ABA and three other trade groups today urged House and Senate appropriations leaders to support $300 million in funding for the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund in fiscal year 2020, with $35 million allocated for the Bank Enterprise Award Program.
The groups said they were “gravely concerned” that the president’s FY 20 budget proposes to eliminate funding for the CDFI Fund’s programs, especially when they are oversubscribed. The groups also noted that they were “alarmed” that the administration is proposing to rescind $25 million in funds already appropriated for the FY 19 BEA funding round. In 2018, the groups said, award requests amounted to 8.7 times the available funding.
“An analysis by the CDFI Fund found that 90 percent of all BEA monies go to the lowest income census tracts,” the groups said. “Since 1996, the BEA Program has made $447.7 million in awards and helped facilitate billions in new investments that benefit the most difficult-to-serve markets.”
