[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 153 (Wednesday, October 10, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H11415-H11446]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL AFFORDABLE HOUSING TRUST FUND ACT OF 2007
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 720 and rule
XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House
on the state of the Union for the consideration of the bill, H.R. 2895.
{time} 1243
In the Committee of the Whole
Accordingly, the House resolved itself into the Committee of the
Whole House on the State of the Union for the consideration of the bill
(H.R. 2895) to establish the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund in
the Treasury of the United States to provide for the construction,
rehabilitation, and preservation of decent, safe, and affordable
housing for low-income families with Mr. Holden in the chair.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered read the
first time.
The gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank) and the gentleman from
Alabama (Mr. Bachus) each will control 30 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Massachusetts.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 1 minute.
Mr. Chairman, this is an historic day. This is an important piece of
legislation, broadly and eagerly supported by virtually every
organization in this country seeking to expand the supply of affordable
housing for low-income people, and also from the leading business
groups that understand the need for an increase in the housing supply.
So from the Low Income Housing Coalition and all the homeless groups,
over to the National Association of Homebuilders and the National
Association of Realtors, this is a day they have long waited for; and I
submit the following for the Record:
National Association
of Realtors,
Washington, DC, October 9, 2007.
House of Representatives,
Washington, DC.
Dear Representative: On behalf of the 1.3 million members
of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS', I urge
your support of H.R. 2895, the ``National Affordable Housing
Trust Fund Act of 2007''. The number of families facing
critical housing needs is significant and growing. Today, one
in seven U.S. households--both owners and renters--spend over
50% of their household income on housing. A dedicated fund to
produce, rehabilitate, and preserve affordable housing could
make great strides towards addressing this crisis.
[[Page H11416]]
NAR has consistently maintained that homeownership serves
as a cornerstone of our democratic system of government. We
believe that homeownership continues to be a strong personal
and social priority for most Americans. Living in one's own
home is a measure of security and success in life. The
homeownership rate fell slightly during the recent housing
market slowdown. Despite modestly lower home prices in many
regions of the country, many deserving American families
continue to face obstacles in their quest to own a home.
NAR has equally and forcefully maintained that rental
housing has an immediate and beneficial effect on the
prosperity of a community. Rental housing provides a range of
housing options that not only attract top employers but also
generate local taxes, fees and income that benefit local
economies. Sadly, the stock of affordable and available
rental units is declining. As a result, approximately 25% of
renters spend more than half of their household income on
housing costs. Perhaps even more sobering, there is no
location in the country where a household headed by a single
minimum-wage worker can afford a two-bedroom rental
apartment.
The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS' recognizes
that accessibility to safe, decent and affordable housing at
all levels must be one of our nation's highest priorities.
NAR strongly endorses H.R. 2895 and urges your support of
this important legislation.
Sincerely,
Pat V. Combs,
2007 President, National Association
of Realtors.
____
National Association
of Home Builders,
Washington, DC, October 9, 2007.
Hon. Nancy Pelosi,
Speaker, House of Representatives,
Washington, DC.
Dear Speaker Pelosi: On behalf of the 235,000 members of
the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), I am
writing to urge your support for H.R. 2895, the National
Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act of 2007, which provides
grants and other assistance in support of the production,
rehabilitation and preservation of affordable housing.
NAHB's members are acutely aware of the significant and
urgent unmet housing needs throughout the country, and
welcome this initiative to marshal additional resources to
improve housing opportunities and conditions in America's
communities. In conjunction with efforts to revitalize the
Federal Housing Administration, we believe that the National
Affordable Housing Trust Fund can improve housing
opportunities for those that need it most. As H.R. 2895 moves
forward in the legislative process, NAHB looks forward to
working with Congress to ensure that the new Affordable
Housing Trust Fund has income targeting requirements that
allow grantees and grant recipients to meet the fullest range
of critical housing needs.
Again, NAHB believes this legislation is an opportunity to
help the increasing need for affordable housing, and urges
your support for H.R. 2895 when it comes to the floor this
week.
Thank you for your attention to our views.
Sincerely,
Joseph M. Stanton,
Senior Staff Vice President.
Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman
from California (Ms. Waters), the chair of the Subcommittee on Housing,
with whom I have been very pleased to work all year in trying to
advance the important goal of providing affordable housing for America,
one of our greatest social and economic needs.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, the Chair of the Financial Services
Committee, Chairman Frank, who just spoke, is absolutely correct. This
is a very exciting day, a day that so many housing advocates and
working people and poor people have been waiting for. They get a chance
to see their government responding to one of the most critical needs in
our society.
Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of H.R. 2895, the Affordable Housing
Trust Fund Act of 2007, and I sincerely thank Chairman Frank for his
unrelenting efforts to get the Federal Government back in the
affordable housing production business.
I am so proud to be part of this committee, to be a cosponsor of this
bill and to work with Chairman Frank in not only producing housing
under this National Affordable Housing Trust Fund, but for all the
other work that has been coming out of this committee under his
leadership.
The need for this bill could not be more urgent. Mr. Chairman, last
week you joined me when I chaired a hearing in the Housing and
Community Opportunity Subcommittee that demonstrated that when
affordable housing is not produced, homelessness is. The stark bottom
line that emerged from the hearing, focused narrowly on reauthorizing
the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987, is that,
nationwide, we haven't made demonstrable progress in reducing the
number of households experiencing homelessness in the past two decades.
While some homeless people face personal challenges that require social
services or other support, every homeless individual and family shares
one common need: Housing they can afford. And there simply is not
enough of it.
For example, there are 9 million renter households who earn less than
30 percent of area median income, but only 6.2 million units affordable
to them. This leaves an absolute deficit of 2.8 affordable rental
housing units for our poorest families. This kind of math leads
inevitably to widespread homelessness. But I want to emphasize that the
National Housing Trust Fund addresses the affordable housing crisis as
it affects every level of society.
Right now, housing costs are outstripping wages for more households
than ever before in recent memory. According to the ``Harvard
University Study on the State of the Nation's Housing in 2007,'' 17
million renters and homeowners are paying more than half their incomes
in housing costs.
Working is simply no longer a guarantee of being able to afford
housing. In Los Angeles, for example, it takes an hourly wage of over
$22 an hour to afford a moderately priced two-bedroom apartment, when
the minimum wage in California is only $7.50 an hour. Put another way,
a two-parent family with both parents working full-time at minimum-wage
jobs puts that family less than two-thirds of the way to being able to
afford decent housing.
Finally, as a recent Center for Housing Policy study ``Paycheck to
Paycheck'' dramatically shows, many of our Nation's essential workers
cannot afford to live in or near the communities where they work. In
high-cost communities like Los Angeles where the median home price is
$523,000, the income needed to afford a home is far higher than that
earned by teachers, police, firefighters, nurses and other key
occupations studied. The National Affordable Housing Trust Fund
addresses this full range of housing crises, providing relief to
overburdened renters and homeowners, while targeting funds where the
need is greatest.
Mr. Chairman, I want to emphasize that H.R. 2895 does so at no
additional cost to taxpayers. It is a trust fund in the truest sense, a
dedicated source of revenue, separate and apart from the annual
appropriations process, reflecting the need for the Federal Government
to make a long overdue commitment to affordable housing production.
We have clearly demonstrated that the fund will be drawn from moneys
from the affordable housing fund proposed as part of the GSE reform
bill, H.R. 1427, from Federal Housing Administration savings and other
existing revenue streams. I am prepared to debate with my colleagues on
the other side of the aisle whether such revenues should be diverted to
uses other than addressing the housing needs of America's working
families and poorest, disabled individuals. I do not think there is any
better use for them, particularly since both GSE and FHA revenues
derive from housing activities that the Federal Government and
government-sponsored enterprises engage in, at significant profit to
both, I might add.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, it has been 17 years since the Federal
Government last enacted a major affordable housing production program,
spearheaded in 1990 by, Mr. Chairman, your predecessor, Chairman
Gonzalez. The time has long since passed to enact another one.
I am so proud of this legislation. I am so thankful, Chairman Frank,
for your leadership. And I am so proud and pleased to have the
opportunity at this time in my career not only to work on the committee
with you and to chair this subcommittee, but to be able to stand here
today and see something about to happen that has been needed for so
long.
Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, as we start this discussion or debate about this new
program, the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund program, I think it
is important to distinguish between what we disagree on and what we
agree on.
The first thing that we agree on is that Chairman Frank and the
members of the majority have a sincere commitment to meeting the
housing needs of
[[Page H11417]]
low-income Americans, to make housing more affordable for low-income
Americans, and we share that need. What we debated in committee, what
we have debated on the floor of this House on two previous occasions
and now, is how we meet those needs.
What this legislation does is it creates a new National Affordable
Housing Trust Fund. This is a new Federal program. In fact, Chairman
Frank has said this is the largest expansion of a housing program I
think in the last 30 years.
Mr. Chairman, this is a multi-billion dollar program. We say that
this is not the way to do it. If we are to address the unmet needs of
low-income Americans for affordable housing, this is not the way to go.
Why do we say that? Because presently there are over 30 Federal
programs addressing affordable housing for low-income Americans. In
addition to those 30-something programs at HUD, we have FHA and we have
the GSEs, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. What this legislation proposes to
do is not reform any of those programs. What it proposes to do is take
money from FHA and from the GSEs, Fannie and Freddie, and transfer that
money into a new program.
So we end up with all the programs we presently have, which it ought
to be obvious to everyone apparently are not working. You are talking
about the majority of the $35 billion. And when I say ``not working,''
let me say this to the chairman: They are not meeting the needs, or we
wouldn't need to create a new program.
But what we are saying is if there is something wrong with the
existing program, if there is something wrong with the $35 billion we
are presently committing under the HUD programs, if FHA or the GSEs are
not doing their job, why come along and create another program? And
then if FHA and the GSEs are doing their job, why take money from FHA
and the GSEs, particularly because at the same time we are saying to
those programs, we want you to play a larger role in the mortgage
crisis, the subprime mortgage crisis in America, but at the same time
we are taking money from those programs.
So that is what we are debating. We are debating whether or not with
all these programs, with the large Federal role in creating low-income
affordable housing, why it is necessary to create another large
program. As Chairman Frank actually says, this is one of the most
significant expansions of Federal programs for low-income Americans.
Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Illinois
(Mrs. Biggert).
Mrs. BIGGERT. I thank the gentleman.
Mr. Chairman, I rise to oppose the creation of the National
Affordable Housing Trust Fund. While I share Chairman Frank's goal of
increasing the amount of available affordable housing, I do not think
that H.R. 2895 is the right way to do it. I will make three quick
points to explain why.
First, let's look at how the trust fund is financed. Thanks to self-
defeating provisions in both the GSE reform and the FHA reauthorization
bills, low- and middle-income Americans, including the elderly, are
going to pay for it.
How will it work? It is estimated that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,
two entities that purchase or securitize almost 80 percent of American
families' mortgages, will be taxed at more than $3 billion over a 5-
year period to pay for the trust fund. Where will they get the money?
As publicly traded companies, accountable to their shareholders, Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac will inevitably pass along these new assessments to
their customers. America's low- and middle-income homeowners will be
footing the bill. That is not a good plan. It amounts to a mortgage tax
on these hard-working, low- and middle-income Americans seeking to
secure, maintain or refinance their home mortgages. In short, it is
robbing Peter to house Paul.
What is worse, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the
FHA trust fund provision could include a $370 million surplus in 2008
and a $2.1 billion surplus over the 2008 to 2012 period. Where does
this come from? Well, the majority of FHA's surplus would come from
reverse mortgage premiums that are paid for by our seniors, suggesting
that they have been overcharged. I have supported ideas aimed at giving
this surplus back to our seniors in the form of reduced premiums, which
the Financial Services Committee rejected.
I would agree with the chairman that the funds for this trust fund
should not be used for other purposes that have nothing to do with
housing. But here with the FHA funds, in fact, I think that the money
should stay in FHA, period.
Second, why are we creating yet another Federal housing program, when
we have so many housing programs already in existence, over 100? The
National Low Income Housing Coalition cites that nearly 600 housing
trust funds have been created in the cities, counties and States in
this country, generating more than $1.6 billion per year to support
housing needs.
Third, to the extent that the State programs fall short in some way,
I must point to the existing federally administered program designed to
serve the housing needs of low-income Americans, the HOME Investment
Partnership Program. This program already has the personnel, systems
and regulatory oversight in place to accomplish the same objective as
the National Housing Trust Fund. Instead of creating a Federal
bureaucracy, let's improve on the home loan program.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as
I may consume.
My friend from Alabama said that there are 30 programs that this
would duplicate. I know of one program which helps build family
affordable housing. That is what this does. I would yield to the
gentleman. Would he name some of the other programs?
The question is, what are the 30 programs that help construct, not
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and FHA, he said there were 30 HUD programs
that help build affordable family housing.
I would yield to the gentleman if he would tell me what they are.
{time} 1300
Mr. BACHUS. Let me say this to the chairman.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman, I take back my
time. I yielded for a specific purpose. He has as much time as I do. I
asked him, and he has had time to get the list from people: What is the
list of programs that build affordable family housing? Construction.
And I will yield.
Mr. BACHUS. CDBG, those programs under HUD, designate money to all of
the States, to many local governments, and to our different
territories.
In addition to that, you have the HOME program. You have patterned
this bill, if you look at it----
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, I take back my time. I
think the gentleman doesn't have 30; he doesn't have three.
Would the gentleman please abide by the rules.
He made a statement, and I am yielding my time. He has equal time. I
don't think there are 30 programs. I don't think they can come up with
them.
The HOME program, I agree, there are reasons why this must be in
addition to the HOME program.
Community Development Block Grants are not supposed to be primarily a
construction program. Mayors and city council members and others all
over the country will be appalled to be told that they are supposed to
put CDBG primarily in housing construction; they aren't. It is for a
whole variety of programs. People know that.
We do have programs to build housing for the elderly and for the
disabled, but there is simply not a list for housing construction.
Secondly, the gentleman from Alabama says, Why don't we fix these
programs? Of course, the Republican Party was in control of both Houses
of Congress and the Department of Housing and Urban Development for 6
years. Apparently, they didn't do anything.
He then says, Why don't we fix FHA and GSE? Well, I was surprised by
that, Mr. Chairman. The gentleman knows that this House has, in fact,
passed bills that do make reforms in both the FHA and the GSE. For him
to say why don't we fix FHA and GSE when he knows we have passed bills
to do it seems, to me, strange because we have done that.
Here is the point. We do have the HOME program. It is subject to
annual appropriations. And we do have local
[[Page H11418]]
housing trust funds. It is the local housing trust funds that want this
bill. The gentlewoman from Illinois mentioned the Low Income Housing
Coalition. They are the major driver behind this bill because they
understand its importance.
We want to supplement the funds. What is the problem with the one
program that builds affordable housing, the HOME program, there is not
enough money. It competes with other appropriated funds.
By the way, the argument that somehow we are being unfair to the
elderly, in this bill, unlike what happened during the Republican rule,
we limit the fees that can be charged to the elderly under the HOME
equity mortgage program. We do that. They didn't. We limit what the FHA
can charge for mortgage insurance. OMB ordered HUD to raise the fees so
they would make even more of a profit. We said you can't do that. We
authorized some additional activity. We have limited the fee increases,
and we have taken some of the money from the additional activity, not
from fee increases.
The fact is this: The Republican Party has opposed any funding for
affordable housing construction. They inherited the HOME program. They
haven't been very good to it in the appropriations process. This says
we need to get back in the business in a major way of helping build
affordable housing. There is no 30 programs that build affordable
housing for low-income people. That is not what CDBG is intended to do,
and it is not what CDBG largely does. Most of the money goes for other
things.
This list of 30 programs is mythical. I await its reality, but I
don't have any high expectations.
Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Virginia for a colloquy.
Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, the fact is that Americans are
in a crisis in terms of affordable housing today. This is the most
programmatically rational and fiscally responsible way to address that
crisis.
I strongly support Mr. Frank's bill, and I appreciate him offering
this opportunity for the Congress as a whole to show that we really can
make a positive difference in people's lives.
I would appreciate some clarification on one aspect of the bill,
however. Within the bill, at least 75 percent of the funds are set
aside for families whose incomes are no more than 30 percent of the
area median income, and at least 10 percent is for people whose income
is more than 50 percent of the area median income. That only leaves
about 15 percent of the trust fund available to be flexibly used by
localities.
I represent the Washington suburbs where housing is extraordinarily
high, not dissimilar from the Boston suburbs that the chairman
represents. Many of these families and governments are concerned that
there will not be the opportunity to address the crisis that their
middle-class families are facing in housing. In fact, there are more
than 50,000 families in northern Virginia who are paying over 30
percent of their income for housing but who are at about 100 percent of
the area median income.
What I would like to ask the chairman to do is to clarify how we can
address that affordable housing need within this bill's parameters.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. First, there was allusion by the
gentleman from Alabama to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In fact, Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac in the bill we passed, which we did do some reforms
in, we did say that they should in their secondary mortgage activity be
supportive of people at 80 percent of median. We have given them the
affordable housing goals, and people who understand this issue
understand that there is a distinction, as the gentleman from Virginia
understands. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have primarily and historically
been aimed at helping people in the more moderate income range. We have
actually lowered it to 80 percent of median. This gets to people much
below that in general, which is why there is no overlap between Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac and this program.
Secondly, to the gentleman's argument, what we want to do here is
give as much flexibility as we can to the local communities. That is
why, yes, we are not creating a Federal bureaucracy here. The Federal
Government will largely be passing this money through to the State and
local housing trust funds who can focus on the needs of their own
community. They would have the ability, with the 15 percent, to spend
it where they think best. If they thought it was needed for the lowest
income people, they could do that. But if they felt, as in the
gentleman's area, this needs to go to people at 60 percent of median,
and ultimately when we get the fund up to 80 percent of median, they
would have the ability to do that. So the 15 percent is within the
discretion of the local communities.
Mr. MORAN of Virginia. That is very helpful.
Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Hensarling).
Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and
I rise today in favor of greater housing opportunities for working
families. I also rise today against adding yet another new Federal
Government housing program on top of the roughly 80-plus programs that
HUD already administers, and I hold the list in my hand. And since it
is called ``HUD,'' ostensibly, these programs have something to do with
either affordable housing or urban development.
Mr. Chairman, what we have in front of us again is another classic
liberal let's take money away from working families, send it to
Washington, and then somehow throw a little bit back at the people.
Throw money at the problem.
I might add, as the chairman brought out as a beneficial feature of
this, that the money goes to the States. The last I looked, all but
four or five are running a surplus. Unfortunately, there is still a
deficit in the Nation's Capital.
Now, I appreciate the chairman's commitment to affordable housing. I
agree with him, there is a need for greater affordable housing. He is
very sincere in his passion, and I respect that. But I note that he and
other Members on that side of the aisle, unfortunately, constantly vote
against affordable housing. The greatest determinant in how affordable
your housing is is a paycheck. It's a paycheck, Mr. Chairman.
And almost all the Democrats voted against the Economic Growth and
Tax Relief Act of 2001 and the Jobs and Growth Reconciliation Act of
2003, which created 8.2 million jobs and helped lead to one of the
largest rates of homeownership in the entire history of our Nation.
The next biggest determinant in the affordability of housing is once
you have that paycheck, how much of it does Uncle Sam take? What is
your tax bite? Yet we know, Mr. Chairman, in the budget passed by the
Democrat majority, it contains the single largest tax increase in
history. We are talking about an average of $3,000 per year on every
American family when it is imposed.
And I hear from some of these families. I hear from people like the
Stephens family in Mesquite who wrote to me: ``Dear Congressman, I
wanted to let you know that I am a single mom that does not receive any
type of child support, and an increase of this amount,'' talking about
the taxes, ``would break me. I would be at risk of losing my home with
this type of tax increase.'' So much for making housing more
affordable.
Also, many of our friends on the other side of the aisle do not
support increased opportunities for trade. They want to put tariffs on
the Canadian lumber or the Mexican concrete which leads to homes being
less affordable.
Finally, there is the regulatory burden. Mr. Chairman, they almost
all supported Davis-Bacon provisions which increases the cost of public
housing by artificially raising wages. At almost every juncture, the
Democrat majority is voting against affordable housing, and those are
the facts.
So it really comes down to a choice: Do we want more opportunity
housing or do we want more government housing? We should support
opportunity.
Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Chairman, I yield to myself because I would like to
make one statement.
Mr. Chairman, as I said at the start of this debate, the trust fund
will be the largest expansion in Federal housing programs in decades.
That is what we are debating.
Also at this time I would like to introduce, and I asked back in July
for
[[Page H11419]]
HUD to produce the list of programs which today promote affordable
housing. They sent me a list, and it has actually 34 programs which in
some way assist low-income Americans with their housing needs. That is
not my list; that is their list.
But let's again focus on, we have all of these programs. Do we
rehabilitate these programs or do we shift money from one program to
another? And if we are shifting money from one program to another, I
don't see how this is the largest expansion of Federal housing programs
in decades, or as the gentlewoman from California said, the most
significant new program in over 11 years.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as
I may consume to underline an important distinction that appears to
have escaped the gentleman from Alabama: There is a difference between
a section 8 voucher program which gives people money to pay their rent
on a year-by-year basis and does not encourage the construction of any
housing, there is a difference between that and a program to help
people build affordable housing. The gentleman now has disclaimed the
list to some extent. He says it is not his list; it was when he first
mentioned it, it seems to me. Now it is HUD's list.
It is a list that he very carefully reworded, the phraseology, I
think. It is a list that assists people who are poor with housing. Yes,
it builds shelters for the homeless. That is probably one or two of the
programs. It gives section 8 vouchers.
The HOME program is the only one of that list that helps build
affordable housing. It helps build it. So the gentleman's list, and he
doesn't want to read it, and I understand why. He mentioned Community
Development Block Grants. No one familiar with Community Development
Block Grants think they are primarily for housing construction. That is
not what it does. There are programs that help build housing for the
disabled and the elderly. But other than the HOME program, there aren't
programs that help build affordable housing.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now aimed at helping people at 100
percent of median and above. We say that should be dropped to 80
percent of median, not 100, but it doesn't help people in the lower
income categories. There are no such programs. And so that's the answer
to what the gentleman said.
He keeps talking about, Well, we should fix the programs. Of course
for 6 years with a Republican President and a Republican-led Congress,
they didn't do much.
There are fixes this year. The House did try last year on the FHA. We
have repeated that. So we do improve the FHA program. We improve the
GSE program, and we also take additional nontax dollars and make them
available.
Again, I await this list of programs that help the construction of
affordable rental housing. I think I will wait a very long time.
The only other point I make is that I regret we have limited time. I
was sorry that the Ways and Means Committee didn't yield time to the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hensarling) since he talked about trade and
taxes, none of which have anything to do with this bill. So maybe Ways
and Means owes us a few minutes, and when their bill comes up later,
maybe I will come talk about housing to offset the gentleman from Texas
talking about trade and taxes.
I now yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Scott).
Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Chairman Frank, let me commend you for the
excellent leadership you have provided on this issue.
Mr. Chairman, never before in the history of this country, the United
States of America, have we had as great a need for affordable housing
as we need right now.
{time} 1315
We have just come out of perhaps the most devastating storm and
natural disaster in the history of our country and the greatest need in
that area, not just in the gulf area, but rippling throughout this
country as a result of that is affordable housing.
And, Mr. Chairman, one in seven households now spend more than 50
percent of their income on housing, and on any given night in America,
across the width and breadth of this country, nearly 1 million of our
people are homeless, including men, women, and children, and nowhere is
it targeted to the elderly and the low income.
So what are we doing with this affordable housing trust fund? We're
responding to the hue and the cry of the American people, for we need
to make sure that we have affordable housing.
Now, yes, we have the HOME program. And there may be coming an
amendment on here to strike what we're doing and make it a part of the
HOME program. And the HOME program has done some good things, but it
does not do the most important things that this country needs now,
building and constructing new homes. The HOME program doesn't target
that, nor does the HOME program target those in most basic need, the
lower income and the disabled.
Now, let me just explain for my remaining time because I want to show
precisely and explain how this trust fund is funded. This is very
important. We've had a lot of things said today. This is how it is
funded.
It's funded with moneys from the proposed GSE affordable housing
fund, H.R. 1427, which we passed. It also funds it from the Federal
Housing Administration, FHA, savings that result from the enactment of
the expanding of the American homeownership program. And it does not go
or cost any money. It's pay-as-you-go and does not add to the Federal
deficit.
The estimated numbers from these funding sources will result in an
initial allocation of $800 million to $1 billion to the States and
local communities for affordable housing funds, with a 60-40 match with
the States and the local governments.
Furthermore, not only will these moneys be used for construction, the
moneys will be used for rehabilitation. They will be very diverse in
usage, acquisition, preservation and operating assistance. These moneys
will also be used for both rental housing and for down payments and
costs for closing assistance for first-time homebuyers, very, very
important considerations.
So we're going to hear a lot from the other side, and I respect my
friends on the Republican side, but it is us on the Democratic side
that are clearly responding to the needs of the American people here.
We're creating, yes, and we're expanding. Why? Because the problem
has expanded. As I said at the outset, 1 million people every night
homeless. We've been ratcheted from one end of this country to the
other for displaced people from Katrina, and God knows what else is
going to happen with the global warming and the global climate
changing. There could be more.
No, this is a great program. It's a program that is needed. The
timing is right, and the American people are expecting us to respond,
and the best way to respond to the American people is to establish this
affordable housing trust fund.
Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
North Carolina (Mr. McHenry).
Mr. McHENRY. I thank my colleague for yielding time.
Mr. Chairman, I want to start by thanking the chairman, Mr. Frank,
for engaging in, as he always does, a really great debate, and I agree
with his idea here but I disagree with the principle that he's using to
achieve it by expanding and creating a new government program.
The HOME program, the gentleman before me just spoke of, provides a
very similar application of funds, $2 billion a year, to help with
rental assistance and affordable housing. Rather than fixing this
program and improving it, they are creating a whole other program.
And, as I said, I disagree with the principle on the size and scope
of government and government's role, but Mr. Chairman, there's a common
thread running through the agenda of this new Democrat majority, and
that common thread is that there's a massive expansion of government.
If government is not needed, they will add a little government
intervention, and if there's already too much government intervention,
they will just expand it even more.
The bill we're debating falls squarely into the second category. The
bill, so
[[Page H11420]]
far as I can tell, is all about more government control of this
process. Rather than using the marketplace to improve the affordability
of homes, they're creating another government program which
redistributes money, in fact, a tax on every mortgage in this country,
and then redistribute it to those through a government program. It
makes no sense to create another duplicative program.
As my colleague from Alabama said, there are already over 30
affordable housing programs within the government. Most of those
programs do not, in fact, build houses, but they give rental
assistance. They give assistance so people can buy their first home.
They give assistance in a number of different categories, but the
Federal Government doesn't build homes. We have to allow the private
sector to do that, which is what I think is most important.
But what is especially true in light of the fact that this bill we're
debating today creates a new program that is nearly identical to one
already existing, the HOME program, which, as I said earlier, is a $2-
billion-a-year program, let's fix that program. Let's look at market-
based incentives to allow people to afford housing. Let's allow the
marketplace to work rather than create another government program, and
that's why we should vote against this bill.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. How much time remains, Mr. Chairman?
The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Massachusetts has 9 minutes
remaining, and the gentleman from Alabama has 16\1/2\ minutes
remaining.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 1 minute
just to say that the assertion that this is ignoring the private market
would be more persuasive to me if it were not for the fact that every
organization that is engaged in the private market building of housing
disagrees.
The National Association of Realtors and the National Association of
Home Builders, neither of which are known for its socialist tendencies,
have written letters in support of this bill exactly as it has been
presented. They who fully understand the market, and we don't just use
boilerplate rhetoric to describe it, understand the importance of
interactivity between some public sector participation and the market,
and this creates no new government bureaucracies.
This funds existing State and local housing programs. The Federal
role will be for HUD by a formula to distribute it. It is a funding
mechanism for the State and local authority.
Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Al
Green).
Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. I thank the chairman and the ranking member,
but I also thank the subcommittee chairperson, Maxine Waters, for the
fine, stellar job that she has done with this piece of historic
legislation.
Mr. Chairman, this is an historic occasion with historic
opportunities. This historic occasion provides the historic opportunity
to not only cast an historic vote but to also be on the right side of
history.
On July 2, 1964, this House made history when it passed the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 which, among other things, outlawed discrimination
in public accommodations and encouraged desegregation and education.
289 were on the right side of history. They voted for the Civil Rights
Act of 1964.
On August 3, 1965, this House again made history with the passage of
the Voting Rights Act of 1965, benefiting millions of minority voters.
328 were on the right side of history. They voted right when they voted
to protect voting rights.
On April 10, 1968, this House again made history when it passed the
Fair Housing Act, prohibiting discrimination in housing. 250 were on
the right side of history. They voted for equality of housing
opportunities for all.
Today, we must cast another historic vote, a vote for a National
Affordable Housing Trust Fund. For the first time in history, in the
history of the United States of America, we will have a fund dedicated
to making the American Dream of a place to call home a reality.
And, yes, there are other housing programs, some say 30, some say
more than 30. Every one of them is needed. Every one of them, even
under a Republican-controlled House, Republican-controlled Senate,
Republican-controlled administration, the programs were not eliminated.
Every one of them is needed.
There is a need for this affordable housing trust fund as well, and I
say to my friends, whether we will make history today with our vote is
not the question. The question is what side of history will we be on.
Will we be on the side of those who need this affordable housing trust
fund or will we be on the side of the rhetoric that is in opposition to
a needed program?
Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, I want us to be clear about something. We hear from the
majority this is a historic moment, and I will say to the majority I
believe that it is. I believe that it is very significant. I don't
believe that what we're debating here is insignificant at all. In fact,
I want to yield the chairman 15 seconds to respond, but I believe the
chairman himself has said, my recollection, that this trust fund would
be the largest expansion of a Federal housing program in decades, and I
yield to the chairman because when I said that before, he shook his
head and I don't know if he was shaking his head at that.
I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Yes, in decades. I thought the gentleman
said 30 years. I would not claim that it was the largest in 30 years,
but it certainly has been the largest since the Republicans took power
12 years ago since they tried to kill them all.
Mr. BACHUS. Back in June, when you released your press statement, you
said this trust fund would be the largest expansion of Federal housing
in decades and that was June 28.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I would say 20 years.
Mr. BACHUS. What we're doing here is we're taking money to fund this
large expansion of Federal housing, we're not taking it from the 30
existing programs that specifically address low-income housing,
elderly, disabled, AIDS, senior citizens.
We're taking it from FHA and from the GSEs which actually that money
presently today promotes an affordable mortgage for all Americans. So
we're taking from low-income, middle-income Americans, we're taking
from programs which promote affordable housing for them, and we're
transferring it to other Americans.
In doing it, we're not reforming. There are 80-something programs.
The gentleman had said how many programs, are there 80 or 30. There's
80 housing programs, 34 of which specifically address low-income
Americans.
At this time I would like to yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from
West Virginia (Mrs. Capito).
Mrs. CAPITO. I would like to thank the ranking member for yielding me
time, even though we happen to disagree on this issue. I would also
like to thank the chairman for his dedication to affordable housing.
I rise today in support of the creation of the affordable housing
trust fund. Many States and communities across the Nation have already
created State housing trust funds.
My home State of West Virginia is one of those, and what we've seen
in the creation of that West Virginia housing trust fund is the
flexibility in the ability to target certain funds to certain projects,
and it becomes a very workable and a very adaptable program.
The creation of a national trust fund will continue the good work of
providing low-income folks with rental assistance, new construction,
preservation of existing units, homeownership assistance and many other
important programs.
This trust fund will provide State and local housing authorities with
the funding and flexibility to best address the unique housing needs of
their communities. Certainly the needs of communities in my home State
of West Virginia are drastically different than those in the larger
urban areas. For instance, in West Virginia we have a high
homeownership, but we also have a definite question about the quality
of the housing that people are living in and the rehabilitation of
those homes is extremely important.
We also have an aging population where the different needs and
different
[[Page H11421]]
housing situations change, and I don't think we are addressing those
needs, and I think this Federal housing trust fund could help with us
with that.
So today I applaud this bill. I applaud the flexibility and
adaptability in it, and I'm very much in favor of the ability that this
trust fund is going to have to be able to adapt and create housing
opportunities for those who need it.
{time} 1330
Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Chairman, I would like to yield to another of our
Members.
Let me say this about Members. Two Members on our side have spoken in
favor of this program. It is very difficult for Members to oppose a
program that actually creates or has at its purpose creating affordable
housing. You will see that by the two Members who are speaking.
Again, I will say that the majority of our Members believe that if
you have 80-something programs and they are not working, you have a
program, the HOME Investment Partnerships Program which, actually, this
program actually says that if HUD doesn't adopt regulations, just
simply adopt the regulations and the distribution of that program. So
they almost mirror each other.
If those programs aren't working, why take money from FHA, which is
one of the most successful affordable housing programs in America? Why
take money away from middle- and low-income Americans to create yet
another program? In fact, if you think about that, you are creating two
bureaucracies, two programs with all the Federal employees that go into
those programs, and you are putting money in one program, and then you
are taking it out of that program and you are putting it in another
program. That, in itself, involves a cost to the taxpayers.
In fact, when you take from one Federal program and put it in
another, as opposed to appropriate money, to me that's the worst of all
worlds from an efficiency standpoint.
I yield to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Shays) for 3 minutes.
Mr. SHAYS. I appreciate my ranking member, Spencer Bachus, who I
think is just an outstanding Member of this Congress, for yielding me
this time.
Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this legislation, of which I am an
original cosponsor, and am grateful to the ranking member for his
understanding about these issues and to Chairman Frank and to
Chairwoman Waters' outstanding work in bringing this bill to the floor.
I know there are some on my side, obviously, who oppose and are
uncomfortable with reinjecting the Federal Government into the
construction of new housing. I think it's long overdue.
Here is where I come from on this issue. We have an undeniable and
pressing need for high-quality, affordable housing, not just in
Connecticut, but around the country. We simply cannot wish the problem
away. There are steps that can be taken at a local level, such as
requiring affordable units to be included in the construction of new
housing. But without the Federal Government's assistance, I am
concerned we will have a perpetual problem of families struggling with
rent payments that consume 50, 60 or 70 percent of their monthly
income.
Low-income families who are committing such a high percentage of
their income to meeting rent are suffocating. There is less money for
food, less money for new clothes for the kids and less for taking care
of one's health. A Harvard study reported the number of American
households paying more than half their incomes on housing increased to
17 million in 2005; 8.2 million renters and 5 million homeowners have
suffered severe cost burdens. On any given night we can find three-
quarters of a million Americans homeless. In these great United States,
I believe we can do better.
This legislation addresses the problem in a creative way. The
government-sponsored enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who
receive significant special treatment under Federal law by not having
to pay State or local taxes and who are able to borrow money at a lower
rate because of an implicit government backing, will be required to
contribute funds in amounts equal to a percentage of their average
mortgage portfolio.
In addition, expected savings from passage of legislation to
modernize the Federal Housing Administration will be applied to these
funds. These funds will be distributed by formula to the States and
localities that will subsequently make funds available under a
competitive selection process to qualified recipients for the
construction, rehabilitation and preservation of affordable housing,
including both rental housing and homeownership. The results will be
directly and quickly realized in our communities.
Capital grants and loans for new and rehabilitated housing, land
acquisition, homeowners assistance and interest rate buy-downs will be
available. The fund targets low-income individuals but also allows
localities to address the needs of working-class families. The fund
will be adequately flexible but subject to many responsible use
restrictions to ensure taxpayers' dollars are well spent.
I am also grateful that among the purposes of this bill is the stated
goal of building rental housing in mixed income settings.
As a strong supporter of the HOPE VI program, which requires mixed
income reconstruction, I have seen first hand the value of building
diverse communities where people of different income levels can live
together, learn from one another, and raise their families in a safe
and healthy environment.
I urge my colleague to support this legislation and again would like
to express my appreciation to my colleagues on the Financial Services
Committee who made this excellent idea a reality.
Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Rhode Island, my neighbor, Mr. Kennedy.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Chairman, I want to commend the chairman of the
committee, Mr. Frank, for his tireless efforts on behalf of affordable
housing and say I am astounded to hear my colleagues on the other side
bemoan the fact that there is too much effort being made to provide
affordable housing in this country. I don't know where they are living.
I don't know who they represent. They are certainly not living anywhere
that I have been.
In my district, my business community is saying that they can't get
workers because there aren't enough affordable housing spots for those
workers to be able to live so they can actually work in the businesses
that they are needed.
I don't know how my Republican friends think that they are somehow on
the side of the free market, when the free market isn't going to even
work if the workers they need can't even afford the housing they need
in order to live where they work.
This housing trust fund is a basic concept. I think it's a fantastic
idea. It's one that I support wholeheartedly.
I just would say that this notion that government is bad, bad, bad,
it's funny, because it reminds me of the story of the elderly woman
jumping up at a senior town hall meeting saying, get your government
hands off my Medicare. Medicare, by the way, is a government program,
in case everyone hasn't forgotten, and one of the most successful
programs that there has ever been, but you wouldn't know that by the
way Republicans talk, 3 percent overhead on their Medicare. You never
hear that when they talk about socialization and government programs.
Finally, I would just say there is a story about the Englishman and
the German and the Russian. All have a genie that says ``Give us your
wish.'' The Englishman says, ``Oh, I will have Wyoming, a big ranch out
in Wyoming.'' The German says, ``I will have a Swiss chalet.'' The
Russian says, ``Well, you know what? My neighbor has a barn; destroy
it.''
Sounds like the Republicans kind of have the Russian point of view.
It doesn't make any sense. Their neighbors can't have it. That's their
attitude.
Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Chairman, I have been in this House for 15 years. I
have never asked that a Member's words be taken down, but I will tell
you that I came as close to doing that as I have any time in my 15-year
career. For a gentleman to get up and say that we Republicans today
have said we don't care about low-income Americans and we think too
much money is being spent on these programs, no one has said that.
I don't know where he is getting that. I wish he would talk about the
[[Page H11422]]
merits of the program as opposed to slamming Republicans, going into
Medicaid, Medicare, and those. But I didn't do that, but I will tell
you that those last remarks did not represent what anyone on this side
has said.
Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr.
Roskam).
Mr. ROSKAM. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
You know, the gentleman from Rhode Island said he was astounded, and
he was bemoaning, and wondering who people like me represent.
Well, folks that I represent have a very high expectation of this
Congress, and the expectation is that it's a Congress that is going to
live up to and match the rhetoric of the campaign of 2006. The campaign
of 2006, you recall, was a campaign that seemed to focus on living
within our means.
I didn't hear, as one speaker on the other side of the aisle, the hue
and cry of the American people to come up with a new program. I heard
the hue and cry of people within my district to live within the means
of government.
I am informed that right now the budget of the Department of Housing
and Urban Development is on the order of $35 billion. When I go back to
the Sixth District of Illinois, they are not bemoaning, they are not
astounded. They have an expectation that we are going to live within
our means, that within $35 billion, not $5 billion, not 10, not 15, not
20, not 25, not 30, but $35 billion, that the taxpayers have entrusted
to us, that somehow that's not enough, and that the only way that this
problem can get solved is by going to create another fund, another fund
that somehow isn't going to have new Federal employees, somehow is
going to be cut out of whole cloth and, counterintuitively, from my
point of view, is going to create a higher cost of housing borrowing on
the very people that we are trying to help. Well, the district that I
represent has the expectation that we will do the right thing, that we
won't get caught up in a demagogy and sound bites and so forth, but
that we will look clearly at the bills that are before us.
In this case, with all due respect to the well-intentioned sponsors,
this bill falls short, and we can do better.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Chairman, what we are talking about here today is
creating what the chairman of the committee said back in June was the
largest expansion of a Federal housing program in decades. How the
chairman proposes, and I don't question his motivation, because I know
that his motivation is helping low-income Americans. There is a need
for low-income affordable housing.
He has disputed my representation that there are 30 some-odd programs
that address low-income affordable housing.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to include the response to my inquiry to
HUD, which is a list of 34 programs.
HUD Programs--Promoting Affordable Housing Opportunities
Program Area: Community Planning & Development
1. Home Investment Partnerships Program.
2. Supportive Housing Program.
3. Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy.
4. Rural Housing and Economic Development Program.
5. Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program.
6. Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS.
Program Area: Housing
7. One- to Four-Family Home Mortgage Insurance.
8. Mortgage Insurance for Disaster Victims.
9. Rehabilitation Loan Insurance.
10. Loss Mitigation.
11. Mortgage Insurance for Condominium Units.
12. Home Equity Conversion Mortgage Insurance.
13. Good Neighbor Next Door Program.
14. Section 202--Supportive Housing for the Elderly
Program.
15. Assisted-Living Conversion Program.
16. Cooperative Housing.
17. Multifamily Rental Housing for Moderate-Income Families
Mortgage Insurance.
18. Existing Multifamily Rental Housing (Section 207/223
(f)).
19. Mortgage Insurance for Housing for the Elderly (Section
231).
20. New Construction or Substantial Rehabilitation of
Nursing Homes, Intermediate Care Facilities, Board and Care
Homes, and Assisted Living Facilities; Purchase or
Refinancing of Existing Facilities..
21. Supplemental Loans for Multifamily Projects.
22. Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities
(Section 811).
23. Multifamily Mortgage Risk-Sharing Program.
24. Mark-to-Market Program.
25. Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance.
Program Area: Public & Indian Housing
26. Housing Choice Voucher Program.
27. Homeownership Voucher Assistance.
28. Project-Based Voucher Program.
29. Revitalization of Severely Distressed Public Housing
(HOPE VI).
Program Area: Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity
30. Section 3 Program.
Program Area: Policy Development & Research
31. Partnership for Advancing Technologies in Housing
(PATH) Initiative.
Program Area: Government National Mortgage Association
32. Ginnie Mae I Mortgage-Backed Securities.
33. Ginnie Mae II Mortgage-Backed Securities.
34. Ginnie Mae Multiclass Securities Program.
You look over those programs and you find HOPE VI, which, I think all
Members would agree, supplies low-income housing for America. We have
got section 8. We have got programs to rehabilitate nursing homes, to
build intermediate care facilities, to establish boarding and care
homes, on and on, support for persons with disabilities, persons with
AIDS, disaster assistance or homes for those caught in disasters.
As the gentleman from Illinois said, $35 billion is going into those
programs. But out of all those programs, this program, if you look at
where the money is going to be distributed, it actually says that if
HUD does not write regulations that will basically take the HOME
investment program, it will be distributed to the same agencies for
purposes of low-income housing, which is the exact purpose of the HOME
program. If the HOME program isn't working, why wouldn't we appropriate
money for the HOME program? If these programs are not working, why
would we do that?
Why? Several people have said, the gentleman from Texas on the other
side said over 50 percent of Americans today are struggling to meet
their housing needs. Most of those, most of those low- and middle-
income Americans are homeowners, and they are struggling with making
their mortgage payments.
You open the newspapers, you find that foreclosures are at a historic
high; yet what is proposed to us today?
What is proposed is that we take money from FHA and from Fannie and
Freddie, which are both used. One is, FHA, as we all know, is
affordable mortgage for low-income, middle-income Americans.
The GSEs promote mortgage liquidities. I don't see how you can take
money from FHA, take money from the GSEs, fund this program without it
affecting FHA and the GSEs. Diverting GSE funds to an affordable
housing fund is essentially a tax on the GSEs.
Who has to pay that tax? That's a tax on their mortgage business.
That ultimately is going to be paid by low-income borrowers. The
proposal to take FHA receipts, it's going to mean fewer low-income
Americans will have access to affordable FHA mortgages in the long run.
You can't create something from nothing. You can't create a program
funded from an established program which supplies Americans with low-
income mortgages or supplies liquidity to the mortgage market. You
can't take money from those programs without affecting those programs.
There are always costs.
You can't, as the chairman said, have the largest expansion of
Federal housing programs in decades, take it from FHA and the GSEs,
which supply mortgage liquidity. You can't take that kind of money
without affecting those programs.
{time} 1345
With all these programs, including the HOME program, which, as I
said, mirrors the proposal before us today, we need, in conclusion,
let's ask ourselves two questions: If all the efforts today, all these
programs, 80 programs in all, 30-something programs addressing this,
plus FHA and the GSEs, which also have a mission to loan money for
[[Page H11423]]
mortgages for multifamily units, if those aren't working, why wouldn't
we fix those existing programs?
And even if we conclude that we need a new program, a national
housing trust fund, why in the world would we go to FHA and the GSEs
and ask them to fund those programs at the very time when we're having
a subprime mortgage crisis in this country? And we have all asked, we
have directed FHA and the GSEs to address this problem, and now we're
taking money away from them and ultimately from low- and middle-income
Americans.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. How much time remains, Mr. Chairman?
The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Massachusetts has 3 minutes
remaining.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, I regret to say that my
colleague from Alabama does not appear to be familiar with the bills. I
will say, this argument that, oh, how can we do this and create a
housing trust fund at the moment that we have a subprime crisis has no
validity, it's purely tactical, because exactly the same arguments were
being made before the subprime crisis. There's an ideological objection
to getting the Federal Government in the business of helping build
affordable housing.
The gentleman finally named some of the programs: Building
intermediate nursing home facilities, housing for people with AIDS.
My question to him, repeated and ultimately unanswered was, where are
the programs that help build affordable family housing? It is not an
annual section 8 voucher program which doesn't help build housing. It's
not intermediate nursing home facilities. It's not help for people with
AIDS. It's none of those programs. HOPE VI, yes. It exchanges some kind
of housing for others. HOPE VI has not resulted in any net addition to
housing. We're trying to prevent it from being a net diminution.
He then says, well, you're taking money from the FHA and they won't
help low-income people. Totally and completely false, portraying a
total misunderstanding of the bill. In fact, it is the bill that we
passed, unlike the bill that passed under the Republicans, that
prohibits the FHA from raising mortgage insurance premiums on people
and give that money to the Treasury. That was the Republican approach.
We capped those fees.
Here's where the FHA money comes from. We take the limit that the
Republicans allowed to stand for years on the number of home equity
mortgages the FHA can insure. We also, unlike the Republicans, limit
the amount that the elderly can be charged for the first time under
those by the servicers, and we are told by CBO that as we increase the
volume of FHA home equity mortgages at a lower price for the elderly
than existed under the Republican rule, we will generate money.
Now, if we didn't pass this bill, this administration would take that
money and put it into the Treasury so it could go help fund the war in
Iraq; it could go help fund highway projects, agricultural subsidies.
That's the choice. Do we, having created an additional revenue stream
for the FHA, while limiting fees, let it go to the Treasury for
agricultural subsidies and the war in Iraq, or do we put it into
affordable housing?
With the GSEs, until we talked about helping build affordable low-
income housing, my Republican friends were very critical of the GSEs on
the whole. The stockholders were getting too much money and too much
return for too little.
Nothing in this bill will increase the amount that people have to pay
on the mortgages any iota. What it says is that out of the profits of
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, we're going to make them divert some of
this for these public purposes. So in direct contradiction to what the
gentleman says, there are not 34 programs that help build affordable
housing. There is one, now there will be two, and I hope the bill
passes.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong
support of H.R. 2895, the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act of
2007. I would like to thank my distinguished colleague, the chairman of
the Financial Services Committee, Mr. Frank, for introducing this
legislation, as well as for his leadership in bringing this important
issue to the floor.
Mr. Chairman, in recent months we have seen a crisis in subprime
mortgage lending, which has threatened the stability of the housing
market and the livelihoods of large numbers of Americans. This
Democratic Congress is committed to strengthening the housing market
and stabilizing the economy, and this legislation is an important step
toward these important goals.
Because of the lack of regulation by the Federal Government, many
loans were accompanied by fraud, inadequate information and other
failures of responsible marketing. With exceptionally high (and rising)
foreclosure rates across the country, homeowners all over America are
losing their homes. Homeowners are surprised to find out that their
monthly payments are spiking and they are struggling to make these
increasingly high payments.
The sub-prime mortgage crisis has impacted families and communities
across the country. Home foreclosure filings rose to 1.2 million in
2006--a 42 percent jump--due to rising mortgage bills and a slowing
housing market. In Iowa, 3,445 families experienced foreclosure last
year, up 64 percent from 2005. Nationally, as many as 2.4 million sub-
prime borrowers have either lost their homes or could lose them in the
next few years. I commend the Democratic-led House Financial Services
Committee for its work on this issue, toward achieving a balanced
solution that helps stabilize the mortgage market, stops abuses,
preserves access to credit, and aids stable homeownership.
H.R. 2895 establishes a National Affordable Housing Trust Fund to
build or preserve 1.5 million homes or apartments over the next 10
years, and it does so without increasing Government spending or the
Federal deficit. This legislation is a fiscally responsible way of
expanding affordable housing and mortgage loan opportunities for
families at risk of foreclosure, while also strengthening consumer
protections against future risky loans. H.R. 2895 initially allocates
between $800 million and $1 billion annually, funded through Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac. This funding is given directly to States and local
communities, and is targeted to be used for the construction of
affordable housing and support for lower income families, who face the
greatest housing affordability challenges.
Mr. Chairman, 17 million households, or one in seven, spend more than
50 percent of their income on housing. On any given night,
approximately 750,000 men, women, and children are homeless.
Constructing more affordable housing is necessary to help families who
have lost their homes in the subprime mortgage crisis or due to a
family financial crisis, such as illness or job loss. It will also make
significant strides toward reducing homelessness and the number of
Americans living in unsafe housing conditions.
The National Affordable Housing Trust Fund, established by this
legislation, must be used for low- and moderate-income families, or
those below 80 percent of State or local median income. At least 75
percent of funds must go to extremely low-income families, who are
below 30 percent of median income. This legislation also helps the
families of our Nation's nurses, teachers, firefighters, and police
officers by reserving 10 percent of trust fund money for families who
earn between 50 and 80 percent of the national median income. H.R. 2895
allows these funds to be used for construction, rehabilitation,
acquisition, preservation incentives, and operating assistance to
facilitate affordability. These funds may be used for both affordable
rental housing and for down payment and closing cost assistance by
first-time homebuyers.
Mr. Chairman, provisions in this legislation ensure equitable
distribution of funds across our Nation. Of these funds, 60 percent
will go to participating local jurisdictions, and 40 percent will go to
States, Indian Tribes, and insular areas. All grantees will be required
to make funds available in rural areas, proportionate to identified
need in such areas. Eligible recipients of these funds can be any
organization, agency, or other entity that has demonstrated the
experience and the capacity to carry out the proposed trust fund
activity, including for-profits, nonprofits, and faith-based
organizations. Funds may not be used for administrative costs or
expenses, political activities, advocacy, lobbying, counseling, travel
expenses, and preparation of or advice on tax returns. Grantees are
required to develop systems to ensure program compliance and oversight.
In my home district in Houston, homelessness remains a significant
problem. Houston's homeless population increased to approximately
14,000 in 2005, before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and hurricane
evacuees remaining in the Houston area could result in the homeless
population increasing by some 23,000. Approximately 28 percent of
homeless Americans are veterans.
In August, I, in coordination with the Texas Department of Housing
and Community Affairs, hosted a workshop on the introductory concepts
and considerations in applying for Housing Tax Credits in Texas. This
workshop
[[Page H11424]]
was designed to create new incentives for developers to expand business
opportunities in housing development, as well as to generate a
significant increase in the availability of low-income and affordable
housing for the residents of Houston and Harris County. I believe that
an increase in affordable housing and job opportunities will help
reduce the high rates of homelessness among Houston residents.
Mr. Chairman, the 110th Congress has already demonstrated its
commitment to moving America in a new direction. This includes
strengthening the housing market and stabilizing the economy,
particularly after the recent subprime mortgage crisis. This
legislation is an important step toward expanding affordable housing
and mortgage opportunities for American families.
I strongly urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important
legislation.
Mr. BACA. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to revise and extend
my remarks.
One in seven households now spends more than half of its income on
housing and nearly one million men, women, and children are homeless.
How can we claim to be the leader of the free world yet allow so many
of our own to be chained by the bonds of poverty?
Unfortunately, there are no programs to help build housing for low-
income households. This bill will construct affordable housing for the
poorest among us who need it the most.
It will help families who have lost their homes in the subprime
mortgage crisis or due to a family financial crisis, such as ill health
or job loss.
It will also help reduce homelessness and the number of Americans
living in unsafe housing conditions.
Because of this bill, more nurses, teachers, firefighters, and police
officers throughout California will have access to affordable housing.
The bottom line is that no family should have to choose between
paying for food and medicine and safe, decent housing.
H.R. 2895 restores our Nation's promise of a decent home for every
American family and I urge my colleagues to support it.
Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of the rule for
H.R. 2895 and the underlying bill, the National Affordable Housing
Trust Fund Act.
As a former member of the Financial Services Committee, I helped
author--along with our colleague Bernie Sanders and others--the first
housing trust fund bill. I am so very pleased that our two great
champions of housing, Chairwoman Waters and Chairman Frank have
continued this legacy to bring this proposal before us today.
Quite frankly it's a real shame that in America we have so many
people who have found the goal of simply finding shelter for themselves
and their families so elusive.
I know that in my district in Oakland, where more than half of all
renters are unable to afford the cost of a 2-bedroom apartment, many
low-income families often have to choose between food or medicine and
housing.
This doesn't have to be the case, Mr. Chairman. That's why this
legislation is crucial.
By producing, rehabilitating, and preserving 1.5 million housing
units over the next 10 years, this legislation will take steps to end
the affordable housing crisis in our country.
By allocating up to $1 billion annually this bill will address one of
the most serious social and economic problems facing our Nation.
By passing this bill, 75 percent of all funds will be used to benefit
families at the poverty line or 30 percent of local area median income,
bringing meaningful assistance to those most at need.
I urge my colleagues to support this important bill that will move
our Nation forward in ensuring that all Americans have a decent place
to live.
Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Chairman, first let me thank Chairman Frank and
Subcommittee Chair Waters for their work on this important, bipartisan
bill.
The National Affordable Housing Trust Fund will help provide funding
for low-income families who, absent this assistance, may not be able to
afford their own home. There are many dedicated Government agencies,
non-profits, for-profits and community and faith-based organizations
who will seek to participate in this important program.
To ensure that the most productive housing projects are funded--
projects dedicated to funding sustainable, successful programs--I am
proposing an amendment to introduce a measure of longer term
accountability to the trust fund application process.
This bill establishes two levels of applicant-centered
accountability:
A trust fund applicant must describe the types of projects he intends
to support and must establish performance goals, benchmarks and
timetables to help measure the projects' success--later, the applicant
must produce a report describing the progress of those projects during
that fiscal year.
Because the applicant is only required to report on his projects for
that year, this process, despite its commonsense ambitions--effectively
breaks the chain of accountability between the grantee and his projects
at the end of the fiscal year.
This amendment will maintain that chain of accountability by
requiring that any previous grantee who seeks funding from the
Affordable Housing Trust Fund provide as part of his application a
progress report on the previous projects funded by his organization
with funds from this trust fund.
The Affordable Housing Trust Fund will produce billions of dollars
worth of grants. HUD does not have the resources to monitor all the
projects funded with these funds. The government will therefore have to
rely on grantees to shoulder part of the burden. When grantees return
for additional assistance each year, they will be required to update
HUD on the success of their previous trust-funded projects.
I encourage my colleagues to support my amendment and help ensure
that the real beneficiaries of this important program are the low-
income families it was created to help.
Mr. RAMSTAD. Mr. Chairman, that great Minnesotan Hubert Humphrey
said, ``The moral test of government is how that government treats
those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the
twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of
life, the sick, the needy, and the disabled.''
The National Affordable Housing Trust Fund meets this moral test. It
fills a critical need for vulnerable families, children, the elderly
and people with disabilities.
The shortage of affordable housing is truly a crisis in our country--
and it is not restricted to inner cities.
Virtually all of the suburban cities I represent have long waiting
lists for affordable housing. I hear stories every week about families
living in their cars, veterans living on the streets, seniors having to
choose between medicine and housing.
Several of the communities I represent have sponsored ``sleepouts''
to raise money and awareness of the problem of homelessness and near-
homelessness. They have raised millions of dollars and helped thousands
of families.
But the crisis is just too big. The Federal Government has a critical
role to play in helping the 14.4 million families with housing needs in
our country. The important assistance in this bill can make the
difference between stable housing and no housing at all.
Mr. Chairman, by setting aside funds for the production, preservation
and rehabilitation of affordable housing, this legislation will help
those suffering the ravages of poverty, homelessness and near-
homelessness.
I urge all members to support this important legislation to expand
affordable housing for all Americans. Everyone deserves to have a place
to sleep every night that is stable and warm.
It's time to address the affordable housing crisis in America. It's
time to pass the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
Mr. WELCH of Vermont. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank Chairman Frank
and his Committee staff, particularly Scott Olson, for working with me
on this important bill to reach a compromise on issues in the bill
affecting small states.
The legislation as a whole creates a national housing trust fund for
the construction, rehabilitation, and preservation of an estimated 1.5
million units of affordable housing for low-income families. Along with
food, health care, and energy costs, affordable housing can make all
the difference in economic survival.
In Vermont, we have a great need for affordable housing. While so
many low- and moderate-income households aspire to own their own home,
limited supply, rising costs, and other barriers can make this dream
out of reach. Beginning in 2005, the new construction of 12,321 owner-
occupied homes in Vermont was needed to meet the total demand expected
in 2010.
Creating a National Affordable Housing Trust Fund is the brainchild
of my predecessor in the House, Bernie Sanders, and I thank him for
getting the ball rolling.
I am grateful to Chairman Frank for including two items I recommended
into the manager's amendment. The first provision will ensure that each
State receive at least one half of one percent of funding. For a State
agency, there really is a funding level below which it's incredibly
inefficient to administer a Federal program. There are always numerous
Federal requirements resulting in a tremendous amount of work to
comply. In addition, it's hard to raise the expectations of those who
would potentially benefit from the program and then have very little
money to deliver.
Furthermore, numerous social programs, including the HOME program to
which this trust fund is similar, include small state minimums. For
programs that are targeted at a need that is universal, it is a pretty
rational argument that a mechanism should be in place to ensure that a
portion of funding gets distributed
[[Page H11425]]
nationwide. In this case, for something like housing, it is a
nationwide issue so the appropriations of Congress should be a
nationwide effort.
The second provision in the manager's amendment says that within the
participating local jurisdictions pool of funding, that each State has
at least one local jurisdiction receiving funding. Currently in the
bill, for a local jurisdiction set to receive less than $750,000, that
amount is reduced to zero. Without this guarantee, many small cities
and small States risk receiving no funding under this section of the
bill.
I thank the Chairman for his excellent work on this legislation.
Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the
``National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act.'' This legislation does a
great deal to expand safe and affordable housing opportunities for
millions of American families.
The bill will initially allocate between $800 million to $1 billion
annually to States and local communities for affordable housing
projects for purposes such as construction and rehabilitation. Funds
may also be used for both rental housing and for down payment and
closing cost assistance by first-time homebuyers.
It would reach this worthy goal without increasing Government
spending or the Federal deficit. The revenue of the fund is supported
through fees from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the increase in the
number of FHA loans provided for in legislation already passed by the
House of Representatives.
This fund is also targeted; it must be used for low- and moderate-
income families, below 80 percent of State or local median income. The
bill also prohibits funds from being used for administrative costs or
expenses, political activities, advocacy, lobbying, counseling, travel
expenses, and preparation of or advice on tax returns. Any misuse of
funds is required to be reimbursed.
This legislation, now more than ever, is worth supporting to expand
affordable housing and mortgage loan opportunities for families at
risk. I urge a ``yea'' vote.
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of H.R. 2895, the
National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act of 2007 because it is just
what our country needs to strengthen the housing market, stabilize the
economy, expand affordable housing and mortgage opportunities for
families at risk of foreclosure and strengthen consumer protections
against risky loans in the future.
Mr. Chairman, this bill takes an important step forward in addressing
the subprime mortgage crisis, and it also makes way for the
construction of more affordable housing and strengthens FHA's efforts
to expand homeownership.
The National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act will build or preserve
1.5 million homes or apartments over the next 10 years without
increasing Government spending or the Federal deficit. It will
initially allocate $800 million and $1 billion annually directly to
States and local communities. It targets funds for the construction of
affordable housing and more for lower income families facing the
greatest housing affordability challenges.
Mr. Chairman, I am particularly pleased that 40 percent of the
funding will go to States, Indian tribes and insular areas, with
special requirements for funding in rural areas, many of which face
particular challenges.
I urge my colleagues to support this important measure which ensures
that the American dream of owning a home can become a reality for yet
another generation of Americans.
The CHAIRMAN. All time for general debate has expired.
Pursuant to the rule, the amendment in the nature of a substitute
printed in the bill shall be considered as an original bill for the
purpose of amendment under the 5-minute rule and shall be considered
read.
The text of the committee amendment is as follows:
H.R. 2895
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``National Affordable Housing
Trust Fund Act of 2007''.
SEC. 2. NATIONAL AFFORDABLE HOUSING TRUST FUND.
(a) In General.--Title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez National
Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12721 et seq.) is amended
by adding at the end the following new subtitle:
``Subtitle G--National Affordable Housing Trust Fund
``SEC. 291. PURPOSES.
``The purposes of this subtitle are--
``(1) to address the national shortage of housing that is
affordable to low-income families by creating a permanently
appropriated fund, with dedicated sources of funding, to
finance additional housing activities, without supplanting
existing housing appropriations or existing State and local
funding for affordable housing;
``(2) to enable rental housing to be built, for families
with the greatest economic need, in mixed-income settings and
in areas with the greatest economic opportunities;
``(3) to promote ownership of one-to-four family owner-
occupied housing by low-income families; and
``(4) to construct, rehabilitate, and preserve at least
1,500,000 affordable dwelling units over the next decade.
``SEC. 292. TRUST FUND.
``(a) Establishment.--There is established in the Treasury
of the United States a trust fund to be known as the National
Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
``(b) Deposits to Trust Fund.--The Trust Fund shall consist
of--
``(1) any amounts of the Federal National Mortgage
Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation
transferred to the Trust Fund under title XIII of the Housing
and Community Development Act of 1992;
``(2) any amounts appropriated to the Trust Fund pursuant
to the authorization in the Expanding American Homeownership
Act of 2007, relating to the use of FHA savings for an
affordable housing grant fund; and
``(3) any amounts as are or may be appropriated,
transferred, or credited to such Fund under any other
provisions of law.
``(c) Expenditures From Trust Fund.--Amounts in the Trust
Fund shall be available to the Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development, and are hereby appropriated, for providing
assistance under this subtitle.
``(d) Federal Assistance.--All assistance provided using
amounts in the Trust Fund shall be considered to be Federal
financial assistance.
``(e) Conditions on Use of FHA Savings.--
``(1) Use.--For each fiscal year, no funds may be made
available under paragraph (2) of subsection (b) unless the
amount equal to the net increase for such fiscal year in the
negative credit subsidy for the mortgage insurance programs
under title II of the National Housing Act resulting from the
Expanding American Homeownership Act of 2007, and the
amendments made by such Act, is first made available for the
following purposes in the following amounts:
``(A) Single family housing mortgage insurance.--For each
fiscal year, for costs (as such term is defined in section
502 of the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 (2 U.S.C. 661a))
of mortgage insurance provided pursuant to section 203(b) of
the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1709(b)), the additional
amount (not including any costs of such mortgage insurance
resulting from this Act or the amendments made by this Act),
if any, necessary to ensure that the credit subsidy cost of
such mortgage insurance for such fiscal year is $0.
``(B) Housing counseling.--For each of fiscal years 2008
through 2012, the amount needed to increase funding, for the
housing counseling program under section 106 of the Housing
and Urban Development Act of 1968 (12 U.S.C. 1701x), in
connection with homebuyers and homeowners with mortgages
insured under title II of the National Housing Act, from the
amount appropriated for the preceding fiscal year to
$100,000,000.
``(C) Mortgage insurance technology, procedures, processes,
program performance, and salaries.--For each of fiscal years
2008 through 2012, $25,000,000 for increasing funding for the
purpose of improving technology, procedures, processes, and
program performance, and salaries in connection with the
mortgage insurance programs under title II of the National
Housing Act.
``(2) Exclusion of earnings from the single family mortgage
insurance program.--No funds under paragraph (2) of
subsection (b) for a fiscal year may be derived from the
negative credit subsidy cost for such fiscal year, if any,
for mortgage insurance provided pursuant to section 203(b) of
the National Housing Act.
``(3) Certification.--No funds may be made available under
paragraph (2) of subsection (b) for any fiscal year unless
the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development has, by rule
making in accordance with section 553 of title 5, United
States Code (notwithstanding subsections (a)(2), (b)(B), and
(d)(3) of such section), made a determination that premiums
being, or to be, charged during such fiscal year for mortgage
insurance under title II of the National Housing Act are
established at the minimum amount sufficient to comply with
the requirements of section 205(f) of such Act (relating to
required capital ratio for the Mutual Mortgage Insurance
Fund) and ensure the safety and soundness of the other
mortgage insurance funds under such Act, and any negative
credit subsidy for such fiscal year resulting from such
mortgage insurance programs adequately ensures the efficient
delivery and availability of such programs.
``(4) Limitation on mortgage insurance premium increases.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of law--
``(A) the premiums charged for mortgage insurance under any
program under the National Housing Act may not be increased
above the premium amounts in effect under such program on
October 1, 2006, unless the Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development determines that, absent such increase, insurance
of additional mortgages under such program would, under the
Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990, require the appropriation
of new budget authority to cover the costs (as such term is
defined in section 502 of the Federal Credit Reform Act of
1990 (2 U.S.C. 661a) of such insurance; and
``(B) a premium increase pursuant to paragraph (1) may be
made only by rule making in accordance with the procedures
under section 553 of title 5, United States Code
(notwithstanding subsections (a)(2), (b)(B), and (d)(3) of
such section).
[[Page H11426]]
``SEC. 293. ALLOCATIONS FOR STATES, INDIAN TRIBES, INSULAR
AREAS, AND PARTICIPATING LOCAL JURISDICTIONS.
``(a) Determination of Amount Available for Fiscal Year.--
For fiscal year 2008 and for each fiscal year thereafter, the
Secretary shall determine the total amount available from the
Trust Fund pursuant to section 292(c) for assistance under
this subtitle and shall use such amount to provide such
assistance for such fiscal year.
``(b) Allocation.--For each such fiscal year, of such total
amount available from the Trust Fund, the Secretary shall
allocate for use under section 294--
``(1) 40 percent for States, Indian tribes, and insular
areas; and
``(2) 60 percent for participating local jurisdictions.
``SEC. 294. ASSISTANCE FROM TRUST FUND.
``(a) Affordable Housing Needs Formula.--
``(1) Establishment and factors.--The Secretary shall
establish a formula to allocate amounts made available for a
fiscal year for assistance under this subtitle among States,
all Indian tribes, insular areas, and participating local
jurisdictions based on the relative needs of such entities,
for funds to increase the supply of decent quality affordable
housing. The formula shall be based upon a comparison of the
following factors with respect to each State, Indian tribes,
each insular area, and each participating local jurisdiction:
``(A) The ratio of the population of the State, Indian
tribes, insular area, or participating jurisdiction, to the
aggregate population of all States, Indian tribes, insular
areas, and participating jurisdictions.
``(B) The percentage of families in the jurisdiction of the
State, of Indian tribes, or of the insular area or
participating jurisdiction that live in substandard housing.
``(C) The percentage of families in the jurisdiction of the
State, of Indian tribes, or of the insular area or
participating jurisdiction that pay more than 50 percent of
their annual income for housing costs.
``(D) The percentage of persons in the jurisdiction of the
State, of Indian tribes, or of the insular area or
participating jurisdiction having an income at or below the
poverty line.
``(E) The cost of constructing or carrying out
rehabilitation of housing in the jurisdiction of the State,
of Indian tribes, or of the insular area or participating
jurisdiction.
``(F) The percentage of the population of the State, of
Indian tribes, or of the insular area or participating
jurisdiction that resides in counties having extremely low
vacancy rates.
``(G) The percentage of housing stock in the jurisdiction
of the State, of Indian tribes, or of the insular area or
participating jurisdiction that is extremely old housing.
``(H) For the jurisdiction of a State, of Indian tribes, or
of an insular area or participating jurisdiction that has an
extremely low percentage of affordable rental housing, the
extent to which the State, Indian tribes, or the insular area
or participating jurisdiction has in the preceding fiscal
year increased the percentage of rental housing within its
jurisdiction that is affordable housing.
``(I) Any other factors that the Secretary determines to be
appropriate.
``(2) Failure to establish.--If, in any fiscal year
referred to in section 293(a), the regulations establishing
the formula required under paragraph (1) of this subsection
have not been issued by the date that the Secretary
determines the total amount available from the Trust Fund for
assistance under this subtitle for such fiscal year pursuant
to section 292(c), or there has been enacted before such date
a joint resolution expressly disapproving the use of the
formula required under paragraph (1) and submitted to the
Congress pursuant to paragraph (3), for purposes of such
fiscal year--
``(A) section 293(b), paragraphs (2) and (3) of subsection
(b) of this section, and subsection (c) of this section shall
not apply;
``(B) the allocation for Indian tribes shall be such amount
as the Secretary shall establish; and
``(C) the formula amount for each State, insular area, or
participating local jurisdiction shall be determined by
applying, for such State, insular area, or participating
local jurisdiction, the percentage that is equal to the
percentage of the total amounts made available for such
fiscal year for allocation under subtitle A of this title (42
U.S.C. 12741 et seq.) that are allocated in such year,
pursuant to such subtitle, to such State, insular area, or
participating local jurisdiction, respectively, and the
allocation for each State, insular area, or participating
jurisdiction, for purposes of subsection (e) shall, except as
provided in subsection (d), be the formula amount for the
State, insular area, or participating jurisdiction,
respectively.
``(3) Submission to congress.--Notwithstanding any other
provision of this subtitle, any formula established by the
Secretary pursuant to this subsection shall be submitted to
the Committee on Financial Services of the House of
Representatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and
Urban Affairs of the Senate not less than 120 days before
application of the formula for purposes of determining
formula amounts under subsection (b) for a fiscal year. Such
submission shall be accompanied by a detailed explanation of
the factors under the formula and anticipated effects of the
formula.
``(b) Formula Amount.--
``(1) In general.--For each fiscal year referred to in
section 293(a), the Secretary shall determine the formula
amount under this subsection for each State, for Indian
tribes, for each insular area, and for each participating
local jurisdiction.
``(2) States, indian tribes, and insular areas.--The
formula amount for each State, for Indian tribes, and for
each insular area shall be the amount determined for such
State, for Indian tribes, or for such insular area by
applying the formula under subsection (a) of this section to
the total amount allocated under section 293(b)(1) for all
States, Indian tribes, and insular areas for the fiscal year.
``(3) Participating local jurisdictions.--The formula
amount for each participating local jurisdiction shall be the
amount determined for such participating local jurisdiction
by applying the formula under subsection (a) of this section
to the total amount allocated under section 293(b)(2) for all
participating local jurisdictions for the fiscal year.
``(4) Notice.--For each fiscal year referred to in section
293(a), not later than 60 days after the date that the
Secretary determines the total amount available from the
Trust Fund for such fiscal year pursuant to section 292(c)
for assistance under this subtitle, the Secretary shall cause
to be published in the Federal Register a notice that such
amounts shall be so available.
``(c) Allocation Based on Affordable Housing Needs
Formula.--The allocation under this subsection for a State,
for Indian tribes, for an insular area, or for a local
participating jurisdiction for a fiscal year shall be
determined as follows:
``(1) States.--Subject to subsection (d), the allocation
for a State shall be the formula amount for the State.
``(2) Indian tribes and insular areas.--The allocation for
Indian tribes and for each insular area shall be the formula
amount for Indian tribes or for the insular area,
respectively, determined under subsection (b), as applicable.
``(3) Participating local jurisdictions.--Subject to
subsection (d), the allocation for each participating local
jurisdiction shall be the formula amount for the jurisdiction
determined under subsection (b).
``(d) Allocation Exception for Years in Which Less Than $2
Billion Is Available.--If, for any fiscal year, the total
amount available pursuant to section 293(a) for assistance
under this subtitle is less than $2,000,000,000--
``(1) for each participating local jurisdiction having a
formula amount of less than $750,000, the allocation shall be
$0, except that if the Secretary finds that the jurisdiction
has demonstrated a capacity to carry out provisions of this
subtitle and the State in which such jurisdiction is located
has authorized the Secretary to transfer to the jurisdiction
a portion of the State's allocation that is equal to or
greater than the difference between the jurisdiction's
formula amount and $750,000, or the State or jurisdiction has
made available such an amount from the State's or
jurisdiction's own sources available for use by the
jurisdiction in accordance with this subtitle, the
jurisdiction's allocation for a fiscal year shall be the
formula amount for the jurisdiction; and
``(2) in the case of any jurisdiction whose allocation is
$0 by operation of paragraph (1), the allocation for the
State in which such participating local jurisdiction is
located shall be increased by the amount of the formula
amount for the participating local jurisdiction.
Any adjustments pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2) shall be
made notwithstanding the allocation percentages under section
293(b).
``(e) Grant Awards.--For each fiscal year referred to in
section 293(a), using the amounts made available to the
Secretary from the Trust Fund for such fiscal year under
section 292(c), the Secretary shall, subject to subsection
(f), make a grant to each State, insular area, and
participating local jurisdiction in the amount of the
allocation under subsection (a)(2), (c), or (d), as
applicable, for the State, area, or jurisdiction,
respectively.
``(f) Matching Requirement.--
``(1) In general.--Each grantee for a fiscal year shall
contribute to eligible activities funded with Trust Fund
grant amounts, or require the contribution to such eligible
activities by recipients of such Trust Fund grant amounts of,
in addition to any such grant amounts, not less than the
following amount:
``(A) State, local, or private resources.--To the extent
that such contributed amounts are derived from State, local,
or private resources, 12.5 percent of such grant amounts.
``(B) Federal amounts.--To the extent that such contributed
amounts are derived from State- or locally-controlled amounts
from Federal assistance, or from amounts made available under
the affordable housing program of a Federal Home Loan Bank
pursuant to section 10(j) of the Federal Home Loan Bank Act
(12 U.S.C. 1430(j)), 25 percent of such grant amounts.
Nothing in this paragraph may be construed to prevent a
grantee or recipient from complying with this paragraph only
by contributions in accordance with subparagraph (A), only by
contributions in accordance with subparagraph (B), or by a
combination of such contributions.
``(2) Reduction or waiver for recipients in fiscal
distress.--The Secretary may reduce or waive the requirement
under paragraph (1) with respect to any grantee that the
Secretary determines, pursuant to such demonstration by the
recipient as the Secretary shall require, is in fiscal
distress. The Secretary shall make determinations regarding
fiscal distress for purposes of this paragraph in the same
manner, and according to the same criteria, as fiscal
distress is determined with respect to jurisdictions under
section 220(d) (42 U.S.C. 12750(d)).
``(3) Qualification of services funding for match.--For
purposes of meeting the requirements of paragraph (1),
amounts that a grantee, recipient, or other governmental or
private agency or entity commits to contribute to provide
services to residents of affordable housing provided using
grant amounts under this subtitle, by entering into a binding
commitment for such contribution as the Secretary shall
require, shall be considered contributions to eligible
activities. Amounts to be considered eligible contributions
under this paragraph shall not exceed
[[Page H11427]]
33 percent of the total cost of the eligible activity.
``(4) Reduction or waiver for certain activities.--With
respect to Trust Fund grant amounts made available for a
fiscal year, the Secretary shall reduce or waive the amount
of contributions otherwise required under paragraph (1) to be
made with respect to eligible activities to be carried out
with such grant amounts and for which any variance from
zoning laws or other waiver of regulatory requirements was
approved by the local jurisdiction. Such reduction may be
implemented in the year following the year in which such
activities are funded with Trust Fund grant amounts.
``(5) Waiver for disaster areas.--In the case of any area
that is subject to a declaration by the President of a major
disaster or emergency under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121), the
Secretary shall, for the fiscal year following such
declaration, waive the requirement under paragraph (1) with
respect to any eligible activities to be carried out in such
area.
``(g) Competitive Grants for Indian Tribes.--For each
fiscal year referred to in section 293(a), the Secretary
shall, using amounts allocated for Indian tribes pursuant to
subsection (a)(2)(B) or (c)(2), as applicable, and subject to
subsection (f), make grants to Indian tribes on a competitive
basis, based upon such criteria as the Secretary shall
establish, which shall include the factors specified in
section 295(c)(2)(B).
``(h) Use by State of Unused Funds of Local
Jurisdictions.--If any participating local jurisdiction for
which an allocation is made for a fiscal year pursuant to
this section notifies the Secretary of an intent not to use
all or part of such funds, any such funds that will not be
used by the jurisdiction shall be added to the grant award
under subsection (e) for the State in which such jurisdiction
is located.
``(i) Competitive Grants for Areas Without Allocation Plans
and Recipients With Insufficient Matching Contributions.--
``(1) Available amounts.--For a fiscal year, the following
amounts shall be available for grants under this subsection:
``(A) Allocation for areas not submitting allocation
plans.--With respect to each State, insular area, or
participating local jurisdiction that has not, before the
expiration of the 12-month period beginning upon the date of
the publication of the notice of funding availability for
such fiscal year under subsection (b)(4), submitted to and
had approved by the Secretary an allocation plan for such
fiscal year meeting the requirements of section 295, the
amount of the allocation for such State, insular area, or
participating local jurisdiction for such fiscal year
determined under this section.
``(B) Unmatched portion of allocation.--With respect to any
grantee for which the Trust Fund grant amount awarded for
such fiscal year is reduced from the amount of the allocation
determined under this section for the grantee by reason of
failure comply with the requirements under subsection (f),
the amount by which such allocation for the grantee for the
fiscal year exceeds the Trust Fund grant amount for the
grantee for the fiscal year.
``(C) Uncommitted amounts.--Any Trust Fund grant amounts
for a fiscal year that are not committed for use for eligible
activities before the expiration of the 24-month period
beginning upon the date of the publication of the notice of
availability of amounts under subsection (b)(4) for such
fiscal year.
``(D) Unused amounts.--Any Trust Fund grant amounts for
which the grantee notifies the Secretary that such funds will
not be used under this subtitle.
``(2) Notice.--For each fiscal year, not later than 60 days
after the date that the Secretary determines that the amounts
described in paragraph (1) shall be available for grants
under this subsection, the Secretary shall cause to be
published in the Federal Register a notice that such amounts
shall be so available.
``(3) Applications.--The Secretary shall provide for
nonprofit and public entities (and consortia thereof, which
may include regional consortia of units of local government)
to submit applications, during the 9-month period beginning
upon publication of a notice of funding availability under
paragraph (2) for a fiscal year, for a grant of all or a
portion of the amounts referred to in paragraph (1) for such
fiscal year. Such an application shall include a
certification that the applicant will comply with all
requirements of this subtitle applicable to a grantee under
this subsection.
``(4) Selection criteria.--The Secretary shall, by
regulation, establish criteria for selecting applicants that
meet the requirements of paragraph (3) for funding under this
subsection. Such criteria shall give priority to applications
that provide that grant amounts under this subsection will be
used for eligible activities relating to affordable housing
that is located in the State or insular area, as applicable,
for which such grant funds were originally allocated under
this section.
``(5) Award and use of grant assistance.--
``(A) Award.--Subject only to the absence of applications
meeting the requirements of paragraph (3), upon the
expiration of the period referred to in such paragraph, the
Secretary shall select an applicant or applicants under this
subsection to receive the amounts available under paragraph
(1) and shall make a grant or grants to such applicant or
applicants. The selection shall be based upon the criteria
established under paragraph (4).
``(B) Use.--Amounts from a grant under this subsection
shall be Trust Fund grant amounts for purposes of this
subtitle.
``SEC. 295. ALLOCATION PLANS.
``(a) In General.--Each grantee that is a State, insular
area, participating local jurisdiction, or grantee under
section 294(i) for a fiscal year, shall establish an
allocation plan in accordance with this section for the
distribution of Trust Fund grant amounts provided to the
grantee for such fiscal year, which shall be a plan that--
``(1) provides for use of such amounts in accordance with
section 296;
``(2) is based on priority housing needs, including
priority housing needs in rural areas, as determined by the
grantee; and
``(3) is consistent with the comprehensive housing
affordability strategy under section 105 (42 U.S.C. 12705) or
any applicable consolidated submission used for purposes of
applying for other community planning and development and
housing assistance programs administered by the Secretary,
for the applicable State, insular area, jurisdiction, or
grantee under section 294(i).
``(b) Establishment.--In establishing an allocation plan, a
grantee described in subsection (a) shall notify the public
of the establishment of the plan, provide an opportunity for
public comments regarding the plan, consider any public
comments received, and make the completed plan available to
the public.
``(c) Contents.--Each allocation plan of a grantee
described in subsection (a) shall comply with the following
requirements:
``(1) Application requirements for eligible recipients.--
The allocation plan shall set forth the requirements for
eligible recipients to apply to the grantee to receive
assistance from Trust Fund grant amounts of the grantee for
use for eligible activities, including a requirement that
each such application include--
``(A) a description of the eligible activities to be
conducted using such assistance; and
``(B) a certification by the eligible recipient applying
for such assistance that any housing assisted with such grant
amounts will comply with--
``(i) all of the requirements under this subtitle,
including the targeting requirements under section 296(c) and
the affordable housing requirements under section 297;
``(ii) section 808(d) of the Fair Housing Act (relating to
the obligation to affirmatively further fair housing); and
``(iii) section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
(relating to prohibition of discrimination on the basis of
disability).
``(2) Selection process and criteria for assistance.--
``(A) Selection process.--The allocation plan shall set
forth a process for the grantee to select eligible activities
meeting the grantee's priority housing needs for funding with
Trust Fund grant amounts of the grantee, which shall comply
with requirements for such process as the Secretary shall, by
regulation, establish.
``(B) Selection criteria.--The allocation plan shall set
forth the factors for consideration in selecting among
applicants that meet the application requirements established
pursuant to paragraph (1), which shall provide for geographic
diversity among eligible activities to be assisted with Trust
Fund grant amounts of the grantee and shall include--
``(i) the merits of the proposed eligible activity of the
applicant, including the extent to which the activity
addresses housing needs identified in the allocation plan of
the grantee and the applicable comprehensive housing
affordability strategy or consolidated submission referred to
in subsection (a)(3);
``(ii) the experience of the applicant, including its
principals, in carrying out projects similar to the proposed
eligible activity;
``(iii) the ability of the applicant to obligate grant
amounts for the proposed eligible activities and to undertake
such activities in a timely manner;
``(iv) the extent of leveraging of funds by the applicant
from private and other non-Federal sources for carrying out
the eligible activities to be funded with Trust Fund grant
amounts, including assistance made available under section 8
of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f)
that is devoted to the project that contains the affordable
housing to be assisted with such assistance;
``(v) the extent of local assistance that will be provided
in carrying out the eligible activities, including financial
assistance;
``(vi) the efficiency of total project fund use as measured
by the cost per unit of the proposal, as adjusted by factors
which shall include whether the funding with Trust Fund grant
amounts is for new construction, rehabilitation,
preservation, or homeownership assistance, whether the
project involves supportive housing, differences in
construction and rehabilitation costs in different areas of
the grantee, and other appropriate adjustments;
``(vii) the degree to which the project in which the
affordable housing will be located will have residents of
various incomes;
``(viii) the extent of employment and other economic
opportunities for low-income families in the area in which
the housing will be located;
``(ix) the extent to which the applicant demonstrates the
ability to maintain dwelling units as affordable housing
through the use of assistance made available under this
subtitle, assistance leveraged from non-Federal sources,
assistance made available under section 8 of the United
States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f), State or local
assistance, programs to increase tenant income, cross-
subsidization, and any other resources;
``(x) the extent to which the applicant demonstrates that
the county in which the housing is to be located is
experiencing an extremely low vacancy rate;
``(xi) the extent to which the percentage of the housing
located in such county that is extremely old housing exceeds
35 percent;
``(xii) the extent to which the housing assisted with the
grant amounts will be accessible to persons with
disabilities;
``(xiii) the extent to which the applicant demonstrates
that the affordable housing assisted
[[Page H11428]]
with the grant amounts will be located in proximity to public
transportation, job opportunities, child care, and community
revitalization projects;
``(xiv) the extent to which the applicant has provided that
assistance from grant amounts will be used for eligible
activities relating to housing located in census tracts in
which the number of families having incomes less than the
poverty line is less than 20 percent; and
``(xv) the extent to which the housing assisted with grant
amounts will comply with energy efficiency standards and the
national Green Communities criteria checklist for residential
construction that provides criteria for the design,
development, and operation of affordable housing, as the
Secretary shall by regulation provide.
A grantee may allocate a portion of funds under this section
for use by such grantee for eligible activities pursuant to
the selection process under subparagraph (A).
``(3) Performance goals, benchmarks, and timetables.--The
allocation plan shall include performance goals, benchmarks,
and timetables for the grantee for the conducting of eligible
activities with Trust Fund grant amounts that comply with
requirements and standards for such goals, benchmarks, and
timetables as the Secretary shall, by regulation, establish.
``(d) Review and Approval by Secretary.--
``(1) Submission.--A grantee described in subsection (a)
shall submit an allocation plan for the fiscal year for which
the grant is made to the Secretary not later than the
expiration of the 6-month period beginning upon the notice of
funding availability under section 294(b)(4) for such fiscal
year amounts.
``(2) Review and approval or disapproval.--The Secretary
shall review and approve or disapprove an allocation plan not
later than the expiration of the 3-month period beginning
upon submission of the plan.
``(3) Standard for disapproval.--The Secretary may
disapprove an allocation plan only if the plan fails to
comply with requirements of this section or section 296.
``(4) Resubmission upon disapproval.--If the Secretary
disapproves a plan, the grantee may submit to the Secretary a
revised plan for review and approval or disapproval under
this subsection.
``(5) Timing for fiscal year 2008.--With respect only to
fiscal year 2008, the Secretary may extend each of the
periods referred to in paragraphs (1) and (2), and the period
referred to in section 294(i)(1)(A), by not more than 6
months.
``SEC. 296. USE OF ASSISTANCE BY RECIPIENTS.
``(a) Distribution to Recipients; Use Requirements.--Each
grantee shall distribute Trust Fund grant amounts of the
grantee to eligible recipients for use in accordance with
this section. Trust Fund grant amounts of a grantee may be
used, or committed for use, only for eligible activities
that--
``(1) are conducted in the jurisdiction of the grantee;
``(2) in the case of a grantee that is a State, insular
area, participating local jurisdiction, or grantee under
section 294(i), comply with the allocation plan of the
grantee under section 295;
``(3) are selected for funding by the grantee in accordance
with the process and criteria for such selection established
pursuant to section 295(c)(2); and
``(4) comply with the targeting requirements under
subsection (c) of this section and the affordable housing
requirements under section 297.
``(b) Eligible Recipients.--Trust Fund grant amounts of a
grantee may be provided only to an organization, agency, or
other entity (including a for-profit entity, a nonprofit
entity, a faith-based organization, a community development
financial institution, a community development corporation,
and a State or local housing trust fund) that--
``(1) demonstrates the experience, ability, and capacity
(including financial capacity) to undertake, comply, and
manage the eligible activity;
``(2) demonstrates its familiarity with the requirements of
any other Federal, State or local housing program that will
be used in conjunction with such grant amounts to ensure
compliance with all applicable requirements and regulations
of such programs; and
``(3) makes such assurances to the grantee as the Secretary
shall, by regulation, require to ensure that the recipient
will comply with the requirements of this subtitle during the
entire period that begins upon selection of the recipient to
receive such grant amounts and ending upon the conclusion of
all eligible activities that are engaged in by the recipient
and funded with such grant amounts.
``(c) Targeting Requirements.--The targeting requirements
under this subsection are as follows:
``(1) Requirement of use of all amounts for affordable
housing for low-income families.--All Trust Fund grant
amounts of a grantee shall be distributed for use only for
eligible activities relating to affordable housing that are
for the benefit only of families whose incomes do not exceed
80 percent of the greater of--
``(A) the median family income for the area in which the
housing is located, as determined by the Secretary with
adjustments for smaller and larger families; and
``(B) the median family income for the State or insular
area in which the housing is located, as determined by the
Secretary with adjustments for smaller and larger families.
``(2) Use of 75 percent for affordable housing for
extremely low-income families.--Not less than 75 percent of
the Trust Fund grant amounts of a grantee for each fiscal
year shall be used only for eligible activities relating to
affordable housing that are for the benefit only of families
whose incomes do not exceed the higher of--
``(A) 30 percent of the median family income for the area
in which the housing is located, as determined by the
Secretary with adjustments for smaller and larger families;
and
``(B) the poverty line (as such term is defined in section
673 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 (42
U.S.C. 9902), including any revision required by such
section) applicable to a family of the size involved.
``(3) Use of 30 percent for affordable housing for very
poor families.--Not less than 30 percent of the Trust Fund
grant amounts of a grantee for each fiscal year shall be used
only for eligible activities relating to affordable housing
that are for the benefit only of families whose incomes do
not exceed the maximum amount of income that an individual or
family could have, taking into consideration any income
disregards, and remain eligible for benefits under the
Supplemental Security Income program under title XVI of the
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1381 et seq.).
``(4) Use of 10 percent for affordable housing for families
above 50 percent of area median income.--Not less than 10
percent of the Trust Fund grant amounts of a grantee for each
fiscal year shall be used only for eligible activities
relating to affordable housing that are for the benefit only
of families whose incomes exceed 50 percent of the median
family income for the area in which the housing is located,
as determined by the Secretary with adjustments for smaller
and larger families.
``(5) Limitation for years in which less than $2 billion is
available.--If, for any fiscal year, the total amount
available pursuant to section 293(a) for assistance under
this subtitle is less than $2,000,000,000, in addition to the
other requirements under this subsection, all such amounts
shall be used only for eligible activities relating to
affordable housing that are for the benefit only of families
whose incomes do not exceed 60 percent of the median family
income for the area in which the housing is located, as
determined by the Secretary with adjustments for smaller and
larger families.
``(6) Review of targeting requirements.--The Secretary
shall assess the need for, and the appropriateness of, the
requirements under paragraphs (1) through (4) and shall
submit a report to the Congress on the results of the
assessment not later than October 1, 2012, and not later than
the expiration of the 5-year period beginning upon such date
and each successive 5-year period thereafter. In each such
report, the Secretary shall identify and make recommendations
regarding the continuation or adjustment of the targeting
requirements in paragraphs (1) through (4).
``(d) Use for Rural Areas.--Of the Trust Fund grant amounts
for any fiscal year for any grantee that is a State or
participating local jurisdiction that includes any rural
areas, the State or participating local jurisdiction shall
use a portion for eligible activities located in rural areas
that is proportionate to the identified need for such
activities in such rural areas.
``(e) Cost Limits.--The Secretary shall establish
limitations on the amount of Trust Fund grant amounts that
may be used, on a per unit basis, for eligible activities.
Such limitations shall be the same as the per unit cost
limits established pursuant to section 212(e) (42 U.S.C.
12742(e)), as adjusted annually, and established by number of
bedrooms, market area, and eligible activity.
``(f) Forms of Assistance.--
``(1) In general.--Assistance may be distributed pursuant
to this section in the form of--
``(A) capital grants, noninterest-bearing or low-interest
loans or advances, deferred payment loans, guarantees, and
loan loss reserves;
``(B) in the case of assistance for ownership of one- to
four-family owner-occupied housing, downpayment assistance,
closing cost assistance, and assistance for interest rate
buy-downs; and
``(C) any other forms of assistance approved by the
Secretary.
``(2) Repayments.--If a grantee awards assistance under
this section in the form of a loan or other mechanism by
which funds are later repaid to the grantee, any repayments
and returns received by the grantee shall be distributed by
the grantee in accordance with the allocation plan under
section 295 for the grantee for the fiscal year in which such
repayments are made or returns are received.
``(g) Coordination With Other Assistance.--In distributing
assistance pursuant to this section, each grantee shall, to
the maximum extent practicable, coordinate such distribution
with the provision of other Federal, State, tribal, and local
housing assistance, including--
``(1) in the case of any State, housing credit dollar
amounts allocated by the State under section 42(h) of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986;
``(2) assistance made available under subtitles A through F
(42 U.S.C. 12721 et seq.) or the community development block
grant program under title I of the Housing and Community
Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.);
``(3) private activity bonds;
``(4) assistance made available under section 9 of the
United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437g);
``(5) assistance made available under section 8(o) of the
United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o));
``(6) assistance made available under title V of the
Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1471 et seq.);
``(7) assistance made available under section 101 of the
Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act
of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4111);
``(8) assistance made available from any State or local
housing trust fund established to provide or assist in making
available affordable housing; and
``(9) any other housing assistance programs.
[[Page H11429]]
``(h) Prohibited Uses.--The Secretary shall--
``(1) by regulation, set forth prohibited uses of grant
amounts under this subtitle, which shall include use for--
``(A) political activities;
``(B) advocacy;
``(C) lobbying, whether directly or through other parties;
``(D) counseling services;
``(E) travel expenses; and
``(F) preparing or providing advice on tax returns;
``(2) by regulation, provide that, except as provided in
paragraph (3), grant amounts under this subtitle may not be
used for administrative, outreach, or other costs of--
``(A) a grantee; or
``(B) any recipient of such grant amounts; and
``(3) by regulation, limit the amount of any Trust Fund
grant amounts for a fiscal year that may be used for
administrative costs of the grantee of carrying out the
program required under this subtitle to a percentage of such
grant amounts of the grantee for such fiscal year, which may
not exceed 10 percent.
``(i) Labor Standards.--Each grantee receiving Trust Fund
grant amounts shall ensure that contracts for eligible
activities assisted with such amounts comply with the same
requirements under section 286 (42 U.S.C. 12836) that are
applicable to contracts for construction of affordable
housing assisted under subtitles A and D.
``(j) Compliance With Other Federal Laws.--All amounts from
the Trust Fund shall be allocated in accordance with, and any
eligible activities carried out in whole or in part with
grant amounts under this subtitle (including housing provided
with such grant amounts) shall comply with and be operated in
compliance with, other applicable provisions of Federal law,
including--
``(1) laws relating to tenant protections and tenant rights
to participate in decision making regarding their residences;
``(2) laws requiring public participation, including laws
relating to Consolidated Plans, Qualified Allocation Plans,
and Public Housing Agency Plans; and
``(3) fair housing laws and laws regarding accessibility in
federally assisted housing, including section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
``SEC. 297. AFFORDABLE HOUSING.
``(a) Rental Housing.--A rental dwelling unit (which may
include a dwelling unit in limited equity cooperative
housing, as such term is defined in section 143(k) of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 143(k)) or in
housing of a cooperative housing corporation, as such term is
defined in section 216(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 (26 U.S.A. 216(b))), shall be considered affordable
housing for purposes of this subtitle only if the dwelling
unit is subject to legally binding commitments that ensure
that the dwelling unit meets all of the following
requirements:
``(1) Rents.--The dwelling unit bears a rent not greater
than the lesser of--
``(A) the existing fair market rental established by the
Secretary under section 8(c) of the United States Housing Act
of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(c)) for a dwelling unit of the same
size in the same market area, or the applicable payment
standard for assistance under section 8(o) of such Act, if
higher; and
``(B) a rent that does not exceed 30 percent of the
adjusted income of a family whose income equals 65 percent of
the median income for the area, as determined by the
Secretary, with adjustment for number of bedrooms in the
unit, except that the Secretary may establish income ceilings
higher or lower than 65 percent of the median for the area on
the basis of the findings of the Secretary that such
variations are necessary because of prevailing levels of
construction costs or fair market rents, or unusually high or
low family incomes.
``(2) Tenant rent contribution.--The contribution toward
rent by the family residing in the dwelling unit will not
exceed 30 percent of the adjusted income of such family.
``(3) Non-discrimination against voucher holders.--The
dwelling unit is located in a project in which all dwelling
units are subject to enforceable restrictions that provide
that a unit may not be refused for leasing to a holder of a
voucher of eligibility under section 8 of the United States
Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f) because of the status
of the prospective tenant as a holder of such voucher.
``(4) Mixed income.--
``(A) In general.--The dwelling unit is located in a
project in which not more than 50 percent of the rental units
in the project that receive assistance under this subtitle
and are not previously occupied may be rented initially to
families with incomes described in section 296(c)(2), as
determined at a reasonable time before occupancy.
``(B) Rehabilitation.--In the case of a dwelling unit in a
project for which Trust Fund grant amounts are used for the
rehabilitation of the project, the dwelling unit is located
in a project in which the percentage of units being rented
upon completion of the rehabilitation to families with
incomes described in section 296(c)(2) may not exceed the
higher of 50 percent or the percentage of such families
occupying the project at the time funds are awarded for such
project.
``(C) Exceptions.--Subparagraph (A) shall not apply in the
case of a project having 25 or fewer dwelling units that is--
``(i) located in a census tract in which the number of
families having incomes less than the poverty line is less
than 20 percent;
``(ii) located in a rural area, as such term is defined in
section 520 of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1490); or
``(iii) specifically made available only for households
comprised of elderly families or disabled families.
``(5) Visitability.--To the extent the dwelling unit is not
required under Federal law to comply with standards relating
to accessibility to persons with disabilities, the dwelling
unit complies with such basic visitability standards as the
Secretary shall by regulation provide.
``(6) Duration of use.--The dwelling unit will continue to
be subject to all requirements under this subsection for not
less than 50 years.
``(b) Owner-Occupied Housing.--For purposes of any eligible
activity involving one- to four-family owner-occupied housing
(which may include housing of a cooperative housing
corporation, as such term is defined in section 216(b) of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.A. 216(b))), such a
residence shall be considered affordable housing for purposes
of this subtitle only if--
``(1) in the case of housing to be made available for
purchase--
``(A) the housing is available for purchase only for use as
a principal residence by families that qualify as first-time
homebuyers, as such term is defined in section 104 (42 U.S.C.
12704), except that any reference in such section to
assistance under title II of this Act shall for purposes of
this section be considered to refer to assistance from Trust
Fund grant amounts;
``(B) the housing has an initial purchase price that meets
the requirements of section 215(b)(1); and
``(C) the housing is subject to the same resale
restrictions established under section 215(b)(3) and
applicable to the participating jurisdiction that is the
State in which such housing is located; and
``(2) the housing is made available for purchase only by,
or in the case of assistance to a homebuyer pursuant to this
subsection, the assistance is made available only to,
homebuyers who have, before purchase, completed a program of
counseling with respect to the responsibilities and financial
management involved in homeownership that is approved by the
Secretary; except that the Secretary may, at the request of a
State, waive the requirements of this paragraph with respect
to a geographic area or areas within the State if--
``(A) the travel time or distance involved in providing
counseling with respect to such area or areas, as otherwise
required under this paragraph, on an in-person basis is
excessive or the cost of such travel is prohibitive; and
``(B) the State provides alternative forms of counseling
for such area or areas, which may include interactive
telephone counseling, on-line counseling, interactive video
counseling, and interactive home study counseling and a
program of financial literacy and education to promote an
understanding of consumer, economic, and personal finance
issues and concepts, including saving for retirement,
managing credit, long-term care, and estate planning and
education on predatory lending, identity theft, and financial
abuse schemes relating to homeownership that is approved by
the Secretary, except that entities providing such counseling
shall not discriminate against any particular form of
housing.
``(c) Priority for Families on Section 8 or Public Housing
Waiting List for 12 Months or Longer.--A dwelling unit in
rental housing or owner-occupied housing shall be considered
affordable housing for purposes of this subtitle only if the
dwelling unit is subject to such requirements, as the
Secretary shall provide, to ensure that priority for
occupancy in or, in the case of owner-occupied housing,
purchase of, the dwelling unit is provided to families who
are eligible for rental assistance under section 8 of the
United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f) or
occupancy in public housing assisted under such Act, and have
applied to a public housing agency for such assistance or
occupancy, as applicable, and been on a waiting list of a
public housing agency for such assistance or occupancy, as
applicable, for at least 12 consecutive months.
``SEC. 298. OTHER PROVISIONS.
``(a) Effect of Assistance Under Program.--Notwithstanding
any other provision of law, the provision of assistance under
this subtitle for a project shall not reduce the amount of
assistance for which such project is otherwise eligible under
subtitles A through F of this title, if the project does not
exceed the cost limits established pursuant to section
296(e).
``(b) Accountability of Grantees and Recipients.--
``(1) Recipients.--
``(A) Tracking of funds.--The Secretary shall--
``(i) require each grantee to develop and maintain a system
to ensure that each recipient of assistance from Trust Fund
grant amounts of the grantee uses such amounts in accordance
with this subtitle, the regulations issued under this
subtitle, and any requirements or conditions under which such
amounts were provided; and
``(ii) establish minimum requirements for agreements,
between the grantee and recipients, regarding assistance from
the Trust Fund grant amounts of the grantee, which shall
include--
``(I) appropriate continuing financial and project
reporting, record retention, and audit requirements for the
duration of the grant to the recipient to ensure compliance
with the limitations and requirements of this subtitle and
the regulations under this subtitle; and
``(II) any other requirements that the Secretary determines
are necessary to ensure appropriate grant administration and
compliance.
``(B) Misuse of funds.--
``(i) Reimbursement requirement.--If any recipient of
assistance from Trust Fund grant amounts of a grantee is
determined, in accordance with clause (ii), to have used any
such amounts in a manner that is materially in violation of
this subtitle, the regulations issued under this subtitle, or
any requirements or conditions under which such amounts were
provided--
[[Page H11430]]
``(I) such recipient shall be ineligible for any further
assistance from any Trust Fund grant amounts of any grantee
during the period that begins upon such determination and
ends upon reinstatement by the Secretary of the eligibility
of recipient for such assistance, except that the Secretary
may reinstate such an ineligible recipient only pursuant to
application by the recipient for such reinstatement and the
recipient may not apply to the Secretary for such
reinstatement during the 12-month period, or the 10-year
period in the case of a second or subsequent such
determination, beginning upon such determination; and
``(II) the grantee shall require that, within 12 months
after the determination of such misuse, the recipient shall
reimburse the grantee for such misused amounts and return to
the grantee any amounts from the Trust Fund grant amounts of
the grantee that remain unused or uncommitted for use.
The remedies under this clause are in addition to any other
remedies that may be available under law.
``(ii) Determination.--A determination is made in
accordance with this clause if the determination is--
``(I) made by the Secretary; or
``(II)(aa) made by the grantee;
``(bb) the grantee provides notification of the
determination to the Secretary for review, in the discretion
of the Secretary, of the determination; and
``(cc) the Secretary does not subsequently reverse the
determination.
``(2) Grantees.--
``(A) Report.--
``(i) In general.--The Secretary shall require each grantee
receiving Trust Fund grant amounts for a fiscal year to
submit a report, for such fiscal year, to the Secretary
that--
``(I) describes the activities funded under this subtitle
during such year with the Trust Fund grant amounts of the
grantee; and
``(II) the manner in which the grantee complied during such
fiscal year with the allocation plan established pursuant to
section 295 for the grantee.
``(ii) Public availability.--The Secretary shall make such
reports pursuant to this subparagraph publicly available.
``(B) Misuse of funds.--If the Secretary determines, after
reasonable notice and opportunity for hearing, that a grantee
has failed to comply substantially with any provision of this
subtitle and until the Secretary is satisfied that there is
no longer any such failure to comply, the Secretary shall--
``(i) reduce the amount of assistance under this section to
the grantee by an amount equal to the amount of Trust Fund
grant amounts which were not used in accordance with this
subtitle;
``(ii) require the grantee to repay the Secretary an amount
equal to the amount of the Trust Fund grant amounts which
were not used in accordance with this subtitle;
``(iii) limit the availability of assistance under this
subtitle to the grantee to activities or recipients not
affected by such failure to comply; or
``(iv) terminate any assistance under this subtitle to the
grantee.
``SEC. 299. DEFINITIONS.
``For purposes of this subtitle, the following definitions
shall apply:
``(1) Eligible activities.--The term `eligible activities'
means activities relating to the construction, preservation,
or rehabilitation of affordable rental housing or affordable
one- to four-family owner-occupied housing, including--
``(A) the construction of new housing;
``(B) the acquisition of real property;
``(C) site preparation and improvement, including
demolition;
``(D) rehabilitation of existing housing;
``(E) use of funds to facilitate affordability for homeless
and other extremely low-income households of dwelling units
assisted with Trust Fund grant amounts, in a combined amount
not to exceed 20 percent of the project grant amount, for--
``(i) project-based rental assistance for not more than 12
months for a project assisted with Trust Fund grant amounts;
``(ii) project operating reserves for use to cover the loss
of rental assistance or in conjunction with a project loan;
or
``(iii) project operating accounts used to cover net
operating income shortfalls for dwelling units assisted with
Trust Fund grant amounts;
``(F) providing incentives to maintain existing housing
(including manufactured housing) as affordable housing and to
establish or extend any low-income affordability restrictions
for such housing, including covering capital expenditures and
costs of establishing community land trusts to provide sites
for manufactured housing provided such incentives; and
``(G) in the case of affordable one- to four-family owner-
occupied housing, downpayment assistance, closing cost
assistance, and assistance for interest rate buy-downs.
``(2) Eligible recipient.--The term `eligible recipient'
means an entity that meets the requirements under section
296(b) for receipt of Trust Fund grant amounts of a grantee.
``(3) Extremely low vacancy rate.--The term `extremely low
vacancy rate' means a housing or rental vacancy rate of 2
percent or less.
``(4) Extremely old housing.--The term `extremely old
housing' means housing that is 45 years old or older.
``(5) Families.--The term `families' has the meaning given
such term in section 3(b) of the United States Housing Act of
1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)).
``(6) Fiscal distress; severe fiscal distress.--The terms
`fiscal distress' and `severe fiscal distress' have the
meanings given such terms in section 220(d).
``(7) Grantee.--The term `grantee' means--
``(A) a State, insular area, or participating local
jurisdiction for which a grant is made under section 294(e);
``(B) an Indian tribe for which a grant is made under
section 294(g); or
``(C) a nonprofit or public entity for which a grant is
made under section 294(i).
``(8) Indian tribe.--The term `Indian tribe' means a
federally recognized Indian tribe.
``(9) Insular area.--The term `insular area' has the
meaning given such term in section 104.
``(10) Participating local jurisdiction.--The term
`participating local jurisdiction' means, with respect to a
fiscal year--
``(A) any unit of general local government (as such term is
defined in section 104 (42 U.S.C. 12704) that qualifies as a
participating jurisdiction under section 216 (42 U.S.C.
12746) for such fiscal year; and
``(B) at the option of such a consortium, any consortium of
units of general local governments that is designated
pursuant to section 216 (42 U.S.C. 12746) as a participating
jurisdiction for purposes of title II.
``(11) Poverty line.--The term `poverty line' has the
meaning given such term in section 673(2) of the Omnibus
Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, including any revision
required by such section.
``(12) Recipient.--The term `recipient' means an entity
that receives assistance from a grantee, pursuant to section
296(a), from Trust Fund grant amounts of the grantee.
``(13) Rural area.--The term `rural area' has the meaning
given such term in section 520 of the Housing Act of 1949 (42
U.S.C. 1490).
``(14) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the Secretary
of Housing and Urban Development.
``(15) State.--The term `State' has the meaning given such
term in section 104.
``(16) Trust fund.--The term `Trust Fund' means the
National Affordable Housing Trust Fund established under
section 292.
``(17) Trust fund grant amounts.--The term `Trust Fund
grant amounts' means amounts from the Trust Fund that are
provided to a grantee pursuant to subsection (e), (g), or (i)
of section 294.
``SEC. 299A. INAPPLICABILITY OF HOME PROVISIONS.
``Except as specifically provided otherwise in this
subtitle, no requirement under, or provision of, title I or
subtitles A through F of this title shall apply to assistance
provided under this subtitle.
``SEC. 299B. REGULATIONS.
``Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of
the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act of 2007, the
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall promulgate
regulations to carry out this subtitle, which shall include
regulations establishing the affordable housing needs formula
in accordance with section 294(a).''.
(b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 201 of the Cranston-
Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12701
note) is amended by striking ``This title'' and inserting
``Subtitles A through F of this title''.
The CHAIRMAN. No amendment to the committee amendment is in order
except those printed in House Report 110-369. Each amendment may be
offered only in the order printed in the report, by a Member designated
in the report, shall be considered read, shall be debatable for the
time specified in the report, equally divided and controlled by the
proponent and an opponent of the amendment, shall not be subject to
amendment, and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the
question.
Amendment No. 1 Offered by Mr. Frank of Massachusetts
The CHAIRMAN. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 1 printed
in House Report 110-369.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.
The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
The text of the amendment is as follows:
Amendment No. 1 offered by Mr. Frank of Massachusetts:
Page 14, strike lines 14 through 16, and insert the
following:
``(1) States.--Subject to subsection (d), the allocation
for a State shall be as follows:
``(A) Minimum amount.--If the formula amount determined
under subsection (b)(2) for the State for the fiscal year is
less than 0.5 percent of the total amount allocated for such
fiscal year under section 293(b)(1), the allocation for the
State shall be 0.5 percent of the total amount allocated for
such fiscal year under section 293(b)(1).
``(B) Formula amount.--If the formula amount determined
under subsection (b)(2) for the State for the fiscal year is
0.5 percent or more of the total amount allocated for such
fiscal year under section 293(b)(1), the allocation for the
State shall be the formula amount for the State, except
that--
``(i) the Secretary shall reduce such formula amounts for
all States whose allocations are determined under this
subparagraph on a pro rata basis, except as provided in
clause (ii), by the amount necessary to account for any
increases from the formula amount for allocations made under
subparagraph (A), so that the total of the allocations for
all States pursuant to this paragraph is equal to the
aggregate of the formula amounts under subsection (b)(2) for
all States; and
[[Page H11431]]
``(ii) no reduction pursuant to clause (i) for any State
may reduce the formula amount for the State to less than 0.5
percent of such total amount allocated for such fiscal
year.''.
Page 15, strike lines 8 through 10, and insert the
following:
``(1) for each participating local jurisdiction having a
formula amount for such fiscal year of less than $750,000,
the allocation shall be $0, except that the allocation for
such a jurisdiction for such fiscal year shall be the formula
amount for the jurisdiction for such fiscal year if--
``(A) the Secretary''
Page 15, strike the comma in line 20 and all that follows
through line 22, and insert ``; or''.
Page 15, after line 22, insert the following:
``(B) the formula amount for such jurisdiction for such
fiscal year is an amount that is greater than the formula
amount for such fiscal year for any other participating local
jurisdiction that is located in the same State; and''.
Page 42, strike lines 21 through 25, and insert the
following:
``(A) In general.--The dwelling unit is located in a
project (i) that receives assistance under this subtitle, and
(ii) for which not more than 50 percent of the rental units
in the project that are not previously occupied may be rented
initially only to''.
Strike line 15 on page 43 and all that follows through page
44, line 3, and insert the following:
``(B) Exceptions.--Subparagraph (A) shall not apply in the
case of a project that--
``(i) has 25 or fewer dwelling units and that is--
``(I) located in a census tract in which the number of
families having incomes less than the poverty line is less
than 20 percent;
``(II) located in a rural area, as such term is defined in
section 520 of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1490); or
``(III) specifically made available only for households
comprised of disabled families; or
``(ii) is specifically made available only for households
comprised of elderly families.''.
Page 51, line 5, after ``that'' insert ``describes''.
Page 51, line 6, strike ``describes''.
At the end of the bill, insert the following new section:
``SECTION 299C. BENEFITS.
``Nothing in this subtitle allows any payments under this
subtitle for any individual or head of household that is not
a legal resident.''
The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to House Resolution 720, the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Frank) and a Member opposed each will control 5
minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Massachusetts.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, I don't believe any of
these are controversial.
The first thing we do, we had in the committee an adoption of an
amount, a minimum amount that would go to each State. Remember, this is
largely a distribution to the States. It's not an existing Federal.
This would not be administered at the Federal level. It would be sent
to the States.
And some of the smaller States raised a question, and the smaller
communities that they might be excluded. Indeed, while this is not
exactly what the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis) had wanted to
offer, which I thought was perfectly reasonable, it comes close to, it
touches on the same area. So this would make sure that no State would
go without, and at least one community in every State would get some
funding.
Next, we had a provision that really didn't make sense requiring a
mixed income requirement in elderly projects. We didn't think that was
reasonable, and we take it out.
We have a clarification involving the number of units that go to
people who are below 50 percent, and we say that applies to all units.
And finally, in response to concerns in the House, we had language
that could be better worded. It was somewhat hastily added at the last
minute, and I hope it will be improved as we go forward, which seeks to
say that no one who is in the country illegally should be allowed to be
a resident of one of these projects.
That's the manager's amendment.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Chairman, we have no objection to the manager's
amendment to H.R. 2895, the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act
of 2007.
I yield back my time.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of
my time with gratitude to my colleagues.
The CHAIRMAN. The question is on the amendment offered by the
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank).
The question was taken; and the Chairman announced that the ayes
appeared to have it.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.
The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule XVIII, further proceedings
on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Massachusetts will be
postponed.
Amendment No. 2 Offered by Mr. Frank of Massachusetts
The CHAIRMAN. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 2 printed
in House Report 110-369.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.
The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
The text of the amendment is as follows:
Amendment No. 2 offered by Mr. Frank of Massachusetts:
Page 53, after line 20, insert the following:
``(F) use of funds to facilitate affordability for families
having incomes described in section 296(c)(3), in a combined
amount for a grantee in any fiscal year not to exceed 10
percent of the aggregate Trust Fund grant amounts provided to
the grantee for such fiscal year, for project operating
accounts used to cover net operating income shortfalls for
dwelling units assisted with Trust Fund grant amounts;''.
Page 53, line 21, strike ``(F)'' and insert ``(G)''.
Page 54, line 4, strike ``(G)'' and insert ``(H)''.
The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to House Resolution 720, the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Frank) and a Member opposed each will control 5
minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Massachusetts.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, the gentlewoman from
California, in consultation with a number of groups, put this forward,
and it's to give more flexibility to the recipients.
I yield to the gentlewoman from California who will explain the
amendment.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this amendment.
Chairman Frank, I applaud you for your willingness to modify the
trust fund proposal as it has moved through this Chamber to reflect the
realities of the housing market while simultaneously keeping your eye
on the prize, a significant increase in the production of affordable
housing for the very poorest Americans. This amendment continues to
maintain such a balance.
Let me share some simple math with my colleagues. The monthly SSI
payment in California is $836. As the Brooke amendment established, the
Federal Government considers an affordable rent to be 30 percent of
that income, or $250 per month. Nobody can operate housing anywhere in
California, much less in high-cost areas like Los Angeles, for $250 per
unit monthly. It doesn't matter whether you're a nonprofit or for-
profit or whether you have significant debt service on loans for the
capital, or if someone has just handed you a brand new building for
free. As the green eye shade types in the real estate business say, it
just ``doesn't pencil out.''
This need to address the operating cost shortfall in projects
targeted to the lowest income folks, especially those at SSI income
levels and below, is not news to those of us who have been fighting for
a national affordable housing trust fund for over half a decade. Nor,
to be clear, does it suggest that there's any shortage of need for
plain old low-cost bricks and sticks capital grants which will comprise
the vast majority of funding under H.R. 2895, even if this amendment is
adopted. What has become clear, though, is that the State and local
housing agencies need some flexibility with the trust fund dollars to
address the operating shortfall issue in order for the trust fund to
generate the greatest number of new units for the poorest, most
disabled residents of trust fund projects.
Critically, neither this amendment nor the underlying bill
discourages grantees from seeking other sources of operating subsidies
or rental assistance. Indeed, it requires as much. Even the full 10
percent of the trust fund in a given year, should States and localities
choose to use the maximum permitted to operate accounts, will not come
close to providing the total amount of operating subsidy needed to
achieve the trust fund's targeting goals. So grantees like my own
California Housing Finance Agency or Los
[[Page H11432]]
Angeles City Housing Department will have no choice but to leverage
trust funds with section 8, McKinney-Vento subsidies and State or local
rental assistance programs.
But this flexibility will ensure that some projects can move forward
that otherwise could not in the current environment, where section 8,
for example, has been under attack since the moment the trust fund
movement began. That is the essence of the trust fund bill that you
have championed, Chairman Frank, recognizing and overcoming the
obstacles to affordable housing production for the poorest people in
this country. This amendment is wholly consistent with that goal, and I
urge my colleagues to support that.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Chairman, I do not oppose this amendment. I think
some of us had a concern early on that converting any of these monies
to operating monies was a precedent we didn't want to move down. I
think the purpose of the bill is to build housing. Although I believe
this does help some of our very low income families, we would hope that
they would not have to use any of that allocation for that. But this
amendment does give them the flexibility to do that, and so we will
support this amendment.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I yield back the balance of my time.
The CHAIRMAN. The question is on the amendment offered by the
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank).
The amendment was agreed to.
Amendment No. 3 Offered by Mr. Hastings of Florida
The CHAIRMAN. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 3 printed
in House Report 110-369.
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the
desk.
The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
The text of the amendment is as follows:
Amendment No. 3 offered by Mr. Hastings of Florida:
Page 45, line 20, before the semicolon insert the
following: ``and includes counseling regarding financial
literacy, strategies to save money, qualifying for a mortgage
loan, methods to avoid predatory lenders and foreclosure,
and, where appropriate by region, any requirements and costs
associated with obtaining flood or other disaster-specific
insurance coverage''.
The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to House Resolution 720, the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Hastings) and a Member opposed each will control 5
minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida.
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to offer an
amendment to H.R. 2895. I commend Chairman Frank and Subcommittee
Chairwoman Waters and the full committee for their work on this
legislation, and particularly the work of Ranking Members Bachus and
Biggert as well as those that I have complimented.
The purpose of my amendment is to include flood and disaster specific
insurance counseling in the home ownership counseling criteria for
beneficiaries of the trust fund.
I know that we're all concerned about the current instability in the
housing market, and increasing foreclosure rates around this country,
and especially in places like where I live. One of every 50 households
in my congressional district have filed for foreclosure already this
year. All of us know that that's unacceptable.
Mr. Chairman, the unfortunate truth is that many of these
foreclosures have come from a lack of financial literacy and limited
understanding of all the costs associated with owning a home. In many
regions of our Nation more prone to disasters, appropriate insurance is
one of many added costs of homeownership that can push people to the
edge.
{time} 1400
And when you are on the edge, staying in your home or returning to
your home after a disaster rests on having the right insurance.
I don't even need to point out to the Members the tragedies of
withheld insurance from many of the victims in Hurricane Katrina.
Knowledge of the specifics and nuances in disaster and flood insurance
policies will encourage further financial empowerment and homeownership
stability among our Nation's most vulnerable populations.
I urge Members to support the amendment.
Mr. Chairman, my amendment reflects homeownership counseling criteria
which I initially included in the Workforce Housing Act of 2006, a bill
which I introduced last year.
While my legislation from the 109th Congress focused on developing
mortgage down-payment accounts and other development incentives, local
and state housing trust funds have also been very effective in
providing access to affordable housing. I applaud the approach of the
National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act of 2007, which will take
these local successes even further.
Once again, I commend my friends Chairman Frank and Chairwoman Waters
for shepherding this legislation to the floor and considering my
contribution to their fine work.
I urge my colleagues to support this amendment and reserve the
balance of my time.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Chairman, I rise to claim the time in opposition,
although I am not opposed to the amendment.
The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, the gentleman from Texas is
recognized for 5 minutes.
There was no objection.
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Chairman, I think anytime that we can make sure
that our people involved in housing, homeowners, renters, everybody,
has the appropriate counseling is a good strategy, because in many
cases what we find is people lose their assets or lose opportunities
because they did not take advantage of some of the things that are
available to them.
So I thank the gentleman from Florida for introducing that amendment.
We support his amendment.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my
time.
The CHAIRMAN. The question is on the amendment offered by the
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings).
The amendment was agreed to.
Amendment No. 4 Offered by Mr. Frank of Massachusetts
The CHAIRMAN. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 4 printed
in House Report 110-369.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, as the designee of the
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Inslee), I offer an amendment.
The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
The text of the amendment is as follows:
Amendment No. 4 offered by Mr. Frank of Massachusetts:
Page 29, line 16, strike ``and''.
Page 29, line 24, strike the period and insert ``; and''.
Page 29, after line 24, insert the following:
``(xvi) the extent to which the design, construction, and
operation of the housing assisted with grant amounts reduces
utility costs for residents and thereby reduces their total
housing cost.''.
The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to House Resolution 720, the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Frank) and a Member opposed each will control 5
minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Massachusetts.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman from
Washington has been a strong advocate of energy efficiency and reducing
excess energy costs. He approached the committee and argued that it
would be very useful to have in the bill the language of this
amendment, which says that you will take into account, in making the
grants, the extent to which the money would reduce utility costs for
residents. This would, of course, have the dual advantage of making it
less expensive for these low-income residents and also conserving
energy. So it seemed to us an entirely reasonable approach, and I was
glad to tell the gentleman from Washington that I agree with him and,
in fact, to serve as his designee in offering it.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Chairman, I rise to claim the time in opposition,
although I am not opposed to the amendment.
The Acting CHAIRMAN (Mr. Ross). Without objection, the gentleman is
recognized for 5 minutes.
There was no objection.
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Chairman, certainly I think that anytime we are
[[Page H11433]]
going to be investing Federal dollars in any housing in the future, we
need to make the sure the houses are as energy efficient as they
possibly can be. And as I understand the gentleman's amendment, this
would be about making sure, in consideration for granting funds for
that, that the construction, the design, all of the phases of creating
housing in this country would take into account the utility costs and,
hopefully, the overall operating costs of those projects.
So with that, we support the amendment.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of
my time.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. The question is on the amendment offered by the
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank).
The amendment was agreed to.
Amendment No. 5 Offered by Mr. Frank of Massachusetts
The Acting CHAIRMAN. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 5
printed in House Report 110-369.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, as the designee of the
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey), I offer an amendment.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
The text of the amendment is as follows:
Amendment No. 5 offered by Mr. Frank of Massachusetts:
Page 30, after line 4, insert the following:
``(3) Use for first responders and teachers.--To the extent
that Trust Fund grant amounts of a grantee are made available
for eligible activities involving one- to four-family owner-
occupied housing, the grantee may give preference in the use
of such grant amounts to eligible activities relating to
affordable housing for first responders, public safety
officers, teachers, and other public employees who have
family incomes such that such use of the grant amounts
complies with the requirements under section 296(c).''.
Page 30, line 5, strike ``(3)'' and insert ``(4)''.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to House Resolution 720, the gentleman
from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank) and a Member opposed each will control 5
minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Massachusetts.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, the gentlewoman from
California, representing a high-cost area, Marin County, especially, in
California, confronts the problem that many others confront, but she
has it particularly in her district where workers in a municipality
can't afford to live in the city in which they work.
So what her amendment does is to propose that with one- to four-
family owner-occupied housing, the grantees who receive this money can
give preference to public safety officers, teachers, et cetera.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Chairman, I rise to claim the time in opposition,
although I am not opposed to the amendment.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Texas?
There was no objection.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Texas is recognized for 5
minutes.
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Chairman, I want to agree with the chairman of
the full committee that we do need to make sure that our first
responders and teachers and people that we rely on to serve our
communities be able to live in the communities that they are working
in.
I think this is a good amendment, and we are not opposed to the
amendment.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my
time to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) so that she can
speak for herself.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. Without objection, the gentlewoman from
California will control the balance of time of the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Frank).
There was no objection.
Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Chairman, the amendment I offer today simply says
that the organizations receiving grant money from the trust fund may
give consideration to first responders, public safety officers,
teachers, other public employees whose incomes have kept them from
living in the communities that they serve.
Mr. Chairman, I represent a district where the median income is
higher than some others and so is the price of housing. Sometimes
public service employees actually require that workers live within a
certain distance from their job, and it's simply unfair that when home
prices put affordable housing out of reach for these workers, then they
cannot participate in that career.
The amendment would not only affect high-cost areas but would benefit
every single county or city in our country where public service
employees have trouble finding housing.
If these employees meet the income requirements of the bill, grantees
would be able to give consideration to them and to their contributions
to our communities.
Mr. Chairman, it is time we stand up for these employees. It is time
we let them know that we welcome them in our communities.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. The question is on the amendment offered by the
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank).
The amendment was agreed to.
Amendment No. 6 Offered by Mr. Frank of Massachusetts
The Acting CHAIRMAN. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 6
printed in House Report 110-369.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, as the designee of the
gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Langevin), I offer an amendment.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
The text of the amendment is as follows:
Amendment No. 6 offered by Mr. Frank of Massachusetts:
Page 52, after line 15, insert the following:
``(c) Green Housing Clearinghouse.--
``(1) Establishment.--The Secretary shall establish a
clearinghouse of information relating to green building
techniques to provide grantees and recipients of Trust Fund
amounts information regarding use of Trust Fund grant amounts
in a manner that increases the efficiency of buildings and
their use of energy, water, and materials, and reducing
building impacts on human health and the environment, through
better siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance,
and removal, including information regarding best practices
and technical recommendations.
``(2) Access through internet.--The Secretary shall make
the information of the clearinghouse available by means of
the Internet.''.
Page 51, line 9, strike ``and''.
Page 51, line 14, strike the period and insert ``; and''.
Page 51, after line 14, insert the following:
``(III) certifies the number of total dwelling units of
affordable housing that were constructed, preserved, or
rehabilitated during such fiscal year with assistance from
Trust Funds grant amounts of the grantee comply with widely
accepted standards for green building.''.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to House Resolution 720, the gentleman
from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank) and a Member opposed each will control 5
minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Massachusetts.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, we have in our committee
been working hard to try to incorporate pro-environmental, energy-
saving measures, measures that would reduce global warming. And this is
an amendment offered by the gentleman from Rhode Island that is very
much in tune with this.
Mr. Chairman, for further elaboration, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).
Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy,
and I appreciate his leadership in guiding the committee to deal with
issues of affordable housing, the crisis that plagues our country
dealing with the mortgage crisis.
If we are serious about providing affordable housing for families,
then we need to be serious about building that housing in a sustainable
fashion. Energy costs are increasing much faster than family incomes.
Green homes are often 30 percent more energy efficient; that can cut
utility costs by hundreds of dollars a year from the outset and an
amount that is going to compound over time. We need to do well by our
environment but we also need to save families' hard-earned money.
[[Page H11434]]
There is also strong evidence that green homes are also healthier
homes. More than 4 million American children have asthma, and it is
estimated that had more than 40 percent of diagnosed asthma is due to
residential exposure. Green homes use building practices and materials
that minimize moisture, that provide proper ventilation, that prevent
infestation and avoid toxic materials.
I had the opportunity last night in Portland, OR, to be part of a
celebration for our Oregon's architectural foundation, and these folks
are zeroing in on practices that make a difference and add value. Many
of the advantages of ``going green'' are based on people just having
the fundamental information. There is a great deal of misinformation.
This amendment would provide a ``green housing clearinghouse'' that
will provide fundamental information for people who are involved with
the industry. It requires grantees to self-certify how many of the
total units they build with the grants were green. This will help keep
the grantees accountable. It gives HUD important information on how
many affordable housing units are, in fact, green. And I think it's
going to be an important step, low cost, high impact, that is going to
promote the housing in this arena to be of the highest quality and most
sustainable practices.
I strongly urge adoption of the amendment.
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Chairman, I rise to claim the time in opposition,
although I am not opposed to the amendment.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. Without objection, the gentleman from Texas is
recognized for 5 minutes.
There was no objection.
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Chairman, I would just say, again, I think we
want to make sure that any new housing that's done is energy efficient
and also meets as many green criteria.
One of the things I would encourage and would hope that the chairman
would work with me in is in the final version of this bill I would hope
that, once we conference that, the National Association of Home
Builders has been involved in green building for a number of years and
has set up a lot of information.
So one of the things that you and I have talked about is we want to
try to make this money go as far as we possibly can and avoid as much
duplication as we can.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. I would be glad to yield to the gentleman from
Massachusetts.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman is absolutely
right. And that same issue, as he knows, is arising in the context of
our work on HOPE VI. We want to do the green building standards. We
want to do them in a way that will be sensible and reasonable.
Let's be very clear. There aren't enough law enforcement people in
the world to make this work if there isn't a willingness on the part of
those involved to do it. If people think it is too rigid or inflexible,
it's just not going to work as well. I think we have a wide willingness
now on the part of the homebuilders and others to be participating in
this.
And, yes, we will make this very much a collaborative enterprise. Of
course if the gentleman's substitute were to pass, it wouldn't be
relevant. But in case it didn't, we will work together.
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of
my time.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. The question is on the amendment offered by the
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank).
The amendment was agreed to.
{time} 1415
Amendment No. 7 Offered by Mr. Frank of Massachusetts
The Acting CHAIRMAN. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 7
printed in House Report 110-369.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, as the designee of the
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Van Hollen), I offer the amendment that is
now in order.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
The text of the amendment is as follows:
Amendment No. 7 Offered by Mr. Frank of Massachusetts:
Page 24, line 24, strike ``and''.
Page 25, line 15, strike the period and insert ``; and''.
Page 25, after line 15, insert the following:
``(C) in the case of any recipient who has received
assistance from Trust Fund grant amounts in any previous
fiscal year, a report on the progress made in carrying out
the eligible activities funded with such previous
assistance.''.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to House Resolution 720, the gentleman
from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank) and a Member opposed each will control 5
minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Massachusetts.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, this is a very reasonable
and thoughtful amendment from the gentleman from Maryland. What it says
is that we hope this program is established, we hope that there will be
entities that will be repeat applicants. We just want to make explicit
that if people have gotten a grant and now come back for another one,
they be very explicit about what they have done with it. It is, I
think, a very useful kind of oversight that's built into the program.
It may seem obvious, but we sometimes read about people getting renewed
programs when they haven't done a very good job in the last one. This
won't make that absolutely impossible, but it will make it less likely.
I think it is a very useful amendment by the gentleman from Maryland,
and I hope it's adopted.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Chairman, I seek the time in opposition, although
I am not opposed to the amendment.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. Without objection, the gentleman from Texas is
recognized for 5 minutes.
There was no objection.
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Chairman, I think this is a very good amendment.
Accountability in any government program is always welcome, and I thank
the gentleman for offering this.
We need to make sure that, as we are passing out these monies, we
want them to go as far as they can, we want them to go to people that
can actually deliver what they said in their grant proposals and in
their quest in their housing proposals, and so I support it.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of
my time.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. The question is on the amendment offered by the
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank).
The amendment was agreed to.
Amendment No. 8 offered by Mr. Neugebauer
The Acting CHAIRMAN. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 8
printed in House Report 110-369.
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
The text of the amendment is as follows:
Amendment No. 8 offered by Mr. Neugebauer:
Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the
following:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``National Affordable Housing
Grant Act of 2007''.
SEC. 2. NATIONAL AFFORDABLE HOUSING GRANTS.
(a) In General.--Title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez National
Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12721 et seq.) is amended
by adding at the end the following new subtitle:
``Subtitle G--National Affordable Housing Grant Program
``SEC. 291. PURPOSES.
``The purposes of this subtitle are--
``(1) to address the national shortage of housing that is
affordable to low-income families by making grants to finance
additional housing activities, without supplanting existing
housing appropriations;
``(2) to enable rental housing to be built, for families
with the greatest economic need, in mixed-income settings and
in areas with the greatest economic opportunities;
``(3) to promote ownership of one-to-four family owner-
occupied housing by low-income families; and
``(4) to construct, rehabilitate, and preserve at least
750,000 affordable dwelling units over the next decade.
``SEC. 292. GRANT AUTHORITY.
``(a) In General.--To the extent that amounts are made
available to carry out this
[[Page H11435]]
subtitle, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development may
make grants to participating jurisdictions in accordance with
this subtitle.
``(b) Federal Assistance.--All assistance provided under
this subtitle shall be considered to be Federal financial
assistance.
``(c) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are
authorized to be appropriated for grants under this title
such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2008
through 2012.
``SEC. 293. ALLOCATIONS FOR STATES, INDIAN TRIBES, INSULAR
AREAS, AND PARTICIPATING LOCAL JURISDICTIONS.
``For fiscal year 2008 and for each fiscal year thereafter,
of the total amount available for assistance under this
subtitle, the Secretary shall allocate for use under section
294--
``(1) 40 percent for States, Indian tribes, and insular
areas; and
``(2) 60 percent for participating local jurisdictions.
``SEC. 294. GRANT ASSISTANCE.
``(a) Affordable Housing Needs Formula.--
``(1) Establishment and factors.--The Secretary shall
establish a formula to allocate amounts made available for a
fiscal year for assistance under this subtitle among States,
all Indian tribes, insular areas, and participating local
jurisdictions based on the relative needs of such entities,
for funds to increase the supply of decent quality affordable
housing. The formula shall be based upon a comparison of the
following factors with respect to each State, Indian tribes,
each insular area, and each participating local jurisdiction:
``(A) The ratio of the population of the State, Indian
tribes, insular area, or participating local jurisdiction, to
the aggregate population of all States, Indian tribes,
insular areas, and participating local jurisdictions..
``(B) The percentage of families in the jurisdiction of the
State, of Indian tribes, or of the insular area or
participating local jurisdiction that live in substandard
housing.
``(C) The percentage of families in the jurisdiction of the
State, of Indian tribes, or of the insular area or that pay
more than 50 percent of their annual income for housing
costs.
``(D) The percentage of persons in the jurisdiction of the
State, of Indian tribes, or of the insular area or
participating local jurisdiction having an income at or below
the poverty line.
``(E) The cost of constructing or carrying out
rehabilitation of housing in the jurisdiction of the State,
of Indian tribes, or of the insular area or participating
local jurisdiction.
``(F) The percentage of the population of the State, of
Indian tribes, or of the insular area or participating local
jurisdiction that resides in counties having extremely low
vacancy rates.
``(G) The percentage of housing stock in the jurisdiction
of the State, of Indian tribes, or of the insular area or
participating local jurisdiction that is extremely old
housing.
``(H) Any other factors that the Secretary determines to be
appropriate.
``(2) Failure to establish.--Until such time as the
Secretary publishes a notice in the Federal Register
implementing regulations establishing the formula required
under paragraph (1) of this subsection, for the purpose of
allocating assistance under this subtitle--
``(A) section 293, paragraphs (2) and (3) of subsection (b)
of this section, and subsection (c) of this section shall not
apply;
``(B) the allocation for Indian tribes shall be such amount
as the Secretary shall establish; and
``(C) the formula amount for each State, insular area, or
participating local jurisdiction shall be determined by
applying, for such State, insular area, or participating
local jurisdiction, the percentage that is equal to the
percentage of the total amounts made available for such
fiscal year for allocation under subtitle A of this title (42
U.S.C. 12741 et seq.) that are allocated in such year,
pursuant to such subtitle, to such State, insular area, or
participating local jurisdiction, respectively, and the
allocation for each State, insular area, or participating
local jurisdiction, for purposes of subsection (d) shall be
the formula amount for the State, insular area, or
participating local jurisdiction, respectively.
``(b) Formula Amount.--
``(1) In general.--For each fiscal year referred to in
section 293, the Secretary shall determine the formula amount
under this subsection for each State, for Indian tribes, for
each insular area, and for each participating local
jurisdiction.
``(2) States, indian tribes, and insular areas.--The
formula amount for each State, for Indian tribes, and for
each insular area shall be the amount determined for such
State, for Indian tribes, or for such insular area by
applying the formula under subsection (a) of this section to
the total amount allocated under section 293(1) for all
States, Indian tribes, and insular areas for the fiscal year.
``(3) Participating local jurisdictions.--The formula
amount for each participating local jurisdiction shall be the
amount determined for such participating local jurisdiction
by applying the formula under subsection (a) of this section
to the total amount allocated under section 293(2) for all
participating local jurisdictions for the fiscal year.
``(4) Notice.--For each fiscal year referred to in section
293, not later than 60 days after the date that the Secretary
determines the total amount available for such fiscal year
pursuant to section 292(c) for assistance under this
subtitle, the Secretary shall cause to be published in the
Federal Register a notice that such amounts shall be so
available.
``(c) Allocation Based on Affordable Housing Needs
Formula.--The allocation under this subsection for a State,
for Indian tribes, for an insular area, or for a
participating local jurisdiction for a fiscal year shall be
determined as follows:
``(1) States.--The allocation for a State shall be as
follows:
``(A) Minimum amount.--If the formula amount determined
under subsection (b)(2) for the State for the fiscal year is
less than 1 percent of the total amount allocated for such
fiscal year under section 293(1), the allocation for the
State shall be 1 percent of the total amount allocated for
such fiscal year under section 293(1).
``(B) Formula amount.--If the formula amount determined
under subsection (b)(2) for the State for the fiscal year is
1 percent or more of the total amount allocated for such
fiscal year under section 293(1), the allocation for the
State shall be the formula amount for the State, except that
the Secretary shall reduce such formula amounts for all
States whose allocations are determined under this
subparagraph on a pro rata basis by the amount necessary to
account for any increases from the formula amount for
allocations made under subparagraph (A) so that the total of
the allocations for all States pursuant to this paragraph is
equal to the aggregate of the formula amounts under
subsection (b)(2) for all States.
``(2) Indian tribes and insular areas.--The allocation for
Indian tribes and for each insular area shall be the formula
amount for Indian tribes or for the insular area,
respectively, determined under subsection (b), as applicable.
``(3) Participating local jurisdictions.--The allocation
for each participating local jurisdiction shall be the
formula amount for the unit determined under subsection (b).
``(d) Grant Awards.--For each fiscal year referred to in
section 293, using the amounts made available to the
Secretary for assistance under this subtitle for such fiscal
year, the Secretary shall, subject to subsection (e), make a
grant to each State, insular area, and participating local
jurisdiction in the amount of the allocation under subsection
(a)(2) or (c), as applicable, for the State, area, or
jurisdiction, respectively.
``(e) Matching Requirement.--
``(1) In general.--Each participating jurisdiction for a
program year shall contribute to eligible activities funded
with grant amounts under this subtitle, or require the
contribution to such eligible activities by recipients of
such grant amounts of, in addition to any such grant amounts,
one dollar for every four dollars of such grant amounts.
``(2) Reduction or waiver for recipients in fiscal
distress.--The Secretary may reduce or waive the requirement
under paragraph (1) with respect to any participating
jurisdiction that the Secretary determines, pursuant to such
demonstration by the recipient as the Secretary shall
require, is in fiscal distress. The Secretary shall make
determinations regarding fiscal distress for purposes of this
paragraph in the same manner, and according to the same
criteria, as fiscal distress is determined with respect to
jurisdictions under section 220(d) (42 U.S.C. 12750(d)).
``(3) Qualification of services funding for match.--For
purposes of meeting the requirements of paragraph (1),
amounts that a participating jurisdiction, recipient, or
other governmental or private agency or entity commits to
contribute to provide services to residents of affordable
housing provided using grant amounts under this subtitle, by
entering into a binding commitment for such contribution as
the Secretary shall require, shall be considered
contributions to eligible activities.
``(4) Reduction or waiver for certain activities.--With
respect to grant amounts under this subtitle made available
for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall reduce or waive the
amount of contributions otherwise required under paragraph
(1) to be made with respect to eligible activities to be
carried out with such grant amounts and for which any
variance from zoning laws or other waiver of regulatory
requirements was approved by the local jurisdiction. Such
reduction may be implemented in the year following the year
in which such activities are funded with grant amounts under
this subtitle.
``(5) Waiver for disaster areas.--In the case of any area
that is subject to a declaration by the President of a major
disaster or emergency under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121), the
Secretary shall, for the fiscal year following such
declaration, waive the requirement under paragraph (1) with
respect to any eligible activities to be carried out in such
area.
``(f) Competitive Grants for Indian Tribes.--For each
fiscal year referred to in section 293, the Secretary shall,
using amounts allocated for Indian tribes pursuant to
subsection (a)(2)(B) or (c)(2), as applicable, and subject to
subsection (e), make grants to Indian tribes on a competitive
basis, based
[[Page H11436]]
upon such criteria as the Secretary shall establish, which
shall include the factors specified in section 295(c)(2)(B).
``(g) Use by State of Unused Funds of Local
Jurisdictions.--If any participating local jurisdiction for
which an allocation is made for a fiscal year pursuant to
this section notifies the Secretary of an intent not to use
all or part of such funds, any such funds that will not be
used by the jurisdiction shall be added to the grant award
under subsection (d) for the State in which such jurisdiction
is located.
``(h) Competitive Grants for Areas Without Allocation Plans
and Recipients With Insufficient Matching Contributions.--
``(1) Available amounts.--For a fiscal year, the following
amounts shall be available for grants under this subsection:
``(A) Allocation for areas not submitting allocation
plans.--With respect to each State, insular area, or
participating local jurisdiction that has not, before the
expiration of the 12-month period beginning upon the date of
the publication of the notice of funding availability for
such fiscal year under subsection (b)(4), submitted to and
had approved by the Secretary an allocation plan for such
fiscal year meeting the requirements of section 295, the
amount of the allocation for such State, insular area, or
participating local jurisdiction for such fiscal year
determined under this section.
``(B) Unmatched portion of allocation.--With respect to any
participating jurisdiction for which the grant amount awarded
under this subtitle for such fiscal year is reduced from the
amount of the allocation determined under this section for
the participating jurisdiction by reason of failure comply
with the requirements under subsection (e), the amount by
which such allocation for the participating jurisdiction for
the fiscal year exceeds the grant amount for the
participating jurisdiction for the fiscal year.
``(C) Unused amounts.--Any grant amounts under this
subtitle for which the participating jurisdiction notifies
the Secretary that such funds will not be used under this
subtitle.
``(2) Notice.--For each fiscal year, not later than 60 days
after the date that the Secretary determines that the amounts
described in paragraph (1) shall be available for grants
under this subsection, the Secretary shall cause to be
published in the Federal Register a notice that such amounts
shall be so available.
``(3) Applications.--The Secretary shall provide for
nonprofit and public entities (and consortia thereof, which
may include regional consortia of units of local government)
to submit applications, during the 9-month period beginning
upon publication of a notice of funding availability under
paragraph (2) for a fiscal year, for a grant of all or a
portion of the amounts referred to in paragraph (1) for such
fiscal year. Such an application shall include a
certification that the applicant will comply with all
requirements of this subtitle applicable to a participating
jurisdiction under this subsection.
``(4) Selection criteria.--The Secretary shall, by
regulation, establish criteria for selecting applicants that
meet the requirements of paragraph (3) for funding under this
subsection. Such criteria shall give priority to applications
that provide that grant amounts under this subsection will be
used for eligible activities relating to affordable housing
that is located in the State or insular area, as applicable,
for which such grant funds were originally allocated under
this section.
``(5) Award and use of grant assistance.--
``(A) Award.--Subject only to the absence of applications
meeting the requirements of paragraph (3), upon the
expiration of the period referred to in such paragraph, the
Secretary shall select an applicant or applicants under this
subsection to receive the amounts available under paragraph
(1) and shall make a grant or grants to such applicant or
applicants. The selection shall be based upon the criteria
established under paragraph (4).
``(B) Use.--Amounts from a grant under this subsection
shall be grant amounts for purposes of this subtitle.
``SEC. 295. STATE ALLOCATION PLANS.
``(a) In General.--Each State shall establish, in
consultation with participation local jurisdictions within
the State, an allocation plan in accordance with this section
for the distribution grant amounts provided under this
subtitle to the State and the participating local
jurisdictions. The plan shall--
``(1) provide for use of such amounts in accordance with
section 296;
``(2) be based on priority needs within the State; and
``(3) be consistent with the comprehensive housing
affordability strategy under section 105 (42 U.S.C. 12705).
``(b) Establishment.--In establishing an allocation plan,
after consultation with participating local jurisdictions,
the State shall notify the public of the establishment of the
plan, provide an opportunity for public comments regarding
the plan, consider any public comments received, and make the
completed plan available to the public.
``(c) Contents.--Each allocation plan of a State described
in subsection (a) shall comply with the following
requirements:
``(1) Application requirements for eligible recipients.--
The allocation plan shall set forth the requirements for
eligible recipients to apply to the State to receive
assistance from grant amounts under this subtitle of the
State or participating local jurisdiction for use for
eligible activities, including a requirement that each such
application include--
``(A) a description of the eligible activities to be
conducted using such assistance; and
``(B) a certification by the eligible recipient applying
for such assistance that any housing assisted with such grant
amounts will comply with--
``(i) all of the requirements under this subtitle,
including the targeting requirements under section 296(c) and
the affordable housing requirements under section 297;
``(ii) section 808(d) of the Fair Housing Act (relating to
the obligation to affirmatively further fair housing); and
``(iii) section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
(relating to prohibition of discrimination on the basis of
disability).
``(2) Selection process and criteria for assistance.--
``(A) Selection process.--The allocation plan shall set
forth a process for the State to select eligible activities
meeting the State's priority housing needs for funding with
grant amounts under this subtitle of the State and local
governments, which shall comply with requirements for such
process as the Secretary shall, by regulation, establish.
``(B) Selection criteria.--The allocation plan shall set
forth the factors for consideration in selecting among
applicants that meet the application requirements established
pursuant to paragraph (1), which shall provide for geographic
diversity among eligible activities to be assisted with grant
amounts of the State or participating local jurisdictions,
and shall include--
``(i) the merits of the proposed eligible activity of the
applicant, including the extent to which the activity
addresses housing needs identified in the allocation plan of
the participating jurisdiction and the applicable
comprehensive housing affordability strategy or consolidated
submission referred to in subsection (a)(3);
``(ii) the ability of the applicant to obligate grant
amounts for the proposed eligible activities and to undertake
such activities in a timely manner;
``(iii) the amount of assistance leveraged by the applicant
from private and other non-Federal sources for carrying out
the eligible activities to be funded with grant amounts under
this subtitle, including assistance made available under
section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C.
1437f) that is devoted to the project that contains the
affordable housing to be assisted with such assistance;
``(iv) the extent of local assistance that will be provided
in carrying out the eligible activities, including financial
assistance;
``(v) the degree to which the project in which the
affordable housing will be located will have residents of
various incomes;
``(vi) the extent of employment and other economic
opportunities for low-income families in the area in which
the housing will be located;
``(vii) the extent to which the applicant demonstrates the
ability to maintain dwelling units as affordable housing
through the use of assistance made available under this
subtitle, assistance leveraged from non-Federal sources,
assistance made available under section 8 of the United
States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f), State or local
assistance, programs to increase tenant income, cross-
subsidization, and any other resources;
``(viii) the extent to which the applicant demonstrates
that the county in which the housing is to be located is
experiencing an extremely low vacancy rate;
``(ix) the extent to which the percentage of the housing
located in such county that is extremely old housing exceeds
35 percent;
``(x) the extent to which the housing assisted with the
grant amounts will be accessible to persons with
disabilities;
``(xi) the extent to which the applicant demonstrates that
the affordable housing assisted with the grant amounts will
be located in proximity to public transportation, job
opportunities, child care, and community revitalization
projects;
``(xii) the extent to which the applicant has provided that
assistance from grant amounts will be used for eligible
activities relating to housing located in census tracts in
which the number of families having incomes less than the
poverty line is less than 20 percent; and
``(xiii) the extent to which the housing assisted with
grant amounts will comply with energy efficiency standards
and the national Green Communities criteria checklist for
residential construction that provides criteria for the
design, development, and operation of affordable housing, as
the Secretary shall by regulation provide.
A State may allocate a portion of funds under this section
for use by such State for eligible activities pursuant to the
selection process under subparagraph (A).
``(C) Applications.--Applications for funding eligible
activities from grant amounts of the local government shall
be submitted to the local government, and applications
received by the local government that are consistent with the
priority housing needs of the local government shall be sent
by the local government to the State for selection by the
State in accordance with the process established by the
State.
``(3) Performance goals, benchmarks, and timetables.--The
allocation plan shall include performance goals, benchmarks,
and timetables for the participating jurisdiction
[[Page H11437]]
for the conducting of eligible activities with grant amounts
under this subtitle that comply with requirements and
standards for such goals, benchmarks, and timetables as the
Secretary shall, by regulation, establish.
``(d) Review and Approval by Secretary.--
``(1) Submission.--A participating jurisdiction described
in subsection (a) shall submit an allocation plan for the
fiscal year for which the grant is made to the Secretary not
later than the expiration of the 6-month period beginning
upon the notice of funding availability under section
294(b)(4) for such fiscal year amounts.
``(2) Review and approval or disapproval.--The Secretary
shall review and approve or disapprove an allocation plan not
later than the expiration of the 3-month period beginning
upon submission of the plan.
``(3) Standard for disapproval.--The Secretary may
disapprove an allocation plan only if the plan fails to
comply with requirements of this section or section 296.
``(4) Resubmission upon disapproval.--If the Secretary
disapproves a plan, the participating jurisdiction may submit
to the Secretary a revised plan for review and approval or
disapproval under this subsection.
``(5) Timing for fiscal year 2008.--With respect only to
fiscal year 2008, the Secretary may extend each of the
periods referred to in paragraphs (1) and (2), and the period
referred to in section 294(h)(1)(A), by not more than 6
months.
``(e) Compliance With Internal Revenue Code.--A State may
combine the allocation plan and process under this section
with the qualified allocation plan and process required under
section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
``SEC. 296. USE OF ASSISTANCE BY RECIPIENTS.
``(a) Distribution to Recipients; Use Requirements.--Each
participating jurisdiction shall distribute grant amounts
under this subtitle of the participating jurisdiction to
eligible recipients for use in accordance with this section.
Grant amounts under this subtitle of a participating
jurisdiction may be used, or committed for use, only for
eligible activities that--
``(1) are conducted in the jurisdiction of the
participating jurisdiction;
``(2) in the case of a participating jurisdiction that is a
State, insular area, participating local jurisdiction, or
participating jurisdiction under section 294(h), comply with
the allocation plan of the participating jurisdiction under
section 295;
``(3) are selected for funding by the participating
jurisdiction in accordance with the process and criteria for
such selection established pursuant to section 295(c)(2); and
``(4) comply with the targeting requirements under
subsection (c) of this section and the affordable housing
requirements under section 297.
``(b) Eligible Recipients.--Grant amounts under this
subtitle of a participating jurisdiction may be provided only
to an organization, agency, or other entity (including a for-
profit entity, a nonprofit entity, a faith-based
organization, a community development financial institution,
a community development corporation, and a State or local
housing trust fund) that--
``(1) demonstrates the experience, ability, and capacity
(including financial capacity) to undertake, comply, and
manage the eligible activity;
``(2) demonstrates its familiarly with the requirements of
any other Federal, State or local housing program that will
be used in conjunction with such grant amounts to ensure
compliance with all applicable requirements and regulations
of such programs; and
``(3) makes such assurances to the participating
jurisdiction as the Secretary shall, by regulation, require
to ensure that the recipient will comply with the
requirements of this subtitle during the entire period that
begins upon selection of the recipient to receive such grant
amounts and ending upon the conclusion of all eligible
activities that are engaged in by the recipient and funded
with such grant amounts.
``(c) Targeting Requirements.--The targeting requirements
under this subsection are as follows:
``(1) Requirement of use of all amounts for affordable
housing for low-income families.--All grant amounts under
this subtitle of a participating jurisdiction shall be
distributed for use only for eligible activities relating to
affordable housing that are for the benefit only of families
whose incomes do not exceed 80 percent of the greater of--
``(A) the median family income for the area in which the
housing is located, as determined by the Secretary with
adjustments for smaller and larger families; and
``(B) the median family income for the State or insular
area in which the housing is located, as determined by the
Secretary with adjustments for smaller and larger families.
``(2) Use of 75 percent for affordable housing for
extremely low-income families.--Not less than 75 percent of
the grant amounts under this subtitle of a participating
jurisdiction for each fiscal year shall be used only for
eligible activities relating to affordable housing that are
for the benefit only of families whose incomes do not exceed
the higher of--
``(A) 30 percent of the median family income for the area
in which the housing is located, as determined by the
Secretary with adjustments for smaller and larger families;
and
``(B) the poverty line (as such term is defined in section
673 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 (42
U.S.C. 9902), including any revision required by such
section) applicable to a family of the size involved.
``(3) Use of 30 percent for affordable housing for very
poor families.--Not less than 30 percent of the grant amounts
under this subtitle of a participating jurisdiction for each
fiscal year shall be used only for eligible activities
relating to affordable housing that are for the benefit only
of families whose incomes do not exceed the maximum amount of
income that an individual or family could have, taking into
consideration any income disregards, and remain eligible for
benefits under the Supplemental Security Income program under
title XVI of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1381 et
seq.).
``(d) Use for Rural Areas.--Of the grant amounts under this
subtitle for any fiscal year for any participating
jurisdiction that is a State or participating jurisdiction
that includes any rural areas, the State or participating
jurisdiction shall use a portion for eligible activities
located in rural areas that is proportionate to the
identified need for such activities in such rural areas.
``(e) Cost Limits.--The Secretary shall establish
limitations on the amount of grant amounts under this
subtitle that may be used, on a per unit basis, for eligible
activities. Such limitations shall be the same as the per
unit cost limits established pursuant to section 212(e) (42
U.S.C. 12742(e)), as adjusted annually, and established by
number of bedrooms, market area, and eligible activity.
``(f) Forms of Assistance.--
``(1) In general.--Assistance may be distributed pursuant
to this section in the form of--
``(A) capital grants, noninterest-bearing or low-interest
loans or advances, deferred payment loans, guarantees, and
loan loss reserves;
``(B) in the case of assistance for ownership of one- to
four-family owner-occupied housing, downpayment assistance,
closing cost assistance, and assistance for interest rate
buy-downs; and
``(C) any other forms of assistance approved by the
Secretary.
``(2) Repayments.--If a participating jurisdiction awards
assistance under this section in the form of a loan or other
mechanism by which funds are later repaid to the
participating jurisdiction, any repayments and returns
received by the participating jurisdiction shall be
distributed by the participating jurisdiction in accordance
with the allocation plan under section 295 for the State for
the fiscal year in which such repayments are made or returns
are received.
``(g) Coordination With Other Assistance.--In distributing
assistance pursuant to this section, each participating
jurisdiction shall, to the maximum extent practicable,
coordinate such distribution with the provision of other
Federal, State, tribal, and local housing assistance,
including--
``(1) in the case of any State, housing credit dollar
amounts allocated by the State under section 42(h) of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986;
``(2) assistance made available under subtitles A through F
(42 U.S.C. 12721 et seq.) or the community development block
grant program under title I of the Housing and Community
Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.);
``(3) private activity bonds;
``(4) assistance made available under section 9 of the
United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437g);
``(5) assistance made available under section 8(o) of the
United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o));
``(6) assistance made available under title V of the
Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1471 et seq.);
``(7) assistance made available under section 101 of the
Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act
of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4111);
``(8) assistance made available from any State or local
housing trust fund established to provide or assist in making
available affordable housing; and
``(9) any other housing assistance programs.
``(h) Prohibited Uses.--The Secretary shall--
``(1) by regulation, set forth prohibited uses of grant
amounts under this subtitle, which shall include use for--
``(A) political activities;
``(B) advocacy;
``(C) lobbying, whether directly or through other parties;
``(D) counseling services;
``(E) travel expenses; and
``(F) preparing or providing advice on tax returns;
``(2) by regulation, provide that, except as provided in
paragraph (3), grant amounts under this subtitle may not be
used for administrative, outreach, or other costs of--
``(A) a participating jurisdiction; or
``(B) any recipient of such grant amounts; and
``(3) by regulation, limit the amount of any grant amounts
under this subtitle for a fiscal year that may be used for
administrative costs of the participating jurisdiction of
carrying out the program required under this subtitle to a
percentage of such grant amounts of the participating
jurisdiction for such fiscal year, which may not exceed 10
percent.
``(i) Labor Standards.--Each participating jurisdiction
receiving grant amounts under this subtitle shall ensure that
contracts for eligible activities assisted with
[[Page H11438]]
such amounts comply with the same requirements under section
286 (42 U.S.C. 12836) that are applicable to contracts for
construction of affordable housing assisted under such Act.
``(j) Compliance With Other Federal Laws.--All amounts made
available for use under this subtitle shall be allocated in
accordance with, and any eligible activities carried out in
whole or in part with grant amounts under this subtitle
(including housing provided with such grant amounts) shall
comply with and be operated in compliance with, other
applicable provisions of Federal law, including--
``(1) laws relating to tenant protections and tenant rights
to participate in decision making regarding their residences;
``(2) laws requiring public participation, including laws
relating to Consolidated Plans, Qualified Allocation Plans,
and Public Housing Agency Plans; and
``(3) fair housing laws and laws regarding accessibility in
federally assisted housing, including section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
``SEC. 297. AFFORDABLE HOUSING.
``(a) Rental Housing.--A rental dwelling unit (which may
include a dwelling unit in limited equity cooperative
housing, as such term is defined in section 143(k) of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 143(k)) or in
housing of a cooperative housing corporation, as such term is
defined in section 216(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 (26 U.S.A. 216(b))), shall be considered affordable
housing for purposes of this subtitle only if the dwelling
unit is subject to legally binding commitments that ensure
that the dwelling unit meets all of the following
requirements:
``(1) Rents.--The dwelling unit bears a rent not greater
than the lesser of--
``(A) the existing fair market rental established by the
Secretary under section 8(c) of the United States Housing Act
of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(c)) for a dwelling unit of the same
size in the same market area, or the applicable payment
standard for assistance under section 8(o) of such Act, if
higher; and
``(B) a rent that does not exceed 30 percent of the
adjusted income of a family whose income equals 65 percent of
the median income for the area, as determined by the
Secretary, with adjustment for number of bedrooms in the
unit, except that the Secretary may establish income ceilings
higher or lower than 65 percent of the median for the area on
the basis of the findings of the Secretary that such
variations are necessary because of prevailing levels of
construction costs or fair market rents, or unusually high or
low family incomes.
``(2) Tenant rent contribution.--The contribution toward
rent by the family residing in the dwelling unit will not
exceed 30 percent of the adjusted income of such family.
``(3) Non-discrimination against voucher holders.--The
dwelling unit is located in a project in which all dwelling
units are subject to enforceable restrictions that provide
that a unit may not be refused for leasing to a holder of a
voucher of eligibility under section 8 of the United States
Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f) because of the status
of the prospective tenant as a holder of such voucher.
``(4) Mixed income.--
``(A) In general.--The dwelling unit is located in a
project in which not more than 50 percent of the rental units
in the project that receive assistance under this subtitle
and are not previously occupied may be rented initially to
families with incomes described in section 295(c)(2), as
determined at a reasonable time before occupancy.
``(B) Exceptions.--Subparagraph (A) shall not apply in the
case of a project having 25 or fewer dwelling units that is--
``(i) located in a census tract in which the number of
families having incomes less than the poverty line is less
than 20 percent;
``(ii) located in a rural area, as such term is defined in
section 520 of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1490); or
``(iii) specifically made available only for households
comprised of elderly families or disabled families.
``(5) Visitability.--To the extent the dwelling unit is not
required under Federal law to comply with standards relating
to accessibility to persons with disabilities, the dwelling
unit complies with such basic visitability standards as the
Secretary shall by regulation provide.
``(6) Duration of use.--The dwelling unit will continue to
be subject to all requirements under this subsection for not
less than 50 years.
``(b) Owner-Occupied Housing.--For purposes of any eligible
activity involving one- to four-family owner-occupied housing
(which may include housing of a cooperative housing
corporation, as such term is defined in section 216(b) of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.A. 216(b))), such a
residence shall be considered affordable housing for purposes
of this subtitle only if--
``(1) in the case of housing to be made available for
purchase--
``(A) the housing is available for purchase only for use as
a principal residence by families that qualify as first-time
homebuyers, as such term is defined in section 104 (42 U.S.C.
12704), except that any reference in such section to
assistance under title II of this Act shall for purposes of
this section be considered to refer to assistance from grant
amounts under this subtitle;
``(B) the housing has an initial purchase price that meets
the requirements of section 215(b)(1); and
``(C) the housing is subject to the same resale
restrictions established under section 215(b)(3) and
applicable to the participating jurisdiction that is the
State in which such housing is located; and
``(2) the housing is made available for purchase only by,
or in the case of assistance to a homebuyer pursuant to this
subsection, the assistance is made available only to,
homebuyers who have, before purchase, completed a program of
counseling with respect to the responsibilities and financial
management involved in homeownership that is approved by the
Secretary; except that the Secretary may, at the request of a
State, waive the requirements of this paragraph with respect
to a geographic area or areas within the State if--
``(A) the travel time or distance involved in providing
counseling with respect to such area or areas, as otherwise
required under this paragraph, on an in-person basis is
excessive or the cost of such travel is prohibitive; and
``(B) the State provides alternative forms of counseling
for such area or areas, which may include interactive
telephone counseling, on-line counseling, interactive video
counseling, and interactive home study counseling and a
program of financial literacy and education to promote an
understanding of consumer, economic, and personal finance
issues and concepts, including saving for retirement,
managing credit, long-term care, and estate planning and
education on predatory lending, identity theft, and financial
abuse schemes relating to homeownership that is approved by
the Secretary, except that entities providing such counseling
shall not discriminate against any particular form of
housing; and
``SEC. 298. OTHER PROVISIONS.
``(a) Effect of Assistance Under Program.--Notwithstanding
any other provision of law, the provision of assistance under
this subtitle for a project shall not reduce the amount of
assistance for which such project is otherwise eligible under
subtitles A through F of this title, if the project does not
exceed the cost limits established pursuant to section
296(e).
``(b) Accountability of Participating Jurisdictions and
Recipients.--
``(1) Recipients.--
``(A) Tracking of funds.--The Secretary shall--
``(i) require each participating jurisdiction to develop
and maintain a system to ensure that each recipient of
assistance from grant amounts under this subtitle of the
participating jurisdiction uses such amounts in accordance
with this subtitle, the regulations issued under this
subtitle, and any requirements or conditions under which such
amounts were provided; and
``(ii) establish minimum requirements for agreements,
between the participating jurisdiction and recipients,
regarding assistance from the grant amounts under this
subtitle of the participating jurisdiction, which shall
include--
``(I) appropriate continuing financial and project
reporting, record retention, and audit requirements for the
duration of the grant to the recipient to ensure compliance
with the limitations and requirements of this subtitle and
the regulations under this subtitle; and
``(II) any other requirements that the Secretary determines
are necessary to ensure appropriate grant administration and
compliance.
``(B) Misuse of funds.--
``(i) Reimbursement requirement.--If any recipient of
assistance from grant amounts under this subtitle of a
participating jurisdiction is determined, in accordance with
clause (ii), to have used any such amounts in a manner that
is materially in violation of this subtitle, the regulations
issued under this subtitle, or any requirements or conditions
under which such amounts were provided, the participating
jurisdiction shall require that, within 12 months after the
determination of such misuse, the recipient shall reimburse
the participating jurisdiction for such misused amounts and
return to the participating jurisdiction any amounts from the
grant amounts under this subtitle of the participating
jurisdiction that remain unused or uncommitted for use. The
remedies under this clause are in addition to any other
remedies that may be available under law.
``(ii) Determination.--A determination is made in
accordance with this clause if the determination is--
``(I) made by the Secretary ; or
``(II)(aa) made by the participating jurisdiction;
``(bb) the participating jurisdiction provides notification
of the determination to the Secretary for review, in the
discretion of the Secretary, of the determination; and
``(cc) the Secretary does not subsequently reverse the
determination.
``(2) Participating jurisdictions.--
``(A) Report.--
``(i) In general.--The Secretary shall require each
participating jurisdiction receiving grant amounts under this
subtitle for a fiscal year to submit a report, for such
fiscal year, to the Secretary that--
``(I) describes the activities funded under this subtitle
during such year with the grant amounts under this subtitle
of the participating jurisdiction; and
``(II) the manner in which the participating jurisdiction
complied during such fiscal year
[[Page H11439]]
with the allocation plan established pursuant to section 295
for the participating jurisdiction.
``(ii) Public availability.--The Secretary shall make such
reports pursuant to this subparagraph publicly available.
``(B) Misuse of funds.--If the Secretary determines, after
reasonable notice and opportunity for hearing, that a
participating jurisdiction has failed to comply substantially
with any provision of this subtitle and until the Secretary
is satisfied that there is no longer any such failure to
comply, the Secretary shall--
``(i) reduce the amount of assistance under this section to
the participating jurisdiction by an amount equal to the
amount of grant amounts under this subtitle which were not
used in accordance with this subtitle;
``(ii) require the participating jurisdiction to repay the
Secretary an amount equal to the amount of the grant amounts
under this subtitle which were not used in accordance with
this subtitle;
``(iii) limit the availability of assistance under this
subtitle to the participating jurisdiction to activities or
recipients not affected by such failure to comply; or
``(iv) terminate any assistance under this subtitle to the
participating jurisdiction.
``(C) Unexpended funds.--Grant amounts under this subtitle
that are not committed to projects by the State or
participating local jurisdiction before the expiration of the
24-month period beginning the last day of the month in which
the Secretary executes the grant agreement with the State or
participating local jurisdiction shall be recaptured by the
Secretary and added to amounts available in the following
fiscal year for formula allocation under section 294.
``SEC. 299. DEFINITIONS.
``For purposes of this subtitle, the following definitions
shall apply:
``(1) Eligible activities.--The term `eligible activities'
means activities relating to the construction, preservation,
or rehabilitation of affordable rental housing or affordable
one- to four-family owner-occupied housing, including--
``(A) the construction of new housing;
``(B) the acquisition of real property;
``(C) site preparation and improvement, including
demolition;
``(D) rehabilitation of existing housing;
``(E) use of funds to facilitate affordability for homeless
and other extremely low-income households of dwelling units
assisted with grant amounts under this subtitle, in a
combined amount not to exceed 20 percent of the project grant
amount, for--
``(i) project-based rental assistance for not more than 12
months for a project assisted with grant amounts under this
subtitle;
``(ii) project operating reserves for use to cover the loss
of rental assistance or in conjunction with a project loan;
or
``(iii) project operating accounts used to cover net
operating income shortfalls for dwelling units assisted with
grant amounts under this subtitle; and
``(F) providing incentives to maintain existing housing
(including manufactured housing) as affordable housing and to
establish or extend any low-income affordability restrictions
for such housing, including covering capital expenditures and
costs of establishing community land trusts to provide sites
for manufactured housing provided such incentives;
``(2) Eligible recipient.--The term `eligible recipient'
means an entity that meets the requirements under section
296(b) for receipt of grant amounts under this subtitle of a
participating jurisdiction.
``(3) Extremely low vacancy rate.--The term `extremely low
vacancy rate' means a housing or rental vacancy rate of 2
percent or less.
``(4) Extremely old housing.--The term `extremely old
housing' means housing that is 45 years old or older.
``(5) Families.--The term `families' has the meaning given
such term in section 3(b) of the United States Housing Act of
1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)).
``(6) Fiscal distress; severe fiscal distress.--The terms
`fiscal distress' and `severe fiscal distress' have the
meanings given such terms in section 220(d).
``(7) Grant amounts.--The term `grant amounts' means
amounts that are provided to a participating jurisdiction
pursuant to subsection (d), (f), or (h) of section 294.
``(8) Indian tribe.--The term `Indian tribe' means a
federally recognized Indian tribe.
``(9) Insular area.--The term `insular area' has the
meaning given such term in section 104.
``(10) Participating local jurisdiction.--The term
`participating local jurisdiction' means, with respect to a
fiscal year--
``(A) any unit of general local government (as such term is
defined in section 104 (42 U.S.C. 12704) that qualifies as a
participating jurisdiction under section 216 (42 U.S.C.
12746) for such fiscal year; and
``(B) at the option of such a consortium, any consortium of
units of general local governments that is designated
pursuant to section 216 (42 U.S.C. 12746) as a participating
jurisdiction for purposes of title II.
``(11) Participating jurisdiction.--The term `participating
jurisdiction' means--
``(A) a State, insular area, or participating local
jurisdiction for which a grant is made under section 294(d);
``(B) an Indian tribe for which a grant is made under
section 294(f); or
``(C) a nonprofit or public entity for which a grant is
made under section 294(h).
``(12) Poverty line.--The term `poverty line' has the
meaning given such term in section 673(2) of the Omnibus
Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981, including any revision
required by such section.
``(13) Recipient.--The term `recipient' means an entity
that receives assistance from a participating jurisdiction,
pursuant to section 296(a), from grant amounts under this
subtitle of the participating jurisdiction.
``(14) Rural area.--The term `rural area' has the meaning
given such term in section 520 of the Housing Act of 1949 (42
U.S.C. 1490).
``(15) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the Secretary
of Housing and Urban Development.
``(16) State.--The term `State' has the meaning given such
term in section 104.
``SEC. 300. INAPPLICABILITY OF HOME PROVISIONS.
``Except as specifically provided otherwise in this
subtitle, no requirement under, or provision of, subtitles B
through D of this title shall apply to assistance provided
under this subtitle.
``SEC. 301. REGULATIONS AND REPORTS.
``(a) Regulations.--Not later than 6 months after the date
of enactment of the National Affordable Housing Grant Act of
2007, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall
promulgate regulations to carry out this subtitle, which
shall include regulations establishing the affordable housing
needs formula in accordance with section 294(a).
``(b) Reports on HOME Program Streamlining.--Not later than
the expiration of the 6-month period referred to in
subsection (a), the Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development and the Comptroller General of the United States
shall each submit to the Congress a report making
recommendations for streamlining the various programs for
assistance under this title, including the HOME Investment
Partnerships program under subtitle A, the Community Housing
Partnership program under subtitle B, the Downpayment
Assistance Initiative under subtitle E, and the National
Affordable Housing Grant Program under this subtitle.''.
(b) Program Year for Matching Contributions.--Section 220
of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42
U.S.C. 12750) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)--
(A) by striking ``a fiscal year'' and inserting ``a program
year of the jurisdiction''; and
(B) by striking ``such fiscal year'' and inserting ``such
program year''; and
(2) in subsection (d)--
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``fiscal year'' and
inserting ``program year of the jurisdiction'';
(B) in paragraph (3), by striking ``fiscal year'' each
place such term appears and inserting ``program year''; and
(C) in paragraph (5), by striking ``fiscal year'' and
inserting ``program year of the jurisdiction''.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to House Resolution 720, the gentleman
from Texas (Mr. Neugebauer) and a Member opposed each will control 10
minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas.
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
I was really tempted here to let the chairman be my designee on this,
with the hopes that I would have the same success on my amendment as he
had on those that he was acting as designee on, but since I'm here,
I'll act in my own behalf.
Mr. Chairman, one of the things we've heard a lot today about is that
there is a need for making sure that we are taking care of our most
neediest Americans when it comes to their housing needs. What we've
also learned, though, is that there are a lot of programs out there, 70
something housing programs, 30 some odd that may be addressed as some
form of housing for our low-income citizens.
One of the things that I think the American people are kind of
concerned about is they keep hearing that government solution to all of
the problems. If we're not doing a good job with the programs we have,
let's add another program, and I think they're getting kind of tired of
that. So one of the things that my amendment does is it makes an
existing program, it incorporates many of the good ideas, and may I
say, Mr. Chairman, there are some good ideas that have come in this
particular piece of legislation, updating it. And what I'm talking
about is the HOME program. The HOME program currently does a lot of the
functions. In fact, when you look at the HOME program in this bill,
many of those overlap. And yet we're now going to separate into two
different funds an affordable housing fund and a HOME program. Instead
of using the combined resources of those two programs to help further
the housing situation, we're going to have two different.
[[Page H11440]]
When we talk about the fact that we're already spending over $28
billion for affordable housing, low-income housing, and then we're
going to take money out of one pocket and put it over to an area
separate from that, quite honestly, Congress will not have the
opportunity to really sit down and assess, hey, where are the American
people, where are the people that are the recipients of low-income
money, the people who are benefiting from this housing, where are we
getting the best bang for our buck? But instead, we are separating
those programs. I don't think that is good policy.
The other issue here is that many communities, almost every State in
the Union, and I think like 350 or 360, maybe it's a larger number, I
don't have it in front of me, communities are already participating in
the HOME program, they already have some familiarity with that program.
And so now we're going to take the ramp-up time of having to learn a
new program, to write the rules for it, to do all of the things that it
takes to get a new program off the ground. We're going to have to form
a new branch of government within the Department of Housing to be able
to ramp up and have the employees that it needs to do this, another
inefficiency of adding additional programs to something that maybe
we're not satisfied with. And I would agree, there may be some things
that need to happen in the HOME program that would make it more
relevant today. But, quite honestly, adding a new program I don't think
is in the best interest of the American people. It's not a good, wise
use of their taxpayer dollars. And I believe we can create a more
efficient delivery system using an existing program.
What my amendment also does is says, look, GAO, go in and analyze
what's going on, work with the various housing partnerships, let's
determine some of the things that we need to do to the HOME program.
Let's make those changes, and then let's make the HOME program a better
program incorporating many of the good ideas, even that we've seen in
some of the amendments here.
Mr. Chairman, we had, I believe, seven amendments from the Democratic
side, unfortunately, and I appreciate the Rules Committee making mine
in order, but I think we had some other good ideas from some of my
colleagues on my side of the aisle that we could have incorporated into
this legislation.
So that's the reason I'm down on the floor today offering this
amendment. I'm encouraging my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, if
you're really serious about two or three things, and let's talk about
those things; one, are you interested in making sure that we have the
most efficient delivery system to our low-income families to make sure
that they have housing? If you're interested in that. Secondly, if you
want to do that in a way that's a good steward of the American
taxpayer's dollars, that's another reason to vote for this amendment.
And thirdly, if you believe that we ought to be able to prioritize our
spending and not separate into a different fund, separate and aside
from what we're already doing for a lot of our low-income housing
families, then the Neugebauer amendment is the amendment that you
should vote on. It will actually move us more quickly in a direction of
being able to implement a lot of the things that I think people on both
sides of the aisle want to do, and that is, make sure that we get the
money out to these families that need our assistance and help.
And with that, Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. The gentleman is recognized for 10 minutes.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Chairman, this is an unusual
amendment. The actual author offered it, and the Member rising in
opposition actually opposes it for the first time today. And I
appreciate the cooperation we've had.
I want to say that I appreciate, not just that, but the gentleman
from Texas, who has been a very constructive member of the committee.
We have some differences. That's why we have different parties. But we
have a great deal in agreement. And the gentleman's expertise in the
homebuilding field has been very helpful as our committee has gone
forward. And here is, perhaps, a philosophical difference between us.
The main difference here is that the gentleman's amendment,
recognizing, as he does from his own experience, the value of
additional housing construction, would do away with our two funding
sources. Now, we chose to go in addition to the HOME program, which is
the one program where there is a parallel, for a couple of reasons.
First of all, the HOME program is, of course, subject to annual
appropriations, and that's appropriate for most government work. But we
did want to have in the government a program for housing construction
that had a little bit more assurance for people than an annual
appropriation. Appropriations get caught up in omnibus issues, CR
issues. The trust fund will be outside of the kind of deadlock that we
have had in the past and may, we hope not, but may have in the future.
If you're trying to build housing, the notion that your funding has
been slowed down because there has been a fight over some unrelated
issue, like the debate about the Iraq war funding, could slow you down,
we want to avoid that, so we keep the HOME program. But we have an
additional program, and again, it's for the construction of affordable
housing, unlike any other program, except HOME, and we want to give it
some assurance to operate in a trust fund. And this is, to some extent,
modeled after the highway trust fund. It is a trust fund that will
still be subject to work by the Appropriations Committee, but it won't
be bogged down as the rest of the government gets bogged down, and
that's important when you are doing construction when you have an
ongoing situation.
Secondly, we do have two additional funding sources. Now, there is
some debate about that. I do want to stress, in the FHA bill, which was
already voted on by the House, we say in the first place that if any
question arises about the solvency of the fund, if the FHA fund should
appear to be in trouble, not a penny can go into the affordable housing
fund that year. Only after the HUD Secretary has certified that the
money won't be needed to hold down premiums or prevent insolvency will
this go forward.
We have said that by the creation of a new funding stream, namely,
allowing an unlimited amount of home equity and mortgages, we get a lot
of money that CBO made available. And I should note, by the way, that
some of that money, as the gentleman from Texas, among others, have
suggested, has gone to upgrade the computer system of the FHA. Some of
it will go for a great increase in counseling to homeowners, which is,
again, supported on both sides. A good chunk will be left over, we're
not sure exactly how much, we hope it will be $200 million a year. But
it only goes to the housing trust fund if it would otherwise have gone
to the Treasury. There is zero chance, the way this bill is written,
for it to force that kind of an increase. That, by the way, is why CBO
gives us a flat score on this. There is no budget deficit situation
here at all.
Similarly, with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and here I have to say
some of my Republican colleagues have been a little inconsistent, the
administration, some of them, they've been critical of Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac. They've said, you know, we give all these advantages to
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a line of credit, some people think they're
government-run, there used to be government members on the board,
although we will not have that if our bill passes, and here they are,
they're making all these profits and they're not doing enough for
public purposes. Well, in our Fannie and Freddie bill, we amend that to
some extent by increasing the housing goals they have by dropping the
credit they get from 100 percent to 80 percent immediately. But we also
say, you know what? You've been doing pretty well, you're making a lot
of money and your sales are doing well, so without in any way impinging
on your mortgage functioning, we are going to take some of the profit
you've made and put it in the affordable housing trust fund.
By the way, I find it a little odd that people who have said that we
should basically reduce the portfolio of Fannie and Freddie and make
them securitize more, which they believe will do more damage to their
ability to function
[[Page H11441]]
than anything else, that now they become very concerned when we talk
about a housing trust fund. I should be clear that that does not
describe the gentleman from Texas, who understands very well how best
to help Fannie and Freddie. And I think we put through a bill that will
enhance their ability to function while better regulating them.
So, in other words, we have 800 or $900 million, we hope, in the
first year, and we hope it will go up. And this is the main difference
between us, it doesn't come from appropriated funds. And I believe we
have written it so it will not interfere with either Fannie and Freddie
or FHA's ability to function. And we do not create a new bureaucracy.
We distribute it to the State and local housing funds. Indeed, many of
the amendments that we've adopted here in agreement by both sides, and
some that we adopted in committee, I was looking it over, in committee
we adopted a number of amendments, more from the Republican side than
the Democratic side because I don't have to worry about other people
telling me where we are on that. We have, in every one of these
amendments, increased the flexibility for the local housing trust
funds.
So with that, I hope that the substitute is defeated and that we will
continue to improve this bill.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Chairman, may I inquire as to how much time is
remaining on both sides?
The Acting CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Texas has 5 minutes
remaining; the gentleman from Massachusetts has 4\1/2\ minutes
remaining.
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. At this time, I would like to yield 3 minutes to the
gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert), who is the former ranking
member of the Housing Subcommittee.
Mrs. BIGGERT. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Neugebauer amendment. I think
that we have to look at bureaucracy. And I must say that I think that
the existing federally administered program designed to serve the
housing needs of low-income Americans, the HOME Investment Partnership
Program, is a program that's already in place. It has the personnel
system, the regulatory oversight in place to accomplish the same
objective as the National Housing Trust Fund. And instead of creating a
new Federal bureaucracy to address low-income housing availability, I
think we should focus our efforts on improving the HOME program. Mr.
Neugebauer's amendment creates a pilot program, and I think we could
call it ``HOME Lite,'' within the HOME program. And so instead of
reinventing the wheel and establishing another Federal trust fund and a
brand new program, I support improving and being creative with an
existing program.
If we look at the HOME program, the staff is already participating,
they understand the jurisdictions the HOME program will be looking at,
and so there is no learning curve for implementation. Revitalizing the
HOME program will be more efficient by having less start-up costs,
administrative costs, and the funds will be distributed to the project
sooner, and not later.
{time} 1430
At the same time, I think the national trust fund would be
administered by exactly the same people who will be administering the
program in the States and at the local level, so it will be able to
allow them to operate under one program instead of two separate
programs with a little different objectives but not much. So they will
be doing the same thing twice and having to work with two different
bureaucracies to establish an affordable housing program. So I think
there might be some changes to the HOME program to align it more
closely to some of the things that have been spoken about in the trust
fund program. But I think that this would be a good compromise and
would still have the trust program that will provide the affordable
funding but do it through HUD at a program that has already been
established.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Chairman, I just want to close by saying that 50
States, 585 local communities, are already using the HOME program as a
model for building and developing low-income housing in their
communities. It just makes sense that we take an existing program, make
the revisions that have really made, there are some good ideas that
have come through this legislation, let's incorporate those ideas into
the HOME program. Let's take an existing vehicle. Let's ask the United
States Congress to prioritize where they think that we are getting the
most bang for our bucks as we deliver low-income housing programs for
the American people and for the people that need them so badly. Let's
do it right. The right way to do it is to take this existing program
and fold into it many of the good ideas that have come from that.
Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.
I yield back the balance of my time.
The Acting CHAIRMAN (Mr. Ross). The question is on the amendment
offered by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Neugebauer).
The question was taken; and the Acting Chairman announced that the
noes appeared to have it.
Mr. NEUGEBAUER. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule XVIII, further
proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Texas will
be postponed.
Announcement by the Acting Chairman
The Acting CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule XVIII, proceedings
will now resume on those amendments printed in House Report 110-369 on
which further proceedings were postponed, in the following order:
Amendment No. 1 by Mr. Frank of Massachusetts;
Amendment No. 8 by Mr. Neugebauer of Texas.
The first electronic vote will be conducted as a 15-minute vote.
Remaining electronic votes will be conducted as 5-minute votes.
Amendment No. 1 Offered by Mr. Frank of Massachusetts
The Acting CHAIRMAN. The unfinished business is the demand for a
recorded vote on the amendment offered by the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Frank) on which further proceedings were postponed
and on which the ayes prevailed by voice vote.
The Clerk will redesignate the amendment.
The Clerk redesignated the amendment.
Recorded Vote
The Acting CHAIRMAN. A recorded vote has been demanded.
A recorded vote was ordered.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 418,
noes 2, not voting 16, as follows:
[Roll No. 955]
AYES--418
Abercrombie
Ackerman
Aderholt
Akin
Alexander
Allen
Altmire
Andrews
Arcuri
Baca
Bachmann
Bachus
Baird
Baker
Baldwin
Barrett (SC)
Barrow
Bartlett (MD)
Barton (TX)
Becerra
Berkley
Berman
Berry
Biggert
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bishop (GA)
Bishop (NY)
Bishop (UT)
Blackburn
Blumenauer
Blunt
Boehner
Bonner
Bono
Boozman
Boswell
Boucher
Boustany
Boyd (FL)
Boyda (KS)
Brady (PA)
Brady (TX)
Braley (IA)
Broun (GA)
Brown (SC)
Brown, Corrine
Brown-Waite, Ginny
Buchanan
Burgess
Burton (IN)
Butterfield
Buyer
Calvert
Camp (MI)
Campbell (CA)
Cannon
Cantor
Capito
Capps
Capuano
Cardoza
Carnahan
Carney
Carter
Castle
Castor
Chabot
Chandler
Christensen
Clarke
Clay
Cleaver
Clyburn
Coble
Cohen
Cole (OK)
Conaway
Conyers
Cooper
Costa
Costello
Courtney
Cramer
Crenshaw
Crowley
Cuellar
Culberson
Cummings
Davis (AL)
Davis (CA)
Davis (IL)
Davis (KY)
Davis, David
Davis, Lincoln
Davis, Tom
Deal (GA)
DeFazio
Delahunt
DeLauro
Dent
Diaz-Balart, L.
Diaz-Balart, M.
Dicks
Dingell
Doggett
Donnelly
Doolittle
Doyle
Drake
Dreier
Duncan
Edwards
Ehlers
Ellison
Ellsworth
Emanuel
Emerson
Engel
English (PA)
Eshoo
Etheridge
Everett
Fallin
Farr
Fattah
Feeney
Ferguson
Filner
Flake
Forbes
Fortenberry
Fortuno
Fossella
Foxx
Frank (MA)
Franks (AZ)
Frelinghuysen
Gallegly
Garrett (NJ)
Gerlach
Giffords
Gilchrest
Gillibrand
Gingrey
Gohmert
Gonzalez
Goode
Goodlatte
Gordon
Granger
Graves
Green, Al
Green, Gene
Grijalva
Gutierrez
Hall (NY)
Hall (TX)
Hare
Harman
Hastert
[[Page H11442]]
Hastings (FL)
Hastings (WA)
Hayes
Heller
Hensarling
Herger
Herseth Sandlin
Higgins
Hill
Hinchey
Hinojosa
Hirono
Hobson
Hodes
Hoekstra
Holden
Holt
Honda
Hooley
Hoyer
Hulshof
Hunter
Inglis (SC)
Inslee
Israel
Issa
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jefferson
Johnson (GA)
Johnson, Sam
Jones (NC)
Jones (OH)
Jordan
Kagen
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Keller
Kennedy
Kildee
Kilpatrick
Kind
King (IA)
King (NY)
Kingston
Kirk
Klein (FL)
Kline (MN)
Knollenberg
Kucinich
Kuhl (NY)
LaHood
Lamborn
Lampson
Langevin
Lantos
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Latham
LaTourette
Lee
Levin
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (GA)
Lewis (KY)
Linder
Lipinski
LoBiondo
Loebsack
Lofgren, Zoe
Lowey
Lucas
Lungren, Daniel E.
Lynch
Mack
Mahoney (FL)
Manzullo
Marchant
Markey
Marshall
Matheson
Matsui
McCarthy (CA)
McCarthy (NY)
McCaul (TX)
McCollum (MN)
McCotter
McCrery
McDermott
McGovern
McHenry
McHugh
McIntyre
McKeon
McMorris Rodgers
McNerney
McNulty
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Melancon
Mica
Michaud
Miller (FL)
Miller (MI)
Miller (NC)
Miller, George
Mitchell
Mollohan
Moore (KS)
Moore (WI)
Moran (KS)
Moran (VA)
Murphy (CT)
Murphy, Patrick
Murphy, Tim
Murtha
Musgrave
Myrick
Napolitano
Neal (MA)
Neugebauer
Norton
Nunes
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Pallone
Pascrell
Pastor
Paul
Payne
Pearce
Pence
Perlmutter
Peterson (MN)
Petri
Pickering
Pitts
Platts
Poe
Pomeroy
Porter
Price (GA)
Price (NC)
Pryce (OH)
Putnam
Radanovich
Rahall
Ramstad
Rangel
Regula
Rehberg
Renzi
Reyes
Reynolds
Richardson
Rodriguez
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (MI)
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Roskam
Ross
Rothman
Roybal-Allard
Royce
Ruppersberger
Rush
Ryan (OH)
Ryan (WI)
Salazar
Sali
Sanchez, Linda T.
Sanchez, Loretta
Sarbanes
Saxton
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schmidt
Schwartz
Scott (GA)
Scott (VA)
Sensenbrenner
Serrano
Sessions
Sestak
Shadegg
Shays
Shea-Porter
Sherman
Shimkus
Shuler
Shuster
Simpson
Sires
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Smith (WA)
Snyder
Solis
Souder
Space
Spratt
Stark
Stearns
Stupak
Sullivan
Sutton
Tancredo
Tanner
Tauscher
Taylor
Terry
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Thornberry
Tiahrt
Tiberi
Tierney
Towns
Turner
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Upton
Van Hollen
Velazquez
Visclosky
Walberg
Walden (OR)
Walsh (NY)
Walz (MN)
Wamp
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson
Watt
Waxman
Welch (VT)
Weldon (FL)
Weller
Westmoreland
Wexler
Whitfield
Wicker
Wilson (NM)
Wilson (SC)
Wolf
Woolsey
Wu
Wynn
Yarmuth
Young (AK)
Young (FL)
NOES--2
Nadler
Weiner
NOT VOTING--16
Bean
Bordallo
Boren
Carson
Cubin
DeGette
Faleomavaega
Jindal
Johnson (IL)
Johnson, E. B.
Maloney (NY)
Miller, Gary
Peterson (PA)
Reichert
Rogers (KY)
Wilson (OH)
{time} 1457
Mr. WEINER changed his vote from ``aye'' to ``no.''
Mrs. MYRICK and Messrs. CAMPBELL of California, TANCREDO, MILLER of
Florida, TERRY, BRADY of Texas, WILSON of South Carolina and BILIRAKIS
changed their vote from ``no'' to ``aye.''
So the amendment was agreed to.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
Amendment No. 8 Offered by Mr. Neugebauer
The Acting CHAIRMAN. The unfinished business is the demand for a
recorded vote on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Neugebauer) on which further proceedings were postponed and on which
the noes prevailed by voice vote.
The Clerk will redesignate the amendment.
The Clerk redesignated the amendment.
Recorded Vote
The Acting CHAIRMAN. A recorded vote has been demanded.
A recorded vote was ordered.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. This will be a 5-minute vote.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 163,
noes 257, not voting 16, as follows:
[Roll No. 956]
AYES--163
Aderholt
Akin
Alexander
Bachmann
Bachus
Baker
Barrett (SC)
Bartlett (MD)
Barton (TX)
Biggert
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bishop (UT)
Blackburn
Blunt
Boehner
Bonner
Bono
Boozman
Boustany
Brady (TX)
Broun (GA)
Brown (SC)
Brown-Waite, Ginny
Buchanan
Burgess
Burton (IN)
Buyer
Calvert
Camp (MI)
Campbell (CA)
Cannon
Cantor
Carter
Chabot
Coble
Conaway
Crenshaw
Culberson
Davis (KY)
Davis, David
Deal (GA)
Diaz-Balart, L.
Diaz-Balart, M.
Doolittle
Drake
Dreier
Duncan
Ehlers
Everett
Fallin
Feeney
Forbes
Fortenberry
Fossella
Foxx
Franks (AZ)
Gallegly
Garrett (NJ)
Gilchrest
Gingrey
Gohmert
Goode
Goodlatte
Granger
Hall (TX)
Hastert
Hastings (WA)
Hayes
Heller
Hensarling
Herger
Hobson
Hulshof
Hunter
Inglis (SC)
Issa
Johnson, Sam
Jones (NC)
Jordan
Keller
King (IA)
King (NY)
Kingston
Kirk
Kline (MN)
Knollenberg
Kuhl (NY)
LaHood
Lamborn
Latham
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (KY)
Linder
Lucas
Lungren, Daniel E.
Mack
Manzullo
Marchant
McCarthy (CA)
McCaul (TX)
McCotter
McCrery
McHenry
McKeon
McMorris Rodgers
Mica
Miller (FL)
Miller (MI)
Moran (KS)
Musgrave
Myrick
Neugebauer
Nunes
Paul
Pearce
Pence
Petri
Pitts
Poe
Porter
Price (GA)
Pryce (OH)
Putnam
Radanovich
Regula
Rehberg
Reynolds
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (MI)
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Roskam
Royce
Ryan (WI)
Sali
Schmidt
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Shadegg
Shimkus
Shuster
Smith (NE)
Smith (TX)
Souder
Stearns
Sullivan
Tancredo
Terry
Thornberry
Tiahrt
Tiberi
Turner
Wamp
Weldon (FL)
Weller
Westmoreland
Wicker
Wilson (NM)
Wilson (SC)
Wolf
Young (AK)
Young (FL)
NOES--257
Abercrombie
Ackerman
Allen
Altmire
Andrews
Arcuri
Baca
Baird
Baldwin
Barrow
Becerra
Berkley
Berman
Berry
Bishop (GA)
Bishop (NY)
Blumenauer
Bordallo
Boswell
Boucher
Boyd (FL)
Boyda (KS)
Brady (PA)
Braley (IA)
Brown, Corrine
Butterfield
Capito
Capps
Capuano
Cardoza
Carnahan
Carney
Castle
Castor
Chandler
Christensen
Clarke
Clay
Cleaver
Clyburn
Cohen
Conyers
Cooper
Costa
Costello
Courtney
Cramer
Crowley
Cuellar
Cummings
Davis (AL)
Davis (CA)
Davis (IL)
Davis, Lincoln
Davis, Tom
DeFazio
DeGette
Delahunt
DeLauro
Dent
Dicks
Dingell
Doggett
Donnelly
Doyle
Edwards
Ellison
Ellsworth
Emanuel
Emerson
Engel
English (PA)
Eshoo
Etheridge
Farr
Fattah
Ferguson
Filner
Flake
Fortuno
Frank (MA)
Frelinghuysen
Gerlach
Giffords
Gillibrand
Gonzalez
Gordon
Graves
Green, Al
Green, Gene
Grijalva
Gutierrez
Hall (NY)
Hare
Harman
Hastings (FL)
Herseth Sandlin
Higgins
Hill
Hinchey
Hinojosa
Hirono
Hodes
Hoekstra
Holden
Holt
Honda
Hooley
Hoyer
Inslee
Israel
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jefferson
Johnson (GA)
Jones (OH)
Kagen
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Kennedy
Kildee
Kilpatrick
Kind
Klein (FL)
Kucinich
Lampson
Langevin
Lantos
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
LaTourette
Lee
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Lipinski
LoBiondo
Loebsack
Lofgren, Zoe
Lowey
Lynch
Mahoney (FL)
Markey
Marshall
Matheson
Matsui
McCarthy (NY)
McCollum (MN)
McDermott
McGovern
McHugh
McIntyre
McNerney
McNulty
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Melancon
Michaud
Miller (NC)
Miller, George
Mitchell
Mollohan
Moore (KS)
Moore (WI)
Moran (VA)
Murphy (CT)
Murphy, Patrick
Murphy, Tim
Murtha
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal (MA)
Norton
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Pallone
Pascrell
Pastor
Payne
Perlmutter
Peterson (MN)
Pickering
Platts
Pomeroy
Price (NC)
Rahall
Ramstad
Renzi
Reyes
Richardson
Rodriguez
Ross
Rothman
Roybal-Allard
Ruppersberger
Rush
Ryan (OH)
Salazar
Sanchez, Linda T.
Sanchez, Loretta
Sarbanes
Saxton
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schwartz
Scott (GA)
Scott (VA)
Serrano
Sestak
Shays
Shea-Porter
Sherman
Shuler
Simpson
Sires
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (NJ)
Smith (WA)
Snyder
Solis
Space
Spratt
Stark
Stupak
Sutton
Tanner
Tauscher
Taylor
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Tierney
Towns
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Upton
Van Hollen
Velazquez
Visclosky
Walberg
Walden (OR)
Walsh (NY)
Walz (MN)
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson
Watt
Waxman
Weiner
Welch (VT)
Wexler
Whitfield
Woolsey
Wu
Wynn
Yarmuth
[[Page H11443]]
NOT VOTING--16
Bean
Boren
Carson
Cole (OK)
Cubin
Faleomavaega
Jindal
Johnson (IL)
Johnson, E. B.
Maloney (NY)
Miller, Gary
Peterson (PA)
Rangel
Reichert
Rogers (KY)
Wilson (OH)
Announcement by the Acting Chairman
The Acting CHAIRMAN (during the vote). Members are advised there are
2 minutes remaining on this vote.
{time} 1505
Ms. BORDALLO changed her vote from ``aye'' to ``no.''
So the amendment was rejected.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. The question is on the committee amendment in
the nature of a substitute, as amended.
The committee amendment in the nature of a substitute, as amended,
was agreed to.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. Under the rule, the Committee rises.
Accordingly, the Committee rose; and the Speaker pro tempore (Mrs.
Tauscher) having assumed the chair, Mr. Ross, Acting Chairman of the
Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, reported that
that Committee, having had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2895) to
establish the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund in the Treasury of
the United States to provide for the construction, rehabilitation, and
preservation of decent, safe, and affordable housing for low-income
families, pursuant to House Resolution 720, he reported the bill back
to the House with an amendment adopted by the Committee of the Whole.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the rule, the previous question is
ordered.
Is a separate vote demanded on any amendment to the amendment
reported from the Committee of the Whole? If not, the question is on
the amendment.
The amendment was agreed to.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the engrossment and third
reading of the bill.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, and was
read the third time.
Motion to Recommit Offered by Mrs. Musgrave
Mrs. MUSGRAVE. Madam Speaker, I offer a motion to recommit.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is the gentlewoman opposed to the bill?
Mrs. MUSGRAVE. Yes, in its current form.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the motion to
recommit.
The Clerk read as follows:
Mrs. Musgrave of Colorado moves to recommit the bill H.R.
2895 to the Committee on Financial Services with instructions
to report the same back to the House promptly with the
following amendments:
Page 47, after line 8, insert the following:
``(d) Work Requirement for Residents.--
``(1) In general.--Except as provided in this subsection
and notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, as a
condition of residency of a family in any dwelling unit in
rental housing or owner-occupied housing for which assistance
is or has been provided at any time with any Trust Fund grant
amounts, each member of the family who is 18 years of age or
older shall perform not fewer than 20 hours of approved work
activities (as such term is defined in section 407(d) of the
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 607(d))) per month.
``(2) Exemption.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development shall provide an exemption from the applicability
of paragraph (1) for any individual family member who--
``(A) is 62 years of age or older;
``(B) is a blind or disabled individual, as defined under
section 216(i)(1) or 1614 of the Social Security Act (42
U.S.C. 416(i)(1); 1382c), and who is unable to comply with
this section, or is a primary caretaker of such individual;
``(C) is engaged in a work activity (as such term is
defined in section 407(d) of the Social Security Act (42
U.S.C. 607(d)), as in effect on and after July 1, 1997));
``(D) meets the requirements for being exempted from having
to engage in a work activity under the State program funded
under part A of title IV of the Social Security Act (42
U.S.C. 601 et seq.) or under any other welfare program of the
State in which the public housing agency administering rental
assistance described in subsection (a) is located, including
a State-administered welfare-to-work program;
``(E) is in a family receiving assistance under a State
program funded under part A of title IV of the Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) or under any other
welfare program of the State in which the public housing
agency administering such rental assistance is located,
including a State-administered welfare-to-work program, and
has not been found by the State or other administering entity
to be in noncompliance with such program; or
``(F) is a single custodial parent caring for a child who
has not attained 6 years of age, and the individual proves
that the individual has a demonstrated inability (as
determined by the State) to obtain needed child care, for one
or more of the following reasons:
``(i) Unavailability of appropriate child care within a
reasonable distance from the individual's home or work site.
``(ii) Unavailability or unsuitability of informal child
care by a relative or under other arrangements.
``(iii) Unavailability of appropriate and affordable formal
child care arrangements.
``(3) Administration.--A grantee providing assistance with
Trust Fund grant amounts may administer the work activities
requirement under this subsection directly, through a
resident organization, or through a contractor having
experience in administering work activities programs within
the jurisdiction of the grantee. The Secretary may establish
qualifications for such organizations and contractors.''.
Mrs. MUSGRAVE (during the reading). Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous
consent that the motion to recommit be considered as read and printed
in the Record.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Colorado?
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from Colorado is recognized
for 5 minutes.
Mrs. MUSGRAVE. Madam Speaker, without question, as we have heard here
today, there is need in this country for affordable housing,
particularly for the elderly and the disabled. But when government-
financed, low-income housing is occupied by able-bodied adults who have
chosen not to work, they are displacing these very people who are the
most needy; the elderly, the disabled.
In 1996, Congress and President Clinton agreed that able-bodied
adults ought to be required to work if they are going to receive
government welfare. Today the proposal that I am putting forward to
amend this bill is to extend this same commonsense requirement to the
new housing financed by this bill.
I just want to make it very clear, Madam Speaker, this proposal does
not apply to the elderly or the disabled or single parents of children
under 6 years of age who are unable to find appropriate and affordable
child care, in addition to many others. But I think we can realize, if
you are able-bodied, capable of working or even applying for a job,
then American taxpayers expect that in exchange for this taxpayer-
financed housing, you will commit to at least 20 hours of work
activities per month. That is minimal part-time work. And work
activities can include job training, community service programs, and
even providing child care. The work activities requirement is taken
from the current standard under the Federal welfare reform program.
I fully expect that the most able-bodied adults who occupy housing
financed by this bill will already meet the standards laid out in my
amendment. This amendment simply guarantees that taxpayer-financed
housing isn't going to turn into free housing for able-bodied adults
who are unwilling to work or contribute to society.
I believe that we should be in the business of providing low-income
Americans who are struggling for stability with a hand up, not a
handout.
If you were part of the bipartisan coalition who supported including
work requirements in welfare reform, then I strongly urge you to
support this proposal as well.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, I rise to try to save the
bill from this effort to kill it.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is the gentleman opposed to the motion?
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Yes.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Massachusetts is
recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. First, if this were a serious effort to
put on a work program, it might have been offered as an amendment to
the bill. It wasn't offered before the Rules Committee.
Secondly, it would have said ``report back forthwith,'' and it would
have been voted on and it would have been
[[Page H11444]]
added. It says ``promptly.'' Now it is true that if we were to adopt a
motion to recommit that says ``promptly,'' it would go back to the
committee.
Our committee is a fairly busy one. We have the subprime issue before
us. We have credit card reform issues. House floor time is fairly busy.
I am told there are Members who don't think working here on Friday is
the best thing that has ever happened to them. We are getting towards
the end of this session. We have the appropriations bills. So the
choice of ``promptly'' rather than ``forthwith'' is clearly motivated
by animus against the bill.
Having failed in several tries to kill the bill as a whole, they now
say, let's do it this way. And on its own merits, here is the problem.
I have not been a supporter of the work requirement within the public
housing area, but at least in public housing you have administered a
framework where it can be applied, although I think inappropriately.
Here we are talking about a program whereby the Federal funds will be
distributed. And by the way, they are not mostly taxpayer; they are
shareholders of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac dollars in the largest
amount. But what we are going to do is distribute this money to
hundreds of local housing funds, State and local funds. You talk about
unfunded mandates. This says to all of the grantees, the Catholic
Church in some places, or B'nai Brith housing or other local housing
groups, Habitat for Humanity or any of the others, you must, in
addition to building the housing, undertake to administer this kind of
volunteer work program. Lest anyone think this is something that they
can do easily, read the third page of the recommittal motion.
{time} 1515
``Administration. A grantee providing assistance with Trust Fund
grant amounts may administer the work activities requirement under this
subsection directly, through a resident organization, or through a
contractor having experience in administering work activities programs
within the jurisdiction of the grantee.''
This takes some of the limited amount of money that would be
available for housing and creates another new set of contractors. Maybe
Blackwater will lay down their guns and come over here now when they
get run out of Iraq and so a whole new set of contractors will be
dealing with this. And the organizations that get this money, they are
religious organizations, they are nonprofits, they are homebuilders.
They will now have this new mandate to go and make people work, and it
becomes a complicated one.
Here's what it says. For example, if you are ``a single custodial
parent for a child who has not attained 6 years of age,'' then you have
to go out and do this volunteer work for 20 hours a week, unless you
can show that you couldn't get child care. You've got to show that it's
unavailable. There are three different kinds of paragraphs. It's a very
complicated thing to administer.
So you say to people, you know what, thank you for helping build
affordable housing, thank you to the archdiocese, thank you to the
Methodists, thank you to Habitat for Humanity, thank you to these
charitable groups. Oh, and by the way, you are now in charge of making
the parents of small children go to work unless they have first shown
to you the unavailability of child care, and you have to go out and
hire somebody to administer this for you.
So, even if it were ``forthwith,'' I would be opposed to it, but
``promptly'' means that the people who are opposed to using funding to
help build affordable housing want to at best delay the bill, and maybe
if they're lucky enough, because they can combine this with other
filibusters, kill it.
This is a very difficult program to administer. It is not one for
which there has been any demand. I guarantee you it will be strongly
opposed by all of the organizations, the charitable and nonprofit
organizations, that will be told to administer this housing. It is an
unfair imposition on some of the best-motivated organizations and
people. It doesn't give them any money to do it. It gives them this
very difficult task. It delays the bill at best, and I hope it is
defeated for what it is meant to be, an effort to derail a bill that
can't be derailed in a more straightforward fashion.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Parliamentary Inquiries
Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, parliamentary inquiry.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Georgia will state his
parliamentary inquiry.
Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, is it not true that if, indeed, this
motion passed that this bill could be reported back to the committee or
committees to which it has been designated, and then it could be
reported back to the whole House tomorrow?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. As the Chair affirmed on May 24, 2000, the
adoption of a motion to recommit with instructions to report back
promptly sends the bill to committee, whose eventual report, if any,
would not be immediately before the House. Unlike the case of a motion
to recommit with instructions to report back forthwith, a motion to
recommit with ``non-forthwith'' instructions would not occasion an
immediate report on the floor. As the Chair put it on the cited
occasion, ``at some subsequent time, the committee could meet and
report the bill back to the House.'' But the Chair cannot say what in
the rules of the committee might constrain the timing of any action it
might take. Neither can the Chair render an advisory opinion whether
points of order available under the rules of the House might preclude
further proceedings on the floor.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Parliamentary inquiry.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Massachusetts will state
his parliamentary inquiry.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, is there anything in this
recommittal motion that would allow me, as chairman of the committee,
to ignore the rule that requires a 3-day notice before there is a
markup, which would seem to me to make it impossible for me to report
it tomorrow, on the day of a funeral, very sensitive, but is there
anything in this amendment that would waive the 3-day requirement for a
markup before we could proceed?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair cannot interpret the text of the
motion.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Well, then, let me ask in general. Does a
recommittal motion waive the rules----
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will suspend.
Does the gentleman have a further parliamentary inquiry?
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Further parliamentary inquiry. Is there
anything in this process that would allow the chairman of the committee
to waive the requirement in the rules that there be at least 3 days
before there can be a markup in committee?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair cannot interpret the rules of a
standing committee.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. So much for tomorrow, Madam Speaker.
Mr. WESTMORELAND. Further parliamentary inquiry.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Georgia will state his
parliamentary inquiry.
Mr. WESTMORELAND. Is the short version of your answer that it could
be reported back tomorrow, the next legislative day?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair has responded.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, can the standing rules of
a committee be waived by actions on the floor?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman's question is hypothetical to
this case.
Without objection, the previous question is ordered on the motion to
recommit.
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to recommit.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the noes appeared to have it.
Recorded Vote
Mrs. MUSGRAVE. Madam Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.
A recorded vote was ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 9 of rule XX, the Chair
will reduce to 5 minutes the minimum time for any electronic vote on
the question of passage.
[[Page H11445]]
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 199,
noes 218, not voting 14, as follows:
[Roll No. 957]
AYES--199
Aderholt
Akin
Alexander
Altmire
Bachmann
Bachus
Barrett (SC)
Barrow
Bartlett (MD)
Barton (TX)
Biggert
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bishop (UT)
Blackburn
Blunt
Boehner
Bonner
Bono
Boozman
Boustany
Brady (TX)
Broun (GA)
Brown (SC)
Brown-Waite, Ginny
Buchanan
Burgess
Burton (IN)
Buyer
Calvert
Camp (MI)
Campbell (CA)
Cannon
Cantor
Capito
Carney
Carter
Castle
Chabot
Coble
Cole (OK)
Conaway
Crenshaw
Culberson
Davis (KY)
Davis, David
Davis, Tom
Deal (GA)
Dent
Diaz-Balart, L.
Diaz-Balart, M.
Doolittle
Drake
Dreier
Duncan
Ehlers
Emerson
English (PA)
Everett
Fallin
Feeney
Ferguson
Flake
Forbes
Fortenberry
Fossella
Foxx
Franks (AZ)
Frelinghuysen
Gallegly
Garrett (NJ)
Gerlach
Giffords
Gilchrest
Gingrey
Gohmert
Goode
Goodlatte
Granger
Graves
Hall (TX)
Hastert
Hastings (WA)
Hayes
Heller
Hensarling
Herger
Hill
Hobson
Hoekstra
Hulshof
Hunter
Inglis (SC)
Issa
Johnson, Sam
Jones (NC)
Jordan
Keller
King (IA)
King (NY)
Kingston
Kirk
Kline (MN)
Knollenberg
Kuhl (NY)
LaHood
Lamborn
Latham
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (KY)
Linder
LoBiondo
Lucas
Lungren, Daniel E.
Mack
Mahoney (FL)
Manzullo
Marchant
Marshall
McCarthy (CA)
McCaul (TX)
McCotter
McCrery
McHenry
McHugh
McIntyre
McKeon
McMorris Rodgers
Mica
Miller (FL)
Miller (MI)
Mitchell
Moran (KS)
Murphy, Tim
Musgrave
Myrick
Neugebauer
Nunes
Pearce
Pence
Petri
Pickering
Pitts
Platts
Poe
Porter
Price (GA)
Pryce (OH)
Putnam
Radanovich
Ramstad
Regula
Rehberg
Renzi
Reynolds
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (MI)
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Roskam
Royce
Ryan (WI)
Sali
Saxton
Schmidt
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Shadegg
Shays
Shimkus
Shuster
Simpson
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Souder
Stearns
Sullivan
Tancredo
Terry
Thornberry
Tiahrt
Tiberi
Turner
Upton
Walberg
Walden (OR)
Walsh (NY)
Wamp
Weldon (FL)
Weller
Westmoreland
Whitfield
Wicker
Wilson (NM)
Wilson (SC)
Wolf
Young (AK)
Young (FL)
NOES--218
Abercrombie
Ackerman
Allen
Andrews
Arcuri
Baca
Baird
Baldwin
Becerra
Berkley
Berman
Berry
Bishop (GA)
Bishop (NY)
Blumenauer
Boswell
Boucher
Boyd (FL)
Boyda (KS)
Brady (PA)
Braley (IA)
Brown, Corrine
Butterfield
Capps
Capuano
Cardoza
Carnahan
Castor
Chandler
Clarke
Clay
Cleaver
Clyburn
Cohen
Conyers
Cooper
Costa
Costello
Courtney
Cramer
Crowley
Cuellar
Cummings
Davis (AL)
Davis (CA)
Davis (IL)
Davis, Lincoln
DeFazio
DeGette
Delahunt
DeLauro
Dicks
Dingell
Doggett
Donnelly
Doyle
Edwards
Ellison
Ellsworth
Emanuel
Engel
Eshoo
Etheridge
Farr
Fattah
Filner
Frank (MA)
Gillibrand
Gonzalez
Gordon
Green, Al
Green, Gene
Grijalva
Gutierrez
Hall (NY)
Hare
Harman
Hastings (FL)
Herseth Sandlin
Higgins
Hinchey
Hinojosa
Hirono
Hodes
Holden
Holt
Honda
Hooley
Hoyer
Inslee
Israel
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jefferson
Johnson (GA)
Jones (OH)
Kagen
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Kennedy
Kildee
Kilpatrick
Kind
Klein (FL)
Kucinich
Lampson
Langevin
Lantos
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
LaTourette
Lee
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Lipinski
Loebsack
Lofgren, Zoe
Lowey
Lynch
Markey
Matheson
Matsui
McCarthy (NY)
McCollum (MN)
McDermott
McGovern
McNerney
McNulty
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Melancon
Michaud
Miller (NC)
Miller, George
Mollohan
Moore (KS)
Moore (WI)
Moran (VA)
Murphy (CT)
Murphy, Patrick
Murtha
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal (MA)
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Pallone
Pascrell
Pastor
Paul
Payne
Perlmutter
Peterson (MN)
Pomeroy
Price (NC)
Rahall
Rangel
Reyes
Richardson
Rodriguez
Ross
Rothman
Roybal-Allard
Ruppersberger
Rush
Ryan (OH)
Salazar
Sanchez, Linda T.
Sanchez, Loretta
Sarbanes
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schwartz
Scott (GA)
Scott (VA)
Serrano
Sestak
Shea-Porter
Sherman
Shuler
Sires
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (WA)
Snyder
Solis
Space
Spratt
Stark
Stupak
Sutton
Tanner
Tauscher
Taylor
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Tierney
Towns
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Van Hollen
Velazquez
Visclosky
Walz (MN)
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson
Watt
Waxman
Weiner
Welch (VT)
Wexler
Woolsey
Wu
Wynn
Yarmuth
NOT VOTING--14
Baker
Bean
Boren
Carson
Cubin
Jindal
Johnson (IL)
Johnson, E. B.
Maloney (NY)
Miller, Gary
Peterson (PA)
Reichert
Rogers (KY)
Wilson (OH)
{time} 1540
So the motion to recommit was rejected.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
(By unanimous consent, Mr. Costello was allowed to speak out of
order.)
Moment of Silence in Memory of the Late Honorable George Edward
Sangmeister, Former Member of Congress
Mr. COSTELLO. Madam Speaker, I regret to inform our Members that our
former Member from Illinois, George Sangmeister, has died.
Congressman Sangmeister served the people of Illinois in the 11th and
4th Congressional Districts from 1989 to 1995, when he retired. George
was a wonderful person and served with honor and distinction in this
body.
Madam Speaker, I yield to my friend from Illinois (Mr. Weller).
Mr. WELLER of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I want to thank my friend,
Jerry Costello, for yielding and join in honoring the life and service
of someone who was a friend to many in this Chamber.
My friend and predecessor, George Sangmeister, served in this body
for 6 years, representing the district I currently represent, the 11th
Congressional District, which was previously numbered as the 4th
District of Illinois.
George Sangmeister was born in Frankfurt, Illinois, 76 years ago. He
attended Joliet Junior College before entering the military and serving
in the Korean War. After returning to private life, he attended
Elmhurst College and then earned a law degree from John Marshall Law
School.
George Sangmeister had a distinguished service career of 34 years of
public service. He began his practice in private law before becoming a
magistrate and justice of the peace for Will County in 1961; in 1964,
became Will County State's Attorney.
In 1972, George Sangmeister was elected as a Democrat to the Illinois
House of Representatives; 1976, after two terms in the State house, he
was elected to the State senate. George Sangmeister became a respected
Democratic leader in the State legislature, and, in 1986, Democratic
nominee for Governor, Adlai Stevenson, chose George Sangmeister as his
running mate.
In 1988, George Sangmeister was elected to Congress, served on the
Veterans' Affairs Committee where he helped to bring the veterans
outpatient clinic to Joliet and worked tirelessly to expand health care
benefits for veterans. After three terms in the House, he declined to
seek reelection in 1994. He chose to return to private law practice.
George Sangmeister is survived by his wife, Doris; a son, Kurt; a
daughter, Kimberly; and four grandchildren.
I join my friend Jerry Costello and members of the Illinois
delegation in asking this House to honor and remember the late
Congressman George Sangmeister for his 34 years of public service to
Illinois and our Nation.
Mr. COSTELLO. Madam Speaker, I ask our colleagues to join us in a
moment of silence for our former colleague, George Sangmeister.
Announcement By the Speaker Pro Tempore
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, 5-minute voting will
continue.
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the passage of the bill.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the noes appeared to have it.
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas
and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 264,
nays 148, not voting 19, as follows:
[Roll No. 958]
YEAS--264
Abercrombie
Ackerman
Allen
Altmire
Andrews
Arcuri
Baca
Baird
Baldwin
Barrow
Becerra
Berkley
[[Page H11446]]
Berman
Berry
Bishop (GA)
Bishop (NY)
Blumenauer
Boswell
Boucher
Boyd (FL)
Boyda (KS)
Brady (PA)
Braley (IA)
Brown, Corrine
Butterfield
Capito
Capps
Capuano
Cardoza
Carnahan
Carney
Castle
Castor
Chandler
Clarke
Clay
Cleaver
Clyburn
Cohen
Conyers
Costa
Costello
Courtney
Cramer
Crowley
Cuellar
Cummings
Davis (AL)
Davis (CA)
Davis (IL)
Davis, Lincoln
Davis, Tom
DeFazio
DeGette
Delahunt
DeLauro
Dent
Diaz-Balart, L.
Diaz-Balart, M.
Dicks
Dingell
Doggett
Donnelly
Doyle
Edwards
Ellison
Ellsworth
Emanuel
Emerson
Engel
English (PA)
Eshoo
Etheridge
Farr
Fattah
Ferguson
Filner
Frank (MA)
Frelinghuysen
Gerlach
Giffords
Gilchrest
Gillibrand
Gonzalez
Gordon
Green, Al
Green, Gene
Grijalva
Gutierrez
Hall (NY)
Hare
Harman
Hastings (FL)
Hayes
Herseth Sandlin
Higgins
Hill
Hinchey
Hinojosa
Hirono
Hodes
Holden
Holt
Honda
Hooley
Hoyer
Inslee
Israel
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jefferson
Johnson (GA)
Jones (OH)
Kagen
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Kennedy
Kildee
Kilpatrick
Kind
King (NY)
Klein (FL)
Kucinich
Kuhl (NY)
LaHood
Lampson
Langevin
Lantos
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
LaTourette
Lee
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Lipinski
LoBiondo
Loebsack
Lofgren, Zoe
Lowey
Lynch
Mahoney (FL)
Markey
Marshall
Matheson
Matsui
McCarthy (NY)
McCollum (MN)
McDermott
McGovern
McHugh
McIntyre
McNerney
McNulty
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Melancon
Michaud
Miller (MI)
Miller (NC)
Miller, George
Mitchell
Mollohan
Moore (KS)
Moore (WI)
Moran (VA)
Murphy (CT)
Murphy, Patrick
Murphy, Tim
Murtha
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal (MA)
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Pallone
Pascrell
Pastor
Payne
Perlmutter
Peterson (MN)
Pickering
Platts
Pomeroy
Porter
Price (NC)
Rahall
Ramstad
Rangel
Regula
Renzi
Reyes
Richardson
Rodriguez
Ros-Lehtinen
Ross
Rothman
Roybal-Allard
Ruppersberger
Rush
Ryan (OH)
Salazar
Sanchez, Linda T.
Sarbanes
Saxton
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schwartz
Scott (GA)
Scott (VA)
Serrano
Sestak
Shays
Shea-Porter
Sherman
Shimkus
Shuler
Simpson
Sires
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (NJ)
Smith (WA)
Snyder
Solis
Space
Spratt
Stark
Stupak
Sutton
Tanner
Tauscher
Taylor
Terry
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Tierney
Towns
Turner
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Upton
Van Hollen
Velazquez
Visclosky
Walden (OR)
Walz (MN)
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson
Watt
Waxman
Weiner
Welch (VT)
Weller
Wexler
Whitfield
Wilson (NM)
Woolsey
Wu
Wynn
Yarmuth
Young (AK)
NAYS--148
Aderholt
Akin
Alexander
Bachmann
Bachus
Barrett (SC)
Bartlett (MD)
Barton (TX)
Biggert
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bishop (UT)
Blackburn
Blunt
Boehner
Bonner
Bono
Boozman
Boustany
Brady (TX)
Broun (GA)
Brown (SC)
Brown-Waite, Ginny
Buchanan
Burgess
Burton (IN)
Calvert
Camp (MI)
Campbell (CA)
Cannon
Cantor
Carter
Chabot
Coble
Cole (OK)
Conaway
Crenshaw
Culberson
Davis (KY)
Davis, David
Deal (GA)
Doolittle
Drake
Dreier
Duncan
Ehlers
Everett
Fallin
Feeney
Flake
Forbes
Fortenberry
Fossella
Foxx
Franks (AZ)
Gallegly
Garrett (NJ)
Gingrey
Gohmert
Goode
Goodlatte
Granger
Graves
Hall (TX)
Hastert
Hastings (WA)
Heller
Hensarling
Herger
Hobson
Hoekstra
Hulshof
Hunter
Inglis (SC)
Issa
Johnson, Sam
Jones (NC)
Jordan
Keller
Kingston
Kirk
Kline (MN)
Knollenberg
Lamborn
Latham
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (KY)
Linder
Lucas
Lungren, Daniel E.
Mack
Manzullo
Marchant
McCarthy (CA)
McCaul (TX)
McCotter
McCrery
McHenry
McKeon
McMorris Rodgers
Mica
Miller (FL)
Moran (KS)
Musgrave
Myrick
Neugebauer
Nunes
Paul
Pearce
Pence
Petri
Pitts
Poe
Price (GA)
Pryce (OH)
Putnam
Radanovich
Rehberg
Reynolds
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (MI)
Rohrabacher
Roskam
Royce
Ryan (WI)
Sali
Schmidt
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Shadegg
Smith (NE)
Smith (TX)
Souder
Stearns
Sullivan
Tancredo
Thornberry
Tiahrt
Tiberi
Walberg
Walsh (NY)
Wamp
Weldon (FL)
Westmoreland
Wicker
Wilson (SC)
Wolf
Young (FL)
NOT VOTING--19
Baker
Bean
Boren
Buyer
Carson
Cooper
Cubin
Jindal
Johnson (IL)
Johnson, E. B.
King (IA)
Maloney (NY)
Miller, Gary
Peterson (PA)
Reichert
Rogers (KY)
Sanchez, Loretta
Shuster
Wilson (OH)
{time} 1552
So the bill was passed.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________