Finding Federal Grant Funding

I have had a lot of inquiries about how to find out what federal stimulus programs could provide grant funding for various projects. There is a government web site which provides a lot of information on the subject, though sometimes it requires a lot of work to find the specific information you are looking for. Here's the link:

http://www.ccr.gov/

Good hunting!

Congress Begins Debating Fannie/Freddie Restructuring

The fate of government sponsored enterprises in the mortgage markets will be a "long distance relay between Congresses, not a 100 meter sprint within the 111th Congress" according to House Financial Services Capital Markets Subcommittee Chairman Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania. His subcommittee began hearings yesterday on restructuring of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both of which were put under Treasury Department conservatorship last September. House Financial Services ranking member Spencer Bachus says "any discussion of the long-term future of the GSE's must include a bailout exit strategy."

Employees And Employers Likely To Be Put Under Health Insurance Mandates

Discussion of health care reform on the Hill and at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue leads to the conclusion that any legislation on the subject coming out of this Congress will most likely include a requirement that every person purchase health insurance, just like most states now require every driver to have car insurance. In order not to completely dismantle the present health insurance delivery system, employers will likely be forced to pay part of the premiums for employees, and also to do the work of collecting and remitting the employee's share by payroll deduction. Medicare and Medicaid will probably continue in substantially their present form, though coverage under Medicare may be reduced to cut costs.

If your business already contributes to employee health care premiums, and collects and remits their share by payroll deduction, nothing much will change for your business. If not, get ready to participate, whether you like it or not.

Ways And Means, Agriculture Committees May Punt Climate Change Measure

Given a June 19 deadline for marking up the Waxman/Markey climate change bill by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel and House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson both suggest that their committees, which have jurisdiction over large parts of the proposed legislation, may skip full markups of the bill before it goes to the House floor. Pelosi wants climate change off her docket before health care reform is addressed, but these two chairmen complain they can't work on both bills at the same time. The complexities of carbon cap and trade have so split these two committees that neither chairman sees any early resolution. Ducking out may be the only way to keep the bill on Pelosi's aggressive schedule.

Highway Trust Fund Soon Tapped Out

Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer convened a hearing today on the President Obama's appointment of Victor Mendez to be Federal Highway Administrator, but the controversy at the session was not about the qualifications of the nominee. Boxer announced, and Transportation Department spokesperson Jill Zuckman confirmed, that the Federal Highway Trust Fund will run out of cash sometime this August, before the end of the fiscal year, and in spite of an infusion last fall of $8 billion in general revenues. According to Senator Boxer's statement, the Fund is nearly $7 billion short of the amount of money needed to pay for current construction projects through the end of the fiscal year on September 30, 2009.

It does not seem likely that a six year reauthorization bill will pass before the current legislation expires, also September 30, 2009, and Boxer says the administration has advised her that as much as $10 billion will be needed through September 30, 2010, to make up for shortfalls in the fuel tax revenues that supply funding for highway, waterway, railway and public mass transit construction and repair projects. Ranking Member James Inhofe complained at the confirmation hearing that the Obama administration held a conference call with Democratic committee members, to the exclusion of Republicans, to discuss these funding problems, and received a commitment from nominee Mendez that the Transportation Department would include members from both sides of the aisle in future communications.

The Federal Highway Trust Fund was created in 1956 as part of the legislation authorizing the federal interstate highway system, and has been fully supported by fuel taxes until the emergency $8 billion infusion last fall. Federal gas tax revenues have been falling since late 2007, due to declines in miles driven by citizens, greater fuel efficiency of vehicles, and increasing ridership of public transportation. Without an increase in the present tax of 18.4 cents per gallon, the situation will get worse and worse as time marches on. Two Congressionally mandated study commissions have recommended fuel tax increases, to as much as 58 cents per gallon, to maintain surface transportation infrastructure. The alternative proposal of a mileage tax would take as long as 10 years to implement, and if driving mileage continues to decline, it still would not solve the problem in the long run. Despite President Obama's adamant refusal to propose a gas tax increase now, Senator George Voinovich said at the Mendez confirmation hearings that such an increase "is the reality of the situation."

With the complex and contentious issue of health care reform now at the top of the Congressional in box, any permanent solution to this problem is unlikely during this session of Congress, and any serious investment in infrastructure repair and construction beyond the economic stimulus appropriations is just a pipe dream.

New Ethics Rules For Stimulus Grant Applicants

Do you think of yourself as a lobbyist? No? If you have applied for any sort of grant under any of the numerous economic stimulus programs enacted in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, you have become a lobbyist. Under new rules announced yesterday by Norm Eisen, Obama administration special counsel for ethics and government reform, any person or business seeking a share of the $787 billion in stimulus funding is now bound by rules which used to apply only to registered lobbyists.

Under the new rules, all grant applicants are forbidden from having any telephone or in person communication with the officials to whom their grant application was submitted, and anything the applicant submits in writing regarding the application or the grant must be published on the agency web site within three business days. So, if you are writing to inquire about the status of your grant application, or its merits as opposed to competing applications, be aware that your customers, competitors, employees and the general public will see exactly what you have written. This will include E-mails.

Remember, when writing in about your grant application, everything you say will become public and will reflect on your company, perhaps for years to come. Never write anything in anger or in haste, and it is probably a good idea to have someone else look it over before you send it in.

HUD Monetizes New Home Buyer Tax Credit

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan announced last Friday at the spring board of directors meeting of the National Association of Homebuilders that HUD will permit first time home purchasers to apply the $8,000 tax credit enacted in the stimulus legislation either to their down payment or toward closing costs, rather than merely crediting $8,000 against their income taxes on the next return they file after buying the house or condo. NAHB estimates that this new policy will produce 160,000 new home sales during the time the tax credit is in effect.