House to Consider FY19 Funding Bill That Includes $250 Million for CDFI

The House this week will consider an FY19 Financial Services appropriations bill that includes $250 million for the Community Development Financial Institutions program, but the move simply is an attempted political ploy to emphasize that Republicans and President Trump are the ones keeping parts of the federal government closed.

The bill, one of several funding measures the House will consider this week, is unlikely to be considered by the Republican-controlled Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said he would block any measure that does not include funding for the Trump Administration plan to construct a wall along the U.S. southern border.

The Financial Services bill does not include a two-year delay of the NCUA’s Risk-Based Capital Rule or a provision placing the CFPB under the annual appropriations process. Those two provisions were included in the House-passed Financial Services funding measures passed last year, when Republicans controlled the House.

The bill is virtually identical to the funding measure passed by the Senate last year. The Senate did not include the RBC or CFPB provision in its bill.

“While President Trump threatens to keep the government shut down for ‘years,’ Democrats are taking immediate further action to re-open government, so that we can meet the needs of the American people, protect our borders and respect our workers,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Md.), said, in announcing the House action.

Pelosi said the House will consider the Financial Services funding measure first since it includes the IRS. Enactment of that measure would allow the IRS to process taxpayers’ income tax refunds.

The Financial Services Measure contains $250 million for the CDFI—the same amount as in the bill the Senate passed last year. The Trump Administration has proposed eliminating the program. The House called for $214 million for the program in last year’s spending measure.