Today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced a rare deal with House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and President Barack Obama on a six-month continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government for the first half of FY 13. The agreement will correspond to the FY 13 funding levels agreed to in last year’s debt limit deal of $1.047 trillion. The deal will likely not be passed until September following the August congressional recess.
For the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG), this will push forward the FY 12 level of $677.3 million, a modest cut from FY 11, for the next six months. Unfortunately, the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) will be tied to the FY 12 level of $68 million under this deal for the beginning of next year. These funding levels do not include cuts to domestic discretionary programs included in sequestration. Both CSBG and WAP could see an additional cut of 8.5% following January 1, 2013 if a deal is not reached to stave off the sequestration targets set by the same debt deal last year.
NASCSP will keep you advised as more information comes out about this debt deal. Please leave us any questions or comments below this post!