The Ferguson Group Blog

President outlines priorities in State of the Union address

On Tuesday January 24^th, President Obama outlined his 2012 agenda during the State of the Union Address.  The President’s address centered  primarily on domestic policy, with a focus on building a foundation for economic sustainability and job creation. Keys to this will include job training and partnerships with community colleges, clean energy jobs and further research and development in this area, incentives for maintaining jobs in the United States, and tax code simplification. Savings from the end of foreign wars will contribute resources to this effort.

Indiana Republican Governor Mitch Daniels countered President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address with a Republican response that accused the president of hurting rather than helping the recovery of the U.S. economy during his last three years as president.

The full text of the President’s address can be found here:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/01/24/remarks-president-state-union-address

 

The Mayors Automotive Coalition, an organization of elected officials from automotive communities run by TFG, released a press release applauding the President for proposing new incentives to revitalize our domestic manufacturing industry.  The press release is available here:

http://www.thefergusongroup.com/sites/default/files/funding-opportunity-attachments/MAC%20press%20release%20Jan%202012%20SOTU.pdf

 

President Set to Unveil FY 2013 Budget Request on February 13th

President Obama announced today that he will release his FY 2013 Budget Request on February 13th. The President was originally scheduled to release his budget on February 6th, but has since delayed the release by one week.

Expectations are that the budget request will be lower than his FY2012 request, but the magnitude of any potential reductions will differ from agency to agency. 

It is still unclear how any potential budget reductions in FY 2013 will impact local governments.  Stay tuned for a more in-depth analysis of the President’s FY 2013 budget request once it is released.

FAA Reauthorization

On Friday, January 21, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) finally reached a deal on changes to the Railway Labor Act that will hopefully lead to final enactment of a FAA Reauthorization bill in the coming weeks. The current extension - the 22nd extension - expires next week (January 31). The House is scheduled to vote tomorrow, January 24, on one final short-term extension as leaders hammer out the final bill. 

- Posted by Jennifer Imo, The Ferguson Group

Department of Housing and Urban Development Announces FY 2012 Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant

Yesterday, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the availability of $110 million for the FY 2012 Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant.  The implementation grant is designed to assist communities that have completed a comprehensive local planning process and are ready to implement an initiative that aims to:

• Transform distressed public and assisted housing into energy efficient, mixed-income housing that is physically and financially viable over the long term; 
• Support positive outcomes for families who live in the target development(s) and the surrounding neighborhood, particularly outcomes related to residents’ health, safety employment, mobility, and education; and 
• Transform distressed, high-poverty neighborhoods into viable, mixed- income neighborhoods with access to high-quality services, public schools and education programs, early learning programs and services, public assets, public transportation, and improved access to jobs.

The applicant must focus on the revitalization of a severely distressed public housing or HUD-assisted multi-family housing located in a distressed neighborhood.

Eligible applicants include public housing authorities, local governments, nonprofits and for-profit developers that apply with a public entity. 

Like the last round, HUD plans to award four to five grants with a maximum award of $30,000,000 each in December 2012. There is a five percent match requirement associated with this grant and applications are due on April 10, 2012.

For more specific details on the grant and for a copy of the NOFA, please click here.