For Immediate Release
August 2, 2019
Contact: Kevin McKenney, 202-367-2480
NLBMDA Applauds White House and Congress
for Federal Budget Agreement
[Washington, DC] Today, the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA) is applauding President Trump for signing the Bipartisan Budget Act which establishes a federal budget for fiscal years (FY) 2020 and 2021 and also suspends the debt limit through July 31, 2021.
“NLBMDA is pleased that Congress and the President could come together and pass this budget agreement,” said NLBMDA President & CEO Jonathan Paine. “Establishing these spending levels and addressing sequestration will provide for a more robust and healthy appropriations process. We urge policymakers to work diligently on appropriations to avoid any threat of a government shutdown at the end of September.”
The legislation lifts the mandatory budget caps, also known as sequestration, that would have cut $125 billion from defense and non-defense programs starting in FY 2020. In its place, the budget agreement provides a $22 billion increase for defense programs and a $27 billion increase for non-defense programs compared to FY 2019.
The agreement offsets $77 billion of these spending increases through an extension of certain custom user fees and non-discretionary spending cuts.
Now that Congress has established the top-line spending levels for the next two fiscal years, they must work to pass the twelve required appropriations bills for FY 2020 by September 30 to avoid a government shutdown.
