On May 1, 2007, the President vetoed the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Act ( H.R. 1591 ), a supplemental appropriations bill that included several housing-related provisions. When the House failed to override the President's veto, another supplemental appropriations bill with the same name ( H.R. 2206 ) was introduced on May 8, 2007. The bill, which was in conference as of the date of this report, contains identical housing-related provisions. Specifically, the bill provides additional funding for HUD's Inspector General in order to oversee Hurricane Katrina funding, additional funding for the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, language clarifying how the department should distribute FY2007 Section 8 voucher funding, language extending the availability of Katrina voucher funds, and language clarifying how HUD should treat the renewal of certain project-based voucher contracts. On February 15, 2007, President Bush signed a revised yearlong continuing resolution into law ( P.L. 110-5 ). With some exceptions, the act funds accounts at their FY2006 levels. Those exceptions include funding a number of HUD programs at levels higher than those enacted in FY2006: Tenant Based Rental Assistance: $15,920 million Project-Based Rental Assistance: $5,976 million Public Housing Operating Fund: $3,864 million Indian Housing Loan Guarantee: $6 million Homeless Assistance Grants: $1,442 million Salaries and Expenses: the FY2006 levels, plus such sums as necessary to meet 50% of the need for cost-of-living increases for federal employees The act funds three HUD accounts below their FY2006 level: Self Help Homeownership: $49 million Research and Technology: $50 million Community Development Fund: $3,772 million The decrease in funding for the Community Development Fund does not decrease funding for the primary program funded by the account, the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. Instead, the decline can be attributed to the Congress's decision not to fund the Economic Development Initiatives (EDI) program that is also funded under that account. The EDI account has traditionally been a source of funding for congressionally driven projects, or earmarks. Congress did not enact the majority of FY2007 appropriations bills before the end of the 2006 fiscal year. In order to fund government operations until final appropriations bills are enacted, Congress attached a continuing resolution (CR) to the FY2007 Defense Appropriations conference report ( H.Rept. 109-676 ). It was adopted by Congress on September 26, 2006, and signed into law on September 29, 2006 ( P.L. 109-289 ). It funded HUD programs—through November 17, 2006—at the lower of the House-passed or FY2006 enacted funding level. Programs that received funding in FY2006, but were not slated to receive any funding under the House-passed bill, were funded at the FY2006 level. A second CR, extending the previous CR through December 8, 2006, was approved by Congress on November 15, 2006 ( P.L. 109-369 ). A third CR was enacted on December 8, 2006, just prior to adjournment of the 109 th Congress ( P.L. 109-383 ). It extended the original CR through February 15, 2007. For more information, see CRS Report RL33681, FY2007 Regular Appropriations Acts: Procedures for End-of-Session Wrap-Up , by [author name scrubbed]. Two days after subcommittee passage, on July 20, 2006, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the FY2007 Transportation, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary and Independent Agencies Appropriations bill, providing $36.6 billion for HUD ( H.R. 5576 ). On June 14, 2006, the House passed its version of the FY2007 Transportation, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, District of Columbia and Independent Agencies Appropriations bill ( H.R. 5576 ), providing $35.3 billion for HUD. Several floor amendments were adopted to the bill, which had been reported out of subcommittee on May 26, 2006, and out of full committee on June 6, 2006. The President submitted his FY2007 budget to the Congress on February 6, 2006, requesting $34.1 billion for HUD. This represents an increase of just under 2% over the regular FY2006 appropriation (not including FY2006 supplementals related to Hurricane Katrina), and an increase of about 17% over the President's FY2006 request of $29.1 billion. Most of the appropriations for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are designed to address housing problems faced by households with very low incomes or other special housing needs. These include programs of rental assistance for the poor, elderly, or disabled, housing assistance for persons with AIDS, and shelter for those who are homeless. The two large HUD block grant programs, HOME and Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), also help communities finance a variety of activities to address the housing and community development needs of disadvantaged populations. In recent years, HUD has focused more attention on efforts to increase the homeownership rates for lower-income and minority households. HUD's Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insures mortgages made by lenders to lower-income home buyers, many with below-average credit records, and to developers of multifamily rental buildings containing relatively affordable units. On November 30, 2005, the President signed P.L. 109-115 , the FY2006 Appropriations Act for the Departments of Transportation, Treasury, and HUD, the Judiciary, the District of Columbia and Related Agencies. The bill included just under $34 billion for HUD, a significant increase from the President's $29 billion request. The law rejected the President's proposal to eliminate the CDBG program and replace it with a new block grant program called "Strengthening America's Communities" in the Department of Commerce (for more information, see CRS Report RL32823, An Overview of the Administration ' s Strengthening America ' s Communities Initiative , by [author name scrubbed] et al.). Congress also rejected major cuts requested by the President for the Section 811 Housing for the Disabled program and the HOPE VI program. (For more information, see CRS Report RL32869, The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD): FY2006 Budget , by [author name scrubbed] et al.). On December 30, 2005, the FY2006 Department of Defense Appropriations bill ( P.L. 109-148 ) was enacted, including supplemental appropriations for Hurricane Katrina relief. The act provided almost $12 billion in supplemental funds for HUD, $11.5 billion of which was allocated for the CDBG program, and $390 million for HUD's Disaster Assistance Vouchers. To offset the cost of hurricane recovery, the act also included a 1% across-the-board rescission to all domestic discretionary programs, including all HUD programs. In total, the rescission reduced HUD's budget by $380 million. On June 15, 2006, the President signed a second supplemental appropriations, P.L. 109-234 , that provided an additional $5.2 billion in CDBG assistance for Hurricane Katrina relief activities, bringing the total supplemental appropriations for CDBG-supported hurricane relief to $16.7 billion. (For more information, see CRS Report RL33298, FY2006 Supplemental Appropriations: Iraq and Other International Activities; Additional Hurricane Katrina Relief , by [author name scrubbed] et al., and CRS Report RL33330, Community Development Block Grant Funds in Disaster Relief and Recovery , by [author name scrubbed] and [author name scrubbed].) The President's FY2007 request highlights growing pressures within the HUD budget between the discretionary programs that require appropriations and the rescissions and offsetting collections and receipts that subsidize—or offset—the cost of those appropriations. As can be seen in Table 2 , while the President's overall funding request is a slight increase over the previous year (1.6%), the amount of appropriations requested is actually a slight decrease (less than 1%). This seeming contradiction results from the reality that the amount of offsetting collections and receipts has been decreasing as the Federal Housing Administration's mortgage insurance programs have produced a smaller amount in offsetting receipts. From FY2006 to FY2007, under the President's budget, the amounts of offsetting receipts will drop by more than a billion dollars, from more than $1.6 billion to about $650 million. (For an expanded discussion, see " Federal Housing Administration (FHA) " and Table 16 .) With less available to offset the cost of the budget, higher appropriations are required to maintain the same funding level. At the same time, many programs—such as the Section 8 voucher program—require increased appropriations to maintain current service levels. Also, the President has set a goal of restraining domestic discretionary spending increases to at or below the rate of inflation, and has encouraged the executive branch Secretaries to examine programs to ensure that they are using taxpayer dollars wisely. HUD's FY2007 budget summary states that the budget intends to use "taxpayer money more wisely," and "reform programs in need of repair." The combination of these factors has led to proposals for flat funding or cuts for many HUD programs. Table 2 , below, presents the President's FY2007 HUD budget request compared to the prior year's budget, and the Congressional response to date. The tenant-based rental assistance account funds the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program.