Press Releases

(Honolulu, HI) – Congressman Ed Case (HI-01) announced today House Appropriations Committee approval of $24.64 billion in discretionary funding for financial services and general government programs for upcoming Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, including some $273 million for the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, $277 million for Small Business Administration Entrepreneurial Development Programs and $290 million for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program.

“This measure is the main vehicle for funding the principal federal programs promoting small business development and economic diversification, and this year’s bill provides additional funding to these programs, which are even more critical yet having been strained by demand due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic,” said Case, a member of the Appropriations Committee. “It also provides critical funding for programs that help our Native Hawaiian entrepreneurs and nonprofits expand their reach throughout our communities.”

Case’s Appropriations Committee is responsible for allocating funding to federal government agencies, departments and organizations on an annual basis through twelve separate bills. The committee’s FY21 Financial Services and General Government and Related Agencies bill passed today funds the U.S. Treasury, Judiciary, and Independent Agencies including the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Small Business Administration (SBA) and Office of Personnel Management. The discretionary funding level is $24.64 billion, an increase of $808 million over the 2020 enacted level. 

Community and economic development funding requested and secured by Case include:

• $4 million for the Federal and State Technology Partnership (FAST) Program to foster innovative, technology-driven small business development;

• $20.5 million for the State Trade & Export Promotion Program;

• $277 million for the SBA’s Entrepreneurial Development Programs;

• $24.5 million for Women’s Business Centers;

• $35 million for the Microloan Technical Assistance Program;

• $140 million for Small Business Development Centers;

• $3 million for the Historically Underutilized Business Zones Program;

• $273 million for the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, which supports community focused CDFIs such as the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement;

• $16 million for the Native Community Development Financial Institutions Fund;

• $2 million for the Community Development Revolving Loan Fund;

• $102 million for the Drug Free Communities Program; and

• $290 million for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program.

Other Case requests incorporated in the measure include efforts to map and develop broadband to close the digital divide in Hawai‘i. Case especially highlighted first-time funding of $33 million for the Broadband DATA Act. “This provision will allow for more precise broadband data maps, making it easier for federal programs to support broadband development in Hawai‘i,” said Case.

The measure also included $61 billion in emergency funding for the FCC to support the expansion of broadband to unserved areas and multi-year funding for the replacement of telecommunications equipment deemed essential to national security.

The bill will fund the recent House passage of H.R. 2, the Moving Forward Act, which included $100 billion in supplemental broadband development funding.  The measure also adopted various Case requests to support national initiatives of special importance to Hawai’i, including:

• An extension of Hawaii’s longstanding fourth temporary federal district judgeship.

• Language directing the Internal Revenue Service to develop tax notices in Chinese, Vietnamese and Tagalog.

“This year, as we continue to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, my Appropriations Committee is especially focused on further support for election security and voter access, and this bill includes $500 million for Election Security Grants to enhance efforts by State and local election officials to improve the security of elections for our upcoming elections,” said Case.

This bill also continues to fund and provide critical guidance to programs that combat spam and robocalls, which have seen an uptick during COVID-19.

Case said: “These calls are a rapidly increasing problem, not only as an invasion of privacy, but the disproportionate and deliberate targeting our kūpuna and immigrant communities during a pandemic is despicable. I’m glad this bill funds the TRACED Act, which I co-sponsored and which passed the House last year.”

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