Appropriators’ Frustration Mounts as Sequester Festers

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uly 31 was a fateful day: It was when House Republicans proved even they couldn’t govern under the sequester spending levels — and the day the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee finally had enough.

“The House has made its choice: sequestration — and its unrealistic and ill-conceived discretionary cuts — must be brought to an end,” Rep. Harold Rogers of Kentucky said after leadership was forced to pull the Transportation-HUD funding bill from the floor.

Rogers may have spoken first, but he is hardly alone in his frustration.

In the months between the bill’s canceled floor consideration and the resolution of the government shutdown, veteran GOP appropriators have grown increasingly vocal in their dissatisfaction.

“I’m a process guy, I believe in the process … and it goes for naught,” said appropriator Steve Womack of Arkansas. “We end up with continuing resolutions, and a lot of things we’ve done in our appropriations work is pushed aside.”

Appropriators pass bills with bipartisan cooperation through the committee and then watch them flounder on the House floor, where spending levels mandated by the sequester and the House-passed budget resolution are too deep for Democrats and some Republicans and not deep enough for others.

They watch their Republican peers vote for amendments to appropriations bills on the House floor that appeal to the far-right contingent of the party and then vote against final passage.

What’s more, Republicans on the Appropriations Committee feel the odds are stacked against them, with nothing likely to improve until their leaders agree to make some changes.

From their standpoint, and the standpoint of GOP aides familiar with the process, the chief reason appropriations bills can’t pass the House now is because of an unworkable topline number.

Via: Roll Call

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HUD’s Power Grab > The Obama administration plots a wholesale federal intrusion into local housing policy

President Obama may have been distracted by Syria, but his domestic presidency proceeds apace, seeking what he heralds as “the transformation of the United States.” Especially is this true at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which aims to remake neighborhoods all across America, starting, as we’ll see, in Westchester County, N.Y.

SHAUN DONOVAN

NEWSCOM

Established in 1965 at the height of the last unambiguously progressive presidency, HUD enforces, among other laws, the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which forbids discrimination in housing on the basis of race and ethnicity. That act, together with other statutes, says HUD, also directs “program participants”​—​local governments and states that receive federal housing grants, and also public housing agencies​—​to go beyond simply combating discrimination. They are to take “proactive steps” to “address significant disparities in access to community assets, .  .  . overcome segregated living patterns and support and promote integrated communities, [and] .  .  . end racially and ethnically concentrated areas of poverty.” HUD has a name for all this proactive step-taking: Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, also known in HUD circles by its acronym, AFFH.

It so happens, however, that the transformation of America by means of AFFH has been a bit too slow in coming. Says HUD: “The current practice of affirmatively furthering fair housing as carried out by HUD grantees .  .  . has not been as effective” as it should have been. Indeed, housing secretary Shaun Donovan has called it “a meaningless paper exercise without any teeth,” a difficult metaphor to conceptualize, but you get the point.

Via: Weekly Standard

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In 3 Days of Shutdown, Gov't Has Spent $3B on HUD--Same as Without Shutdown

In the first three days of what is being called a government "shutdown" or "partial shutdown," the federal government spent approximately $3 billion on the Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to the Daily Treasury Statement released at 4:00 p.m. Friday.

The Treasury said it had spent $2.965 billion on Housing and Urban Development programs from Tuesday, Oct. 1 through Thursday, Oct. 3. Data will not be available on how much money the government spent on HUD programs on Friday until the Treasury releases its next daily statement at 4:00 p.m. on Monday.

In the first three days of October of last year, when the government was not in a "shutdown" or "partial shutdown," the Treasury spent almost the exact same amount of money--$2.966 billion--on HUD programs as it did in the first three days of this year when it was in a "shutdown" or "partial shutdown."

Via: CNS News

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160! – We have 160 Federal Programs That Deal With Housing

Sen. Jim DeMint’s (R-SC) senior communications advisor and speechwriter, Amanda Carpenter, who was recently a columnist for The Washington Times, penned an interesting post on the senator’s page, the Pickpocket, concerning how many federal programs deal with housing.  A whopping 160 federal programs is “how many the Government Accountability Office tallied in a recent report that noted, ‘fiscal realities raise questions about the efficiency of multiple housing programs and activities across federal agencies with similar goals, products, and sometimes parallel delivery systems.”

The post, which Carpenter wrote on September 20, also reported that:

…HUD runs the majority of the programs, 91. The United States Department of Agriculture, which also administers farming aid and the nation’s food stamp program, offers 18 different types of housing assistance as well. The Internal Revenue Service has 14 programs. The Department of Treasury offers 8 programs; the Department of Veterans Affairs 7; the Department of Labor 2; Federal Home Loan Banks 3.

The rest of the activities are run through a number of organizations, such as the Department of Interior,  the Federal Reserve System, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae, Farmer Mac, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to name a few.

Here’s GAO’s complete inventory of programs, available in the “Table of Contents” on this page.

If President Obama had truly wanted to consolidate wasteful government programs, he sure had the chance. Especially when it comes to housing. He just never took it.

GAO recommended that the government begin taking action to consolidate programs at HUD, USDA, and Treasury, a goal completely compatible the Single Family Housing Task Force that the Obama Administration announced in February 2011.

Carpenter noted that this finding has amounted to little more than a press release.  However, it’s another episode in the annals of government inefficiency.  For a minute – I thought that this could be the foundation for a good movie, but I forgot that it’s already been made.

Via: Green Room

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HUD Secretary: Without tax hikes, Latinos will go to the 'back of the line'

MORE HANDOUTS

Congress must raise taxes on the wealthy "because there just isn't enough to go around," Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan told the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute today. 

"Latino growth has meant that often they're at the back of the line for housing assistance or other things," Donovan said during CHCI's annual Public Policy Conference this morning at the Ronald Reagan Building in D.C. "And the fundamental problem here (in part) is, are we going to continue to invest in those things? And if we continue to cut the budget for Section 8 housing and public housing and a whole range of other things -- if we don't fix this fiscal cliff in a fair way that actually asks higher-income Americans to pay their fair share -- Latinos are going to have to continue to wait in the back of the line, because there just isn't enough to go around. And that's a fundamental problem in our housing system, but it's a much bigger problem that is a huge issue when we make a decision about what our investments are going to be in Congress."

Donovan's remarks should play well among the Latino community if the polling data provided before he spoke holds true about how Latinos believe the deficit and economic crises should be addressed.

"We see an overwhelming percentage of Latinos want to see some amount of tax increases along with cuts," Dr. Matt Barreto of Latino Decisions told CHCI. "The most popular answer [46 percent] was just saying increasing taxes on the wealthy, that they need to pay a little bit more, rejecting the idea that we should only focus on cuts. And another large percentage -- 37 percent -- saying 'yes, tax increases should be part of the solution with cuts.'"

Barreto added that 56 percent of Latinos surveyed said "that government should invest in projects -- that's the way you stimulate the economy." He noted that only about 29 or 30 percent of Latinos believe that tax cuts can fix the economy.

Donovan emphasized his call for tax increases. "This is a fundamental choice," he said. "Is everyone going to pay their fair share? Or are we going to balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable and our most recent Americans? And, it's simply unfair."

Via: The Examiner

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ACORN by any Other Name is Still ACORN

This past week District Judge Donald Mosley of Nevada gave ACORN the defunct community organization, the maximum fine for a voter registration scheme that occurred during the 2008 presidential election.  In passing down his decision he said “It is making a mockery of our election process.  If it had been an individual in this courtroom, who is responsible for this kind of thing, I would put that person in prison for 10 years, hard time, and not think twice about it”.  He slapped the organization with the maximum $5,000 fine. 

This is not the first case of voter fraud against ACORN.  A number of individuals nationwide have also been convicted of voter registration fraud for registering dead people and making up fake names. 

The 2012 election season is upon us and it probably means that we will be seeing this type of behavior repeating itself all over the country. Recently, former ACORN state chapters have been reorganizing under different names.  No matter how you look at it they will no doubt be up to their old tricks to assist President Obama and the left wing in their re-election efforts. 

What makes this all the more dangerous is that newly created ACORN groups have teamed up with the SEIU’s economic terrorism campaign.  Both have a long history with Barrack Obama which includes his stint as an attorney for ACORN in Chicago.  

This should be extremely troubling for most knowing the past history of both of these organizations.  It has just been revealed that SEIU has a “Contract Campaign Manual” that specifically targets shareholders.  It should certainly not come as a surprise to anyone who follows unions that the plan exists.

Last month it was revealed that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) a grant of $800,000 was given to Affordable Housing Centers of America which operated as ACORN Housing Corporation in 2009.  What is disturbing is that the Obama Administration is ignoring a ban on federal support from 2009 to ACORN and its affiliates, which was overturned by a lower court but restored by a federal appeals court.

The question we should all be asking ourselves is can we protect our elections from the hands of ACORN.  Intimidation is their main operating mandate.  We might not be able to stop them completely but if we stand up and not let them hijack the next election it will make a difference.  The election cannot be compromised in any way. We have to make sure that the likes of ACORN and SEUI are not allowed to operate as they have in the past.