Washington Weekly. . .

. . .is the name of the update by Catholic Charities U.S.A. On Saturday it announced, with greater detail than the White House statement, that President Bush signed into law a joint resolution to continue to fund "public programs."

President Signs Joint Resolution into Law, Funds Government Programs Through Fiscal Year 2007
On February 15th, the President signed into law a joint resolution (H.J. Res 20) that provides $463.5 billion to continue funding public programs through fiscal year 2007. The Senate had passed the joint resolution on February 14th and the House passed it on January 30th. The approval of this resolution was necessary since the previous Congress did not pass 9 of its 11 spending bills before it adjourned last year.

In this resolution, most programs are funded at the previous fiscal year 2006 levels. However, a few housing and education programs will receive additional money. Homeless assistance grants receive an additional $115 million. Section 8 tenant-based vouchers receive an additional $502 million over FY 2006 to preserve 70,000 vouchers currently in use, and project-based vouchers receive an additional $939 million to preserve 157,000 vouchers currently being used. The resolution also provides for a short-term fix in how funds for Section 8 tenant-based vouchers are distributed between public housing authorities across the country. Additionally, while public housing will receive an additional $300 million for operating costs, this falls more than $600 million short of what was needed to prevent loss of housing units. In education, Head Start receives an additional $103.7 million to prevent a drop in enrollment.

(Received from socialpolicy@catholiccharitiesusa.org)