Corporation operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that promotes equal access to justice and provides grants for high-quality civil legal assistance to low-income Americans. LSC distributes more than 90 percent of its total funding to 133 independent nonprofit legal aid programs with more than 800 offices. Indiana Legal Services Inc., a Prosperity Indiana member receives these funds.

Corporation for National and Community Service

The Corporation responsible for Americorps and VISTA receives $1.03 billion, a decrease of $65 million overall. The bill maintains funding for core national and community service programs, including $386 million for AmeriCorps grants and $202 million for Senior Corps programs, equal to the FY16 level. In addition, the Committee includes expanded resources for state commissions to build the capacity of national and community service programs locally.