H.R.5745 Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2010

New funding appropriations  for the USDA Guaranteed Home loan have been put in another bill, H.R.5745, and is referred to as the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2010.  This new bill was introduced on July 15th and it has now been Referred to Committee.

The process is something like this;  Introduced, Referred to Committee, Reported by Committee, House Vote, Senate Vote, Signed by President.  This bill is in the first step of the legislative process.  I'm not trying to be a Negative Nellie here but most bills don't make it out of committee.  The following is a short quote from the bill:

GENERAL PROVISIONS--THIS CHAPTER

Sec. 101. None of the funds appropriated or made available by this or any other Act shall be used to pay the salaries and expenses of personnel to carry out a biomass crop assistance program as authorized by section 9011 of Public Law 107-171 in excess of $552,000,000 in fiscal year 2010 or $432,000,000 in fiscal year 2011: Provided, That section 3002 shall not apply to the amount under this section.

Sec. 102. (a) Section 502(h)(8) of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1472(h)(8)) is amended to read as follows:

`(8) FEES- Notwithstanding paragraph (14)(D), with respect to a guaranteed loan issued or modified under this subsection, the Secretary may collect from the lender--

`(A) at the time of issuance of the guarantee or modification, a fee not to exceed 3.5 percent of the principal obligation of the loan; and

`(B) an annual fee not to exceed 0.5 percent of the outstanding principal balance of the loan for the life of the loan.'.

(b) Section 739 of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriation Act, 2001 (H.R. 5426 as enacted by Public Law 106-387, 115 Stat. 1549A-34) is repealed.

(c) For gross obligations for the principal amount of guaranteed loans as authorized by title V of the Housing Act of 1949, to be available from funds in the rural housing insurance fund, an additional amount shall be for section 502 unsubsidized guaranteed loans sufficient to meet the remaining fiscal year 2010 demand, provided that existing program underwriting standards are maintained, and provided further that the Secretary may waive fees described herein for very low- and low-income borrowers, not to exceed $697,000,000 in loan guarantees.

The above quote is from chapter one which is for the Department of Agriculture.  The rest of the bill, pages and pages and pages, 11 chapters in all, covers additional funding for just about every branch of our government that you can imagine, ...  some of which I have never heard of.  This bill will never emerge from Committee.  What a total waste.  You can read the bill here: http://www.govtrack.us/

So what ever happened to H.R.4899?  That was one of the first bills put together for supplemental appropriations.  I read on a web site that the Senate had passed it on July 22nd.  But I think this is deceiving.  I think what they voted on was to proceed with debate or Not to proceed with debate.  The Not to proceed with debate actually won.  To proceed with debate needed 60 votes and it only got 46.

This is all kind of confusing isn't it.  To debate or not to debate.  What does that mean?  On the web site I linked to above it said: 

"Last Action:  July 22, 2010:  Senate disagreed to the House amendment to the Senate amendment by Unanimous Consent."

That is an exact quote.  I found the exact same words on another site's status so I have to believe it is not a Typo!!     What does that mean???  Someone, ... please enlighten me!!!   These words are not congruent!

Let's look on the bright side.  Only two more months till the end of FY 2010.  Then the Guaranteed program will receive it's FY 2011 funding and all will be well until the next time.