CITY OF SAN ANTONIO
GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT
MEMORANDUM
TO: Intergovernmental Relations Council Committee
FROM: Jeff Coyle, Director of Government & Public Affairs
SUBJECT: Federal Legislative Update
DATE: September 6, 2019
This briefing will provide an update on recent activities related to the City’s Federal Legislative Program, including the City’s application for the Migrant Resource Center operations’ reimbursement to the Emergency Food and Shelter Program; the status of the FY 2020 appropriations, and a military construction deferment announced by the Pentagon on September 5, 2019. GPA and federal consultants will continuously track these and any other developing issues and obtain direction from the IGR Council Committee as needed.
Emergency Food and Shelter Board (EFSP) Application
On September 6, Human Services Department submitted an application to the Emergency Food and Shelter Board for reimbursement funding for migrant resource and shelter operations for the period of January 1, 2019 through June 30, 2019. The reimbursement funding request is in the amount of $620,003 for direct services, such as meals shelter and needed provisions provided during this period. The EFSP Board is expected to make award announcements in late September or early October. GPA has been in close communication with Congressman Cuellar, Senator Cornyn and the rest of the delegation in support of the City’s application. Advocacy efforts in support of the City’s application are ongoing.
FY 2020 Appropriations
As we reported last month the House passed ten of the twelve Appropriations bills before the August recess, however the Senate did not advance any of their twelve Appropriations bills. The Senate will return from the summer recess on September 9 and they will begin to work on some of their Appropriations bills. We will continue to work with our Senators in support of increased funding for programs of interest to the City that are included in the House bills, such as, Brownfields ($105M); the Community Development Block Grant - CDBG ($3.6B); the HOME Investment Partnership Program ($1.75B); CHOICE Neighborhoods ($300M); the Justice Assistance Grant Program - JAG ($530M) and BUILD Transportation Program ($1B).
The federal government’s FY2020 begins on October 1, so Congress will have a couple of weeks to work on a short term extension to keep the government open past the September 30 deadline. House leadership stated that the week of September 16 they plan to pass a temporary funding bill to keep the government funded through November 22, to avoid a government shutdown.
Military Construction Deferment
In February 2019, the President issued a proclamation declaring a national security emergency along the Southern Border that directed the Pentagon to provide military support. On September 5, the Pentagon stated that several military construction projects along the Mexican border are needed to support the use of military forces in connection with the national emergency. As part of this action, the Pentagon released a list of the 127 military construction projects in 23 states that will be deferred to pay for building a wall along the southern border.
The Camp Bullis Dining Facility is one of the U.S. military construction (MILCON) projects that will be affected as the Pentagon prepares to use $3.6 Billion to build the wall on the southern U.S. border. The Dining Facility is a 36,705 sq. ft. project designed to support 1300-1500 personnel. While on the list of affected projects; it was not scheduled to be awarded until mid-2020.
According to the official Pentagon position, the project was deferred, not cancelled, and the Dining Facility remains an important project for the Air Force. The current dining facility at Camp Bullis is a pre-WWII era building and is inadequate to support the growing missions at Joint Base San Antonio.
Defense officials said they also hope Congress will appropriate more money to backfill the military construction projects that have been deferred. However, it remains to be seen how Congress will act.