Last week, Congress passed a "minibus" appropriations bill - combining six Fiscal Year 2010 appropriations bills (Commerce, Justice, Science; Financial Services; Labor, HHS, Education; Military Construction-Veterans Affairs; State-Foreign Operations; Transportation/HUD) into one bill.

The House passed the bill on Friday on a 221-202 vote.  On Sunday, the Senate passed the bill on a 57-35 vote.  The package of bills now goes to the President to be signed into law.

More information can be found on both the House and Senate Appropriations Committee Websites.

The bill contains the following funding important to the region:

Commerce, Justice, Science
Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP): $124.7 million
Technology Innovation Program (TIP): $69.9 million
Trade Adjustment Assistance: $15.8 million
Coastal Zone Management Act: $68.146 million
National Sea Grant College Program: $63.0 million
 
Labor, HHS, Education
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP): $5.1 billion
(Note: $4,509,672,000 in block grant funding, $590,328,000 for the contingency fund.  The bill also continues the split formula used in FY09.)
 
Transportation, HUD
Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Formula Funds: $3,990,068,480
Section 108 Loans: $6 million
HUD Brownfields Economic Development Initiative (BEDI): $17.5 million
HOME Investment Partnerships Program: $1.825 billion
Sustainable Communities Initiative: $150 million
Economic Development Initiative: $172,843,570 ($22,087,950 for neighborhood initiatives; the rest is allocated to individual, congressionally-directed spending projects)
HOPE VI (revitalization of distressed public housing): $200 million
(Note: HOPE VI funding includes $65 million for Choice Neighborhoods Initiative)

Amtrak: $1.6 billion
Federal Transit Administration: $10.73 billion
Capital Assistance for High-Speed Rail and Intercity Passenger Rail Service: $2.5 billion
FTA Capital Investment Grants: $2.0 billion

 

For more information contact Chris Hickling, Legislative Director, Northeast-Midwest Senate Coalition.
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On December 16 at 3pm EST, the Northeast-Midwest Institute, in coordination with the Congressional Urban Caucus and the Revitalizing Older Cities Task Force, will sponsor a free webinar about the Department of Energy's ARRA Funded Loan Guarantee Program.  The DOE program has the potential to be a great opportunity to re-build economies and re-use brownfields through the use of renewable energy projects.
 
The webinar will provide an overview of the loan guarantee program and explain key components of the recently released Request For Information (RFI) for state, regional and local development finance organizations.  Click here for more information or here to register for the webinar.
 
For questions or comments contact Greg Lewis, 202-464-4005.

On December 8, more than 30 organizations launched the America's Great Waters Coalition in an event in the U.S. Capitol Visitors center. The goals of the America's Great Waters Coalition are to make the restoration of the nation's great waters a national priority; secure sustainable dedicated funding for restoration; and enact and ensure sound implementation of restoration projects. Read more about the Coalition at this site. 

 

For more information, contact Mark Gorman (202/464-4015) at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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NEMW's analysis of the "Environmental and Energy Conservation Benefits of the Maryland Historic Tax Credit Program" was published in the Fall 2009 issue of Forum Journal, the Journal of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  NEMW devotes a section of our Revitalizing Older Cities website to Preservation, Smart Growth and Climate Change. 
 
For more information contact Evans Paull, (202/329-4282) at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.

 

The HUD Brownfields Economic Development Initiative (BEDI) and HUD 108 programs were rescued in the Transportation HUD Appropriations Conference Committee.  BEDI got a boost - $17.5 million, which is $7.5 million above the FY 09 level and HUD 108 was continued at $6 million (leverages $275 million in loans).  BEDI and HUD 108 were eliminated in the Obama budget and in the Senate Appropriations Bill, but the House appropriated $25 million for BEDI and $6 million for HUD 108.

The Northeast-Midwest Institute coordinated a campaign - including the National Brownfields Coalition, Smart Growth America, the National Association Housing and Redevelopment Organizations (NAHRO), and LOCUS (Responsible Real Estate Developers and Investors Group) - to provide Congress with the documented benefits of these programs and the reasons that BEDI and HUD 108 fill a unique niche that cannot be addressed through the EPA Brownfields Program or the HUD CDBG Program.  The campaign was bolstered by letters from the mayors of Philadelphia, Tacoma, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Baltimore - as well as the Economic Development Director of Pittsburgh, a group of 16 local governments and non-governmental organizations in Wisconsin, and a letter from the National Brownfields Coalition co-signed by 22 organizations. 

For more information, contact Evans Paull (202/329-4282) at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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