2015: Schweikert Voted To Reduce Funding For Community Development Block Grants As Part Of The FY 2016 Republican Study Committee Budget Resolution. In March 2015, Schweikert voted for reducing funding for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) and Community Development Loan Guarantees (CDLB). According to the Republican Study Committee, the budget proposes to "Reduce Funding for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) and Community Development Loan Guarantees (CDLG)[.] This program has been unauthorized (yet still funded) for decades and is a prime example of the federal government's difficulty prioritizing local programs. CDBG has paid for programs as diverse as doggie daycare, a local circus, and decorative sidewalks in an affluent suburb. Beginning in FY 2016, CDBG and CDLG funding should be reduced." The underlying budget resolution would have, according to Congressional Quarterly, "provide[d] for $2.804 trillion in new budget authority in fiscal 2016, not including off-budget accounts. The substitute would call for reducing spending by $7.1 trillion over 10 years compared to the Congressional Budget Office baseline." The vote was on the substitute amendment to a Budget Resolution. The House rejected the amendment by a vote of 132 to 294. [House Vote 138, 3/25/15; Republican Study Committee, FY 2016 Budget; Congressional Quarterly, 3/25/15; Congress.gov, H. Amdt. 83; Congressional Actions, H. Con. Res. 27]
2014: Schweikert Voted To Cut Funding For Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) By $200 Million. In June 2014, Schweikert voted for an amendment to the FY 2015 Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Appropriations bill that, according to its sponsor, Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA), "would remove the $200 million increase over the Obama administration's FY 2015 budgetary request -- and only increase -- from the Community Development Block Grant program and transfer that amount to the spending reduction account." The House rejected the amendment by a vote of 134 to 288. [House Vote 279, 6/10/14; Congressional Record, 6/9/14; Congressional Actions, H. Amdt. 793; Congressional Actions, H.R. 4745]
CDBG Program Provides Funding To State And Local Governments To Aid Their Residential Renewal And Economic Development Activities. According to the Congressional Research Service, "The CDBG program is the federal government's largest and most widely available source of financial assistance supporting state and local government-directed neighborhood revitalization, housing rehabilitation, and economic development activities. These formula-based grants are allocated to approximately 1,183 entitlement communities (metropolitan cities with populations of 50,000, principal cities of metropolitan areas, and urban counties); the 50 states; Puerto Rico; and the insular areas of American Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Grants are used to implement plans intended to address housing, community development, and economic development needs, as determined by local officials." [CRS Report #R43208, 3/20/14]
FY 2014 Funding For CDBGs Was $3.1 Billion. According to the Congressional Research Service, "On January 17, 2014, President Obama signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY2014, P.L. 113-76, which included $3.100 billion in funding for the CDF. Of the total amount appropriated for CDF activities $3.030 billion is appropriated for formula-based Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) to be allocated to CDBG entitlement communities, states, and insular areas. The act also appropriated $70 million in CDBG competitively awarded funds to Indian tribes and converted Section 108 loan guarantees from a federal credit subsidy to a fee-based program." [CRS Report #R43208, 3/20/14]
Amendment's Sponsor Argued Program Was Now "One Of The Most Wasteful And Ineffective" Within HUD. According to the Congressional Record, Broun said, "Mr. Chairman, the Community Development Block Grant program is one of the most wasteful and ineffective programs found within the Department of Housing and Urban Development. It was originally proposed by President Gerald Ford in his effort to revitalize decaying and low-income neighborhoods in American cities and towns. Unfortunately, CDBG has strayed from its original purpose. Today, many of these grants have been diverted to wasteful, parochial projects, such as funding a pet shampoo company, issuing risky business loans, paying for renovation of a wealthy multinational architectural company, and I can go on and on." [Congressional Record, 6/9/14]