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

The Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) appropriations subcommittees are charged with drafting bills to provide annual appropriations for the Department of Transportation (DOT), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and related agencies. Status of the FY2014 THUD Appropriations Bill

 Table 1 provides a timeline of legislative action on the FY2014 THUD appropriations bill, and Table 2 lists the total funding provided for each of the titles in the bill for FY2013 and the amount requested for that title for FY2014. Funding for the first half of FY2013 was provided through a continuing resolution at roughly the same level as in FY2012. This act generally funded THUD agencies at their FY2012 levels, with several exceptions (anomalies). It also included a 0.2% across-the-board rescission to the funding provided to federal agencies in the bill. According to a report accompanying the order, funding for DOT's programs and activities for FY2013 was reduced by about $1.6 billion as a result of the sequester. FY2014 THUD Funding and Sequestration

The President's FY2014 budget requested $76.9 billion in new budget resources for DOT. The major differences between the House and Senate bills are that the House bill proposed to zero out the Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program (and rescind $237 million of FY2013 funding for that program), would have provided roughly $800 million less for the Federal Aviation Administration's Operations and Facilities & Equipment accounts, would have provided $500 million less for bridge repairs funded by the Federal Highway Administration, would have provided roughly $500 million less for Amtrak and $100 million less for passenger rail grants, and would have provided roughly $350 million less for Federal Transit Administration programs. The President's FY2014 budget requested nearly $35 billion in net new budget authority for HUD in FY2014. Congress enacted $33.4 billion for HUD in FY2013, pre-sequester, or $31.4 billion post-sequester. The House bill ( H.R. 2610 ) would have provided $28 billion in net new budget authority, while the Senate bill ( S. 1243 ) would have provided just over $35 billion. The requested funding was $5.6 billion more than enacted for FY2013, and $6.3 billion more than actually received (not counting emergency funding provided in FY2013). The biggest change in the request from current funding is a request for an additional $5 billion for passenger rail grants. As with the House bill, the primary difference (in dollar terms) between the Senate bill and the Administration's request is the almost $5 billion in additional funding for passenger rail development, which the Senate bill also omits. Both the House and Senate bills support the Administration request. Neither the House nor the Senate bill supported this realignment and funding increase. Post-sequester funding levels are also provided, taken from estimates prepared by HUD. In FY2013, the total amount available for CDF after application of the 0.2% across-the-board rescission and sequestration was approximately $3.135 billion. Appendix A. FY2014 Funding Lapse
FY2014 Funding Lapse and Partial Government Shutdown
The federal government experienced a funding lapse beginning on October 1, 2013, which ended when the Continuing Appropriations Act ( P.L. 113-46 ) was signed into law on October 17, 2013. This is the amount of new funding allocated each year by the appropriations committees.
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. The HUD budget generally accounts for the largest share of discretionary appropriations provided by the subcommittee. However, when mandatory funding is taken into account, DOT's budget is larger than HUD's budget, because it includes funding from transportation trust funds.
The House and the Senate have considered FY2014 funding with significantly different assumed levels of total funding. Following from this, the House and Senate THUD bills were allocated very different levels of discretionary funding for FY2014: $44.1 billion in the House, and $54.0 billion in the Senate, a difference of 23%.
Comparing funding levels proposed for FY2014 with the amounts provided in FY2013 is complex. In FY2013, Congress funded THUD agencies through a full-year continuing resolution, which provided funding generally at the same level as in FY2012, with some exceptions, and which included a 0.2% across-the-board rescission. That funding was subsequently reduced by the imposition of a sequester, which cut discretionary funding levels by around 5%. This reduced THUD funding by roughly $4.6 billion: around $1.6 billion from DOT and $3 billion from HUD.
The Administration requested $76.9 billion for DOT for FY2014. Congress enacted $71.3 billion for DOT in FY2013; after the sequester reduction, DOT received around $70.6 billion. The biggest change in the Administration's request from current funding was a proposal to restructure the Federal Railroad Administration, creating two new programs that would support existing passenger rail service and fund improvements to rail infrastructure. The Administration requested $6.4 billion for those new programs, an increase of roughly $5 billion over the amount currently provided for those purposes. Neither the House nor Senate bills supported that proposal.
The President's FY2014 budget request for HUD included nearly $35 billion in net new budget authority. This amount is an increase over FY2013, as Congress enacted $33.4 billion for HUD in FY2013, pre-sequester and pre-rescission. Accounting for sequestration and the across-the-board rescission, HUD was provided with about $31.4 billion in FY2013. The House bill (H.R. 2610) proposed about $28 billion in net new budget authority, while the Senate bill (S. 1243) proposed about $35 billion.
Congress did not enact any final FY2014 appropriations prior to the start of the fiscal year on October 1, 2013, resulting in a funding lapse and partial government shutdown that lasted until a short-term continuing resolution was enacted on October 17, 2013. Under the terms of that CR (P.L. 113-46), federal departments and agencies, including those typically funded by the THUD appropriations bill, are funded at their FY2013 levels, post-rescission and post-sequestration, back-dated from October 1, 2013, through January 15, 2014. The CR contained several THUD-related anomalies.