June 02, 2010
Senate Seal.jpg

On May 27, the Senate passed its FY 2010 Supplemental Funding Bill, H.R. 4899, by a vote of 67 to 28, providing additional funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and for disaster recovery efforts.

The bill also includes a number of additional provisions, including language NCSHA supports allowing the Section 502 Single-Family Rural Housing Guaranteed Loan Program to continue this year by increasing the annual commitment authority for the program by as much as necessary to meet FY 2010 loan demand. The program ran out of funds in May due to the high demand caused by the tight credit market.

H.R. 4899 allows for an increase of the current 2 percent upfront fee to up to 3.5 percent and an annual fee of up to 0.5 percent to make the program self-funding. USDA has said that they would need to raise the fee to approximately 3.5 percent to make the program self-sustaining. The bill would also allow the Secretary of Agriculture to waive fees for very low- and low-income borrowers, not to exceed $697 million in loan guarantees.

The bill also includes $100 million in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding for disaster relief for federally-declared disaster areas affected by storms from March 2010 through May 2010.

The House Appropriations Committee is expected to mark up its larger version of the Supplemental when they return next week from the Memorial Day recess. Bill text is not yet available, but a summary has been released. According to the summary, the House version will also address the suspension of the Section 502 program and will include $100 million for CDBG for disaster relief.

Once the House Appropriations Committee reports out its bill and the bill passes the House, it will have to be reconciled with the Senate-passed version.