The US House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development voted to cut Community Development Block grant (CDBG) funding to communities in half from $3.08 Billion in 2013 to $1.6 Billion in 2014. This reduction is on top of the cuts from the sequester. An amendment by Rep. Fattah (D-PA) would have restored the funding to $3.3 Billion, but was defeated along a party line vote. Please contact your Congressional Representatives and tell them how important CDBG funding is – and that communities cannot absorb a 50% reduction. For Contact information for your Congressional leaders, click here.

Summer Minnick is the Director of Policy Initiaves and Federal Affairs. She can be reached at 517-908-0301 or sminnick@mml.org.

As Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, Congressman Dave Camp held his first hearing on the impact of tax reform on local governments this week. As part of this discussion, Congress is considering eliminating the federal tax exempt status of municipal bonds. We continue to need your help! If you have not done so already, please contact your member of Congress and tell them how important the federal exemption is to your community. We have been working closely with the National League of Cities, and have included information for you to assist on this important issue. Attached is a sample letter you can send to your member of Congress, a report on the importance of this issue, and a resolution which was introduced this week in support of the 100th anniversary of the municipal bond federal exemption, which you can also ask your member of Congress to sign onto. Everyone in Michigan is in a unique postion on this issue since the Chairman and ranking member Sander Levin are both from Michigan. Even if you are not in those two districts, you can urge your member to contact either of them on how critical this issue is. You can get Congressional contact information here. This issue is far from over and we must continue to make the case for this critical policy.

You can also find additional resources from the NLC by clicking here.

Summer Minnick is the Director of Policy Initiatives and Federal Affairs. She can be reached at sminnick@mml.org or 517-908-0301.

H Res 112

Muni Bond Report

Sample Letter