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

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), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and six small related agencies. Three rental assistance programs—Public Housing, Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers, and Section 8 project-based rental assistance—account for the majority of the department's funding. Total annual discretionary budget authority for THUD is typically around half of the total funding provided in the bill, with the remainder made up of DOT's mandatory contract authority. The House and the Senate have not yet adopted a budget resolution for FY2017. Table 3 shows the discretionary funding provided for THUD in FY2016, the Obama Administration request for FY2017, and the amount allocated by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to the THUD subcommittees. FY2017 THUD Funding

As shown in Table 4 , the Obama Administration's FY2017 budget requested $134.5 billion for the programs in the THUD bill, $20.5 billion more than the $114.0 provided in FY2016. Most of the requested increase was for additional highway, transit, and rail funding; the request for DOT was $22 billion over FY2016. According to press reports, the Trump Administration has requested a reduction of $2.7 billion from FY2016 funding levels, zeroing out the Essential Air Services program and the TIGER (National Infrastructure Improvements) grant program and cutting funding for the New Starts program in DOT, and reducing funding for the Community Development Block Grants program in HUD. The Senate-reported S. 2844 recommended $114.2 billion for THUD; after accounting for the differences in rescissions and offsetting receipts in FY2016, this represents an increase of less than 1% over FY2016 funding. Currently, FY2017 funding is being provided through April 28, 2017, through a Continuing Appropriations Resolution ( P.L. With $2.15 billion more in rescissions and $579 million more in offsetting receipts and collections in FY2017 compared to FY2016, the Senate Committee on Appropriations was able to recommend $1.9 billion more discretionary funding for THUD for FY2017, even though the committee had given THUD a discretionary allocation that was $1.1 billion less than in FY2016. On an inflation-adjusted basis, this would be the largest DOT appropriation since FY2011. House Action

The House Committee on Appropriations recommended the following:
The same amount of new budgetary resources as the Senate bill (unlike the Senate bill, there is no rescission of contract authority in the House-recommended bill, so the net total is larger than in the Senate bill). Obama Administration Budget

The Obama Administration's budget proposal for DOT included the following:
A request for $96.9 billion in budgetary resources, an increase of 29% over the amount provided for FY2016 (for budget scoring purposes, a rescission of $2.4 billion reduces the net total requested to $94.5 billion). House Action

H.R. $38.7 billion in net budget authority, reflecting savings from offsets and other sources, which is about $84 million more than FY2016. Senate Action

For HUD the Senate bill (the substitute amendment to H.R. $39.7 billion in net budget authority, reflecting savings from offsets and other sources, which is $1.3 billion more than FY2016 ($1.9 billion more in appropriations and $600 million more in savings available from offsets). Increases in funding for most HUD programs, including funding for new incremental Section 8 Housing Choice vouchers. Title III: Related Agencies

 Table 8 shows appropriations levels for the various related agencies funded within the Transportation, HUD, and Related Agencies appropriations bill. The Surface Transportation Board was transferred from the DOT title to the Related Agencies title starting with FY2017.
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 Obama Administration requested net budget authority of $134.5 billion (after scorekeeping adjustments) for FY2017, $20.6 billion (18%) over the FY2016 level. Most of this increase was for highway, transit, and passenger rail programs.
On May 19, 2016, the Senate approved $114.2 billion in net budget authority ($121.2 billion in new budget authority before scorekeeping adjustments), an increase of $244 million (less than 1%) over FY2016, for THUD for FY2017 as part of a substitute amendment to H.R. 2577 that incorporated both the Senate-reported THUD bill (S. 2844) and the Senate-reported Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies bill. On May 24, 2016, the House Committee on Appropriations ordered to be reported H.R. 5394, an FY2017 THUD bill recommending $115.9 billion in net budget authority ($120.8 billion in new budget authority before scorekeeping adjustments). Congress passed two continuing appropriations resolutions to fund THUD and other federal agencies in FY2017; the current funding bill runs through April 28, 2017. The House and Senate THUD bills expired with the end of the 114th Congress.
DOT: The Obama Administration requested a $96.9 billion budget for DOT for FY2017. That was about $22 billion more than FY2016, with significant increases requested for highway, transit, and rail programs. Both the Senate and House bills largely rejected the proposed increases and recommended $76.9 billion in new budget authority for DOT, $1.8 billion more than the comparable figure in FY2016. Both bills would increase funding for federal highway and transit programs and would fund new grant programs for intercity passenger rail.
HUD: The Obama Administration requested $39.6 billion in net new budget authority for HUD for FY2017, $1.3 billion more than FY2016. The Senate bill recommended $39.2 billion in net new budget authority, representing $1.5 billion more than FY2016 and $600 million more in savings from offsets. Most of the increase is to maintain current services in HUD's primary rental assistance programs, the project-based Section 8 rental assistance program and Housing Choice Voucher program. The House committee bill also proposed increases relative to FY2016, but less than proposed by the Senate.
Related Agencies: The Obama Administration requested $350 million for the agencies in Title III (the Related Agencies). This was about $33 million less than the comparable figure for FY2016, as the request included funding for an agency that was not in the Related Agencies title in FY2016, the Surface Transportation Board. The major change in funding from FY2016 levels in the request was a cut of $35 million (20%) for the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation (NRC). The Senate bill recommended $339 million, cutting another $5 million from the NRC; the House committee bill recommended $343 million, funding NRC at the requested level.
FY2017 funding is being provided through April 28, 2017, at roughly FY2016 levels through a continuing resolution. According to press reports, the Trump Administration has recommended cuts for FY2017 of $2.7 billion from FY2016 levels for THUD, including eliminating the Essential Air Services and TIGER grant programs and reducing funding for New Starts in DOT, and reducing funding for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) in HUD.