WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representative Adam Smith (D-Wash.) today issued the following statement after the House of Representatives passed H.R. 8294, a six-bill government funding package, by a vote of 220-207. The funding package includes Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 appropriations bills for Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture and Rural Development, Energy and Water, Financial Services and General Government, Interior-Environment, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs.
 
“The funding advanced by the House today will address some of our nation’s most pressing challenges – including housing and homelessness, transit and transportation, and energy and environment – by spurring investment from coast to coast. The package includes funding for new affordable housing development, housing vouchers, targeted services to reduce homelessness, and new nationwide transit routes. Importantly, the bill will move us towards a clean energy future by investing in clean, affordable, and reliable energy sources, low and no emission transit, and efforts to accelerate domestic manufacturing of clean energy technologies. This package also includes record funding levels for Urban Indian Health and Tribal Epidemiology Centers, which I helped champion, that directly support organizations like the Seattle Indian Health Board and Urban Indian Health Institute in Washington’s Ninth District.
 
“These investments pay special attention to the most vulnerable among us, including people experiencing homelessness, low-income individuals and families, people with disabilities, seniors, and – because of the historic increase in funding for environmental justice initiatives – those at the frontlines of the climate crisis, most often low-income communities and communities of color.
 
“I am glad to see this bill pass out of the House today and I look forward to getting this transformational funding across the finish line to deliver immediate and direct support to communities across the country.”
 
Additional information about the government funding package, including fact sheets for each of the six bills, is below.
 
Climate and Energy

• Includes a historic increase of $301 million in funding for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Justice initiatives.
• Includes $4 billion for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), which provides for clean, affordable, and secure energy and ensures American leadership in the transition to a global clean energy economy.
• Provides $100 million for activities at the Department of Energy to utilize the Defense Production Act to accelerate domestic manufacturing of key clean energy technologies. 

Housing

• Provides over $12.8 billion in funding for new affordable housing, including critical health, safety, and maintenance improvements to ensure the safety and quality of public and low-income housing.
• Provides funding for new support for manufactured housing, and community development activities, including $515.3 million to construct approximately 5,600 new affordable housing units for seniors and persons with disabilities.
• Includes $1.7 billion in direct funding to states and local governments through the HOME Investment Partnerships Program and increases the number of distressed neighborhoods that could be revitalized through the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative program.
• Expands housing choice vouchers to more than 140,000 low-income individuals and families experiencing or at risk of homelessness, including survivors of domestic violence and Veterans.
• Invests $3.6 billion in efforts to reduce homelessness through Homeless Assistance Grants, including targeted services for survivors of domestic violence and youth experiencing homelessness.
• Reduces our carbon footprint by investing more than $983 million across the Department of Housing and Urban Development to improve energy and water efficiency and increase resiliency in public and low-income housing.

 
Transit and Transportation

• Includes $17.5 billion for the Federal Transit Administration, including $13.6 billion for Transit Formula Grants to expand bus fleets and increase the transit state of good repair; $3 billion for Capital Investment Grants to create new transit routes nationwide, an increase of $764 million above the Fiscal Year 2022 enacted level; and $646 million for Transit Infrastructure Grants, to assist transit agencies in purchasing low and no emission buses, improving urban and rural ferry systems, adopting innovative approaches to mobility, and carrying out local projects, an increase of $142 million above Fiscal Year 2022.
• Includes more than $2.6 billion to reduce emissions, increase resiliency, and address historical inequities in transportation and housing programs.

 
Urban Indian health

• Includes record funding levels for the Urban Indian Health program and Tribal Epidemiology Centers.

FACT SHEETS:
 
The Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies fact sheet is here.
The Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies face sheet is here.
The Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies fact sheet is here.
The Financial Services and General Government fact sheet is here.
The Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies is here.
The Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies is here.