Shays, Turner Lead Request to President for 2007 CDBG Funds

Shays, Turner Lead Request to President for 2007 CDBG Funds

Bridgeport, CT - Congressman Christopher Shays (R-CT), a member of the Financial Services Committee and its Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, and Congressman Mike Turner (R-OH) led 28 colleagues in a letter to President Bush urging full funding of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program in the President's upcoming 2007 budget proposal. The letter also encourages the President to keep CDBG in the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

"Community Development Block Grant dollars allow local communities to determine priorities for community development and then provide funding to address those needs. They have a tremendously positive impact on the cities and towns of the Fourth Congressional District," Shays said.

Last March, Shays successfully fought for CDBG funding over the President's budget request and retaining the program within HUD.

The text of the letter follows:

"As the administration prepares its budget proposals for fiscal year 2007, we express our strong support for the Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG). We encourage the administration to propose funding for this vital program at traditional levels and continue to have CDBG administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This proposal would help maintain the long standing and productive partnership between the federal government and localities for building sustainable communities across the nation.

"For fiscal year 2006, the administration proposed consolidating CDBG and a host of other programs into a new block grant to be administered by the Department of Commerce. This new initiative would have included a significant reduction in funding below the combined fiscal year 2005 funding for the consolidated programs.

"While this proposal generated an important dialogue about CDBG, both the House and the Senate, in a bipartisan manner, strongly reaffirmed support for CDBG by funding the program at $4.2 billion and maintaining the current administration of CDBG at HUD. In separate letters to congressional leaders, over 180 Members of the House and 55 Senators expressed their overwhelming support and commitment to maintaining this critical program.

"The CDBG program has been a vital tool in helping to rebuild communities for the last thirty years. As you mentioned in your speech in New Orleans on January 12, CDBG is playing an important role in helping to aid recovery in the Gulf States in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. This is but the most recent example of how CDBG empowers communities to remedy local problems, benefiting those with the greatest need. CDBG is a proven program that delivers results, is valued by local leaders throughout the nation, and has bipartisan support in both the House and Senate. We strongly support this important program and urge you to provide traditional funding in the administration's 2007 budget request."

http://www.house.gov/shays/news/2006/january/jancdbg.htm