Lending questions remain as the government shutdown continues (Image: Shutterstock).
It appears that any appropriations-immigration deal that opens the federal government is likely to provide $250 million for the Community Development Financial Institutions program.
Senate Republicans and House Democrats have included that funding in each of their latest spending plans to reopen the federal government—indicating that there is agreement over CDFI appropriations.
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That is the same amount the program received last year.
But the two sides remain far apart on the major issues that are keeping parts of the federal government closed.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) may try to bring to the Senate floor later this week Trump's latest offer, which includes $5.7 billion for a wall along the U.S. southern border.
However, it will likely take 60 votes to bring that legislation to the Senate floor and McConnell may be hard pressed to find the needed votes.
And on the House side, Democrats are poised to bring their latest spending plan to the floor this week. That plan does not include funding for the wall.
But both spending measures include $250 million for the CDFI program.
The Trump Administration has pushed for the CDFI program to be eliminated and attempted to convince Congress to rescind some $174 million that had been appropriated for the program.
The House last year passed the rescissions proposal, but the Senate did not.
Meanwhile, the Treasury Department's CDFI office remains closed since the annual Financial Services spending bill has not been enacted.
And in the House, Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) has asked federal financial trade groups, including CUNA and NAFCU, to provide her with specific information about the services their members are providing to federal workers who are not receiving a paycheck due to the shutdown.
In a separate letter, Waters accused Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson of failing to provide vital services during the shutdown.
"I am thoroughly disgusted with the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD's) failure to follow its own Contingency Plan for Possible Lapse in Appropriations, thereby unnecessarily accelerating some of the most painful impacts of the shutdown on HUD-assisted families as well as homeless assistance providers and private landlords that participate in HUD programs," she wrote.
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