House Proposes CDFI Fund Cuts – Contact Your Member of Congress Today!
Mary Scott Balys, Vice President of Public Policy, Opportunity Finance Network
Read time: 3 minutes
House subcommittee’s 2024 spending bill includes a $46 million cut to the CDFI Fund while the Senate proposed a $10 million increase
CDFI Fund appropriations are at risk in the next spending bill. We need your help to protect this important funding source. The House and Senate have each released their spending bills with significantly different numbers.
On June 22, the House Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee marked up their proposed spending bill for FY 2024 with deep cuts to several programs, including the CDFI Fund. Earlier in the month, President Biden signed the Fiscal Responsibility Act to suspend the debt ceiling, which set caps on non-defense domestic discretionary spending.
Although that agreement did include cuts to non-defense spending, several Republicans in the House of Representatives did not believe that the bill went far enough to reduce government spending. As a result, the House appropriations subcommittees chose to mark up their bills to a lower number than required by the caps, resulting in deeper cuts to funding. The bill proposed $278.6 million for the CDFI Fund, a $46 million cut from the current funding level.
On July 13, the Senate Appropriations Committee marked up their spending bill. The Senate stuck to the spending levels agreed to in the debt ceiling negotiations and proposed $334 million for the CDFI Fund, an increase over the current fiscal year. The Senate also included the $10 million subsidy for the Bond Guarantee Program in their bill.
Now that both chambers have laid out their spending plans, negotiations between the House, Senate, and White House will begin on the final spending numbers.
Go to OFN’s Policy Action Center today to send a letter to your elected officials in support of CDFI funding. OFN’s public policy team has drafted a template letter and provided instructions to help you reach out to your Members of Congress. It is essential that Congress preserves CDFI funding in the final bill.
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