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H.R. 3249: Project Safe Neighborhoods Grant Program Authorization Act of 2018

Jun 6, 2018 at 9:38 p.m. ET. Concurring in the Senate Amendment in the House.

This was a vote to pass H.R. 3249 (115th) in the House. The federal budget process occurs in two stages: appropriations and authorizations. This is an authorization bill, which directs how federal funds should or should not be used. (It does not set overall spending limits, however, which are the subject of appropriations bills.) Authorizations are typically made for single fiscal years (October 1 through September 30 of the next year) but are often renewed in subsequent law.

H.R. 3249 officially establishes the Project Safe Neighborhoods Block Grant Program within the Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs to foster and improve existing partnerships to create safer neighborhoods through sustained reductions in violent crimes. The Program, first created in 2001, had previously been funded through other grants. The legislation authorizes $50 million a year for each of fiscal years 2019 through 2020.

The Senate Amendment adds additional areas of purpose for the Grant Program, including the collection of data on outcomes achieved through the Program, competitive and evidence-based programs to reduce gun crime and gang violence, the Edward Byrne criminal justice innovation program, and community-based violence prevention initiatives. Further, the Senate Amendment removes language about the consolidating of certain programs at the Department of Justice.

Source: Republican Policy Committee

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Vote Outcome
All Votes R D
Yea 97%
 
 
394
216
 
178
 
Nay 3%
 
 
13
13
 
0
 
Present
 
 
2
0
 
2
 
Not Voting
 
 
18
5
 
13
 

Passed. Simple Majority Required. Source: house.gov.

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Notes: The Speaker’s Vote?
The Speaker of the House is not required to vote in “ordinary legislative proceedings, except when such vote would be decisive.” In practice, this means the Speaker of the House rarely votes and only does so when it is politically useful. When the Speaker declines to vote, he or she is simply omitted from the roll call by the House Clerk. (See House Rules, Rule I(7).)
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