July 1, 2005

 Pryce Votes to Preserve Community Development Program

Funding and Flexibility for Housing are Priorities  

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Deborah Pryce (R-Upper Arlington) today voiced her support for preserving the CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) program in its current form within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). 

The Administration’s budget proposal, which was submitted to Congress in February, called for the creation of a new $3.7 billion community development program within the Department of Commerce. This new program would have consolidated 18 existing programs into one, including CDBG. The Fiscal Year (FY) 2006 Department of Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, District of Columbia, and Independent Agencies (TTHUD) Appropriations bill passed by Congress today did not include this consolidation plan and kept the CDBG program at HUD. The Appropriations bill provides $4.2 billion for CDBG.

Pryce issued the following statement upon passage of the FY2006 TTHUD Appropriations bill:

“The CDBG program remains a vital tool for our community.  The program has provided support in Columbus for housing, neighborhood development and job creation. While I welcome reform proposals that seek to improve the efficiency of this and other community development programs, we must ensure they include the funding and flexibility that the CDBG program affords in allowing local officials to identify local needs and act on them. We must also not lose focus of the importance of protecting housing programs for low- and moderate-income families and individuals.”

In April, as a member of the Financial Services Committee, Pryce questioned Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson on the budget proposal. At that time she voiced her concern that any new proposal must retain the flexibility of the CDBG program and permit community infrastructure improvements and services as well as housing.