With not much time to spare, congressional leaders and President Obama reached agreement on a 2011 budget that would fund the government through the end of September.
Given that it will take several days to actually put the deal into bill form, the President has already signed into law a extension of government funding until April 15th. But, if the $2 billion in cuts for the one week period are any indication of what's to come... funding for community programs will be hit hard.
As an example, the one-week resolution, cuts funding for the Community Development Block Grant program by $220 million with funding totally eliminated for Neighborhood Initiative, Economic Development Initiative and University Communities Fund. High-Speed rail funding is reduced by $1 billion to $1.5 billion.
Those familiar with the overall deal indicate that it will cut a total of $37.7 billion from current spending levels over the next six months ($78.5 billion annualized). Of that total, $17.8 billion will come from mandatory spending programs, including $2.5 billion in transportation spending.
The League will of course continue to follow this matter closely, especially since any cuts in transportation funding, CDBG or other community based programs could have a serious impact on potential projects moving forward. Watch for information in this blog and on our home page in the coming days.
Arnold Weinfeld is Director of Strategic Initiatives and Federal Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at 517-908-0304 or by e-mail.
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