	Introduction to Transportation, HUD, and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations

The Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations Subcommittees in the House and Senate are charged with drafting bills to provide annual appropriations for the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and six small related agencies. Title III of the THUD appropriations bill generally funds a collection of agencies involved in transportation or housing and community development. Table 3 shows the discretionary funding provided for THUD in FY2017, the Trump Administration request for FY2018, and the informal suballocations made by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to the THUD subcommittees. Thus the discretionary funding provided is only about half of the total funding provided in this bill. FY2018 THUD Funding

As shown in Table 4 , the Trump Administration's FY2018 budget included $106.65 billion for the programs in the THUD bill, $9.7 billion less than the $116.3 billion provided in FY2017. The request represented a reduction of roughly $2 billion for DOT and $7.5 billion for HUD. The House-passed H.R. 3354 would provide $115.3 billion for THUD; this represents a reduction of less than 1% from the comparable figure for FY2017. The Senate-reported S. 1655 recommended $119.1 billion for THUD; this represents an increase of just over 2% over FY2017 funding. With inflation forecast at 1.9% for FY2018, the House bill would result in a reduction of roughly 3% in real THUD funding, while the Senate bill would result in a slight increase in real funding, compared to FY2017. How Lower Budget Authority Becomes Greater Funding—the Impact of Offsets

In the case of the THUD bill, net discretionary budget authority (which is the level of funding measured against the 302(b) allocation) is typically not the same as the amount of new discretionary budget authority made available to THUD agencies, due to budgetary savings available from rescissions and offsets. DOT in Brief

			President's Budget

The Trump Administration requested a $1.1 billion reduction in DOT from FY2017 levels, chiefly by zeroing out the Essential Air Service program (-$150 million) and the TIGER (National Infrastructure Investments) grant program (-$500 million) and reducing funding for the transit New Starts program by $400 million. In addition to providing more funding than in the House-passed bill, the Senate bill includes several policy provisions different from those in the House bill. A proposal to eliminate funding for several HUD grant programs. Large funding reductions for public housing, including a 68% cut relative to FY2017 for the capital fund and elimination of funding for the Choice Neighborhoods program. House Action

As reported by the House Appropriations Committee, H.R. ($38.3 billion in net discretionary funding.) 3354 , which includes as Division H the text of H.R. Senate Action

As reported by the Senate Appropriations Committee, S. 1655 would provide the following for HUD:
$49.9 billion in gross discretionary appropriations for HUD's programs and activities, which is 4% more than was enacted for FY2017 and 23% more than was proposed by the President ($40.2 billion in net discretionary appropriations). Level funding, relative to FY2017, for the grant programs slated for elimination in the President's budget request (CDBG, HOME, and the programs included in the SHOP account). The House committee bill would adopt the President's request, allowing for the termination of the USICH; the Senate committee bill would not, funding the USICH at FY2017 levels and permanently eliminating the statutory sunset. Both the House and Senate committee bills would continue to fund NeighborWorks at the FY2017 level.
The House and Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations Subcommittees are charged with providing annual appropriations for the Department of Transportation (DOT), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and related agencies. THUD programs receive both discretionary and mandatory budget authority; HUD's budget generally accounts for the largest share of discretionary appropriations in the THUD bill, but when mandatory funding is taken into account, DOT's budget is larger than HUD's budget. Mandatory funding typically accounts for around half of the THUD appropriation.
The Trump Administration requested net new budget authority of $106.65 billion (after scorekeeping adjustments), including $47.9 billion in discretionary funding, for the departments and agencies funded in the THUD bill for FY2018, $9.65 billion (8%) less than the FY2017 level. The House Appropriations Committee reported its version of an FY2018 THUD appropriations bill on July 17, 2017 (H.R. 3353). It recommended $115.3 billion ($56.5 billion in discretionary funding), less than 1% below the FY2017 level. The text of that bill was incorporated into a consolidated appropriations bill (H.R. 3354), amended (with no change in total funding for THUD, but changes in some accounts within THUD), and passed by the House on September 14, 2017. The Senate Appropriations Committee reported its version of an FY2018 THUD bill on July 27, 2017 (S. 1655). It recommended $119.1 billion ($60.1 billion in discretionary funding), 2.4% more than FY2017. With inflation forecast at 1.9% for FY2018, the House bill would result in a roughly 3% decrease in real THUD funding, while the Senate bill would result in a slight increase in real funding, compared to FY2017.
With no agreement on FY2018 funding, Congress passed a continuing resolution (H.R. 601) to provide funding through December 8, 2017, for federal agencies. That act extended FY2017 funding levels for the THUD agencies, less an across-the board rescission 0.6791%.
DOT: The Trump Administration requested $75.1 billion in net new budgetary authority for DOT for FY2018. That was about $2 billion less than the comparable figure ($77.1 billion) for FY2016, with significant cuts requested for transit and rail programs. Both the House and Senate bills largely rejected the proposed cuts; the House approved $77.5 billion in new funding, and the Senate Appropriations Committee recommended $78.6 billion.
HUD: The Trump Administration requested $31.4 billion in net new budget authority for HUD for FY2018, $7.4 billion less than FY2017 (-19%). It requested no funding for several major grant programs, including the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program and the HOME Investment Partnership program. The House bill proposed $38.3 billion, a small increase in overall funding relative to FY2017 (-1.3%), and did not include the proposed eliminations of HOME and CDBG funding. The Senate committee bill recommended $40.2 billion, a 4% increase over FY2017.
Related Agencies: The Trump Administration requested $226 million for the agencies in Title III of the THUD bill (the Related Agencies). This was about $113 million less than was provided in FY2017. The major change in funding from FY2017 levels in the request was proposals to terminate funding for the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation (NRC) and the Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH). The President's budget requested only enough funding to close out the commitments of those two entities. Neither the House nor Senate committee bills included the President's proposal to wind down funding for the NRC; the House bill, but not the Senate committee-passed bill, would eliminate funding for the ICH.