TITLE
A Resolution of the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, urging Congress to refuse to enact proposed cuts in the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program.
BODY
WHEREAS, During the 1990s, Pittsburgh and Allegheny County together received more than $40 million annually under the CDBG program, and used this funding for projects that either eliminated slums and blight or benefited low to moderate income people; and
WHEREAS, projects funded through the CDBG program ranged from the demolition of dilapidated houses to repair of collapsed sewer lines to the affordable senior housing projects which were built along Sixth Street in Duquesne; and
WHEREAS, in the proposed $2.77 trillion budget for 2007 that the Bush administration delivered to Congress last week, the President is seeking to cut the CDBG program by approximately 20 percent, according to analyses by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; and
WHEREAS, this significant cut in funding to the CDBG program continues the Administration's established practice of attempting to reduce funding for the program, with efforts such as the President's proposed merger of the block grant program with 17 other programs under the authority of the Commerce Department and reducing the level of funding, which was $4.7 billion for the community development grants alone, to $3.7 billion for the grants as well as the 17 other programs; and
WHEREAS, the President also sought significant cuts in the community grants last year, but Congress refused to cut the program's funding by more than 11 percent; and
WHEREAS, in the past four years, Allegheny County's CDBG funding has been cut by about a $3 million, from $19.5 million in 2003 to $16.6 million in 2006, with near-catastrophic effects upon communities that rely upon this funding for projects that constitute basic civic necessities; and
WHEREAS, last year, 127 municipalities...
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