On Thursday, the Senate, by a vote of 68-29 passed the FY2023 federal budget. As of this writing on Friday morning, the House is expected to pass the budget bill. The $1.7 trillion document funds all governmental departments through September 2023, the end of the federal fiscal year. Also passed by both chambers was another short-term Continuing Resolution to allow enough time for the Omnibus bill to be sent to President Biden for his signature so that funding for the government does not lapse.
Items of municipal interest included in the budget are $770 million in federal grants for local law enforcement and approved Community Directed Spending that individual congressional members requested. The full list of included projects will be forthcoming in the next few days.
Also, the ARPA Flex legislation, which the League and our federal partners at the National League of Cities (NLC) advocated for, passed the Senate, and may be considered in the House. It provides technical assistance to municipalities in filing their Project and Expenditure Reports in the State and Local Fiscal Relief Fund (SLFRF) in the American Rescue Plan Act. The League wants to thank the municipalities that reached out to their members of the New Jersey U.S. House delegation that advocated for the ARPA flexibility.
Contact: Paul Penna, Senior Legislative Analyst, ppenna@njlm.org, 609-695-3481, x110.