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President Donald Trump released his proposal for the 2018 budget, and while it is a mixed bag for the construction industry, affordable housing stands to lose.
The blueprint proposed cutting the Department of Transportation budget by 13% while eliminating the Federal Transportation Administration’s capital investment program, making it harder for construction projects to get enough funding, Construction Dive reports. However, experts said the budget does help the construction industry by keeping the FASTLANE grant program fully funded with a proposed 2018 budget of $900M.
Trump’s plan also proposed cutting the Department of Housing and Urban Development budget by $6.2B, or just over 13%, potentially eliminating several community development programs. The Congressional Budget Office said less than 25% of households eligible for federal rental assistance currently receive it, and experts said that figure is likely to shrink as funding decreases.
The budget is likely to experience a major rewrite by Congress. Many Republicans are criticizing the proposal for cutting funding from programs that benefit local communities in some of the country's more rural and economically challenged areas that Trump promised to support during the campaign, the Wall Street Journal reports.
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