Episode #11: “New” Found Money - The Appropriations Process (Elizabeth Vella Moeller)

Elizabeth Moeller: Thank you so much for that kind introduction Joel. I really appreciate it and I appreciate the chance to speak to your listeners today.

Joel Simon: Let’s talk about the alternatives to the CARES Act. Something a little different. The CARES Act has been in the news a lot, but when we spoke last week, you mentioned to me that there are many programs that people seem to have forgotten about through the Washington, DC, appropriations process.

Moeller: Traditionally, Congress would do a two-step process. First, they will authorize appropriations, so there are authorizing committees in the House and in the Senate, and then they turn it over and say, “Okay, now we want to appropriate funds to keep each of the different federal agencies in business.” To do that, the House and the Senate set up 12 match sub-committees and they work on 12 separate annual regular appropriations bill. These are the bills where they write legislation creating programs. They can of course authorize the expenditures of funds on them. Now, earmarks were banned in 2011, and that means Congress cannot specifically say, “We’d like this to go to this project.” But they can give a lot of legislative directive to an agency. And that’s sort of a fun part when you’re lobbying. The 12 sub-committees each have very different jurisdictions—I’ll just give you some examples. They match the Department of Commerce up with Justice and the FCC. Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education is one subcommittee on its own. So, you can see that Congress is trying to find a way to organize the spending process, and it does so throughout the year.

Simon: Could give us an example of how you would help a specific client or work on a specific project—something that maybe you’re working on currently.

Moeller: I would love to. Just a couple of thoughts—I have the privilege of representing my home county of Stanislaus County where my father is a fourth generation winemaker, and most of our agenda is in all of the above approach. Let’s look at all 12 of these appropriations bill. Where can we match up? Where can we compete for grants? Where can we do pilot projects and secure federal funding for county priorities? It’s a lot of fun because they’re good people, and they know how to make every dollar count and that makes it easy to go back for additional funds. But that’s a client that’s been in business knows the process. The COVID-19 pandemic at all levels is going to drive winners and sadly losers. Fortunately, we represent a lot of winners, and winners should keep winning. Let me tell you about one of them that I just recently have been involved with: This is a long-term client of our firm that’s been busy doing real estate development without having a need to talk to different federal agencies. Dan Vipawitz has been working with his team for more than 14 years to develop the first residential development in West Baltimore in more than 50 years. This is the first time this West Baltimore neighborhood has seen this kind of growth, and the vision—I’m so excited about it—was to integrate and put the neighborhood first. So now, there are 262 beautiful apartments in this perfect part of Baltimore close to the University of Maryland and their professional schools. But is this a great time for real estate? Just looking at the economy, probably not. So how can we help, and of course I know you’ll be advising him Joel on all the opportunities for the Main Street Loan Program.

Simon: Right.

Moeller: In this case, they have an issue and they have an opportunity with the Housing and Urban Development Agency. Have you done much HUD work in your finance career?

Simon: I have not.

Moeller: Let’s talk about what HUD does well. It promotes housing and urban development, right? Its mission is just that. And in the case of Dan Vipawitz company, we’re working with them on a loan. The company is minority owned. They have investors. How can we leverage the success we hope to have soon with HUD and look at other federal agencies? So the next move is the Department of Transportation, and this is a project where Dan and his team will work hand in hand with the City of Baltimore, the State of Maryland. What are the best opportunities? Could we foresee something that is a bus rapid transit (BRT)? Each year Congress appropriates millions of dollars to mass transit. So we’ll be pursuing this for the park, for development and for the good of the people of Maryland. But that’s not all. What’s next with the EDA? That’s the Economic Development Administration that is a part of the Department of Commerce, which is administering their COVID-19 funds for economic development projects. A private company can’t apply, but a public-private partnership—say someone who may be listening who is an investor in opportunity zones—that’s the sweet spot for this economic development program. So $1.5 billion. It can be spent on construction. It can be spent on planning, but why spend it on planning when you can spend it on construction? They want big successful projects that they can show. That $1.5 billion is much more than they’ve ever had to spend. We’ve been working together for years, and they’ve never seen an annual appropriation of that size, but they do have annual appropriations. So it’s a great chance if you are tracking and working on any of these opportunities to delve a little bit deeper to make the extra efforts to do things in a professional way.

Simon: That’s a fantastic example because it really shows how by connecting the different dots that people might not ordinarily think of as being connected, you can really achieve something much larger and much more positive. It’s great having different people working together from different areas of the firm and getting these different agencies to combine either knowingly or not knowingly to coordinate it into a cohesive project like that.

Moeller: I couldn’t agree more and one of the meaningful things about the project with Dan Vipawitz and his partners at Laseta in Baltimore is that it’s perfectly poised as the right kind of public-private partnership. It’s exactly what you would script with the City of Baltimore and the Baltimore Housing Authority, but also [has] sophisticated investors and advisors. Our team feels like we’re making a meaningful difference, too, and that always feels good.

Simon: Thank you, Elizabeth. You’ve made a convincing case regarding many governed programs that could really make a positive difference for so many companies if they take the time to learn about them. Thank you for joining us today on this Elizabeth.

Moeller: It’s been a pleasure.

Simon: If anyone wants to hear more insights from Elizabeth, tune in on most Wednesdays at noon eastern to Pillsbury’s Washington Weekly Briefing, a short webinar that helps you keep abreast of what’s happening in the Beltway, and it’s also available on demand on our website.