[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 93 (Tuesday, June 4, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3218-S3219]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Ms. CANTWELL (for herself, Mr. Young, Mr. Wyden, and Mr. 
        Isakson):
  S. 1703. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to reform 
the low-income housing credit, and for other purposes; to the Committee 
on Finance.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the 
introduction of Senate legislation to help us deal with the affordable 
housing crisis in the United States of America.
  Many of my colleagues know how pervasive this problem is. Not only is 
affordable housing a crisis, but the homeless population that results 
from not having enough housing stock in the United States of America is 
also a crisis and ends up costing us more money to deal with the same 
population.
  This is not a new issue. It is not a new problem. We have been trying 
to fight to address this issue in the U.S. Senate and to deal with the 
affordable housing crisis for years, but the magnitude of the problem 
is getting worse. We need to respond by helping to increase supply. 
That is because we have so many demographic trends which we see in 
report after report citing and documenting what is happening in the 
United States of America.
  We have an ever-increasing senior population that is living longer 
and baby boomers reaching retirement, many of whom need more affordable 
housing than there is in the marketplace.
  We have returning veterans from our overseas missions who are coming 
home and who also need affordable housing.
  We need workforce housing. Many parts of the United States of America 
have had great economic success but have not kept pace with the amount 
of housing stock, and, thus, the supply and pricing has resulted in 
astronomical challenges to provide affordable housing within a region 
that doesn't leave people driving hours a day just to commute to their 
jobs.
  We have the remnants of our economic crisis during the great 
recession that left so many people without affordable housing and the 
fact that we did not keep pace with supply.
  Over the last 2 years, I have worked with many organizations at the 
national level and participated in the announcement of many reports 
done by practically every institution of any significance in the United 
States. They all came to the same conclusion: We need to increase 
supply.
  That is why I am introducing the Affordable Housing Tax Credit 
Improvement Act of 2019, along with my colleagues Senator Young of 
Indiana, Senator Isakson of Georgia, and Senator Wyden of Oregon, to 
strengthen and improve the affordable tax credit that we already have 
in place. My colleagues in the House--Representatives DelBene, 
Marchant, Beyer, and Walorski--are also introducing companion 
legislation today.
  We did make progress in the last Congress in increasing the 
affordable tax credit. This tax credit helps provide resources for 90 
percent of the federally-funded affordable housing that is built in the 
United States of America. That is because it takes the tax credit to 
incent people to build at this more affordable rate.
  I have always said to my colleagues that I am willing to consider any 
other ideas that we have to increase affordable housing and will work 
with anybody to increase supply in the United States, and I am open to 
any ideas. But until we have ideas that are more successful than this, 
I am going to continue to push the affordable housing tax credit and 
push to increase the supply of the tax credit so that we can increase 
the supply of affordable housing.
  We have a housing crisis in the State of Washington. It doesn't 
matter whether you are in Spokane or Walla Walla or Yakima or 
Vancouver. Our urban areas feel it the most and are most pinched. It 
causes problems for our law enforcement. It causes problems for our 
healthcare delivery system. It causes problems for our transportation 
system. The way out of this problem is to build more affordable 
housing.
  Increasing the amount of tax credit by 50 percent over the next 10 
years will give our States, our cities, and our counties more resources 
to build affordable housing. It will also provide stability in the 
value of affordable housing tax credits used in the bond finance 
markets and place a 4-percent

[[Page S3219]]

floor under the credit. This gives more certainty to those who are 
building housing and producing it and rehabilitating that in the 
market.
  It also maximizes the availability of the private activity bonds by 
recycling any multifamily bonds that are used along with housing 
credits to build affordable housing. Together, these steps would help 
us build hundreds of thousands of new units of affordable housing over 
the next 10 years.
  In my State and other States, it would mean that we would see a 50-
percent increase in the amount of credit available over the next 10 
years. That is so important because each housing project that is built 
takes more people out of the dire situations they are in, takes the 
vulnerable population and gives them the opportunity to move forward.
  It also saves us dollars. The Senate Finance Committee has heard time 
and again from those testifying--whether it is the homebuilders or the 
health insurance industry--that it is more costly to deal with this 
population while they are homeless. That is to say, you can't deliver 
job training to a tent. And somebody who doesn't have proper home and a 
stable place to live is more likely to show up in our healthcare 
delivery system, costing us more money.
  This legislation will also make it easier for formerly homeless 
students to also get help from the affordable housing tax credit under 
current HUD rules of the program.
  It also helps those who are protected under the Violence Against 
Women Act can also qualify for affordable housing as they have in the 
past.
  We know that the challenge of moving forward on affordable housing is 
something that is a bipartisan issue. The tax credit has had bipartisan 
support for many, many years in the U.S. Congress. We just need to put 
the pedal to the metal and provide more of the tax credit so that we 
can get more affordable housing built in the United States of America.
  I hope my colleagues will help by signing on to this legislation, and 
as we discuss various proposals in the Finance Committee regarding tax 
policy, I hope my colleagues will help us push to our States and 
communities more solutions that will deal with this crisis.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. JONES:
  S. 1708. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to 
establish a refundable tax credit for the installation of a storm 
shelter at a qualified residence; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. JONES. Mr. President, the second bill I have introduced today 
would create a one-time refundable tax credit of up to $2,500 for 
homeowners to build or purchase a storm shelter for their home. It 
would ensure that people won't have to travel dangerous distances to 
seek shelter in the event of sudden severe weather.
  Alabamians know all too well that extreme weather can strike at any 
time, especially now as we move from the spring tornado season into the 
summer hurricane season. That is why I want to use this opportunity 
today to urge every single one of my colleagues to support these bills 
and these efforts so that all of our communities can be better prepared 
when natural disasters strike, and they will.
  In Lee County, I have been discussing with local officials these two 
bills, which are just a step. They are obvious steps to me. Not 
everybody can afford to buy a storm shelter, so the tax credit would 
not be available. So, working with the Lee County M.A. and officials on 
the ground, we are trying to learn best practices. What can we better 
do to harden those areas where people live in the rural communities so 
they will not lose their lives, much less all of their possessions? 
That is what we are planning to do, and the two bills today are first 
steps.
  I sincerely hope going forward that helping fellow Americans who have 
suffered disasters will no longer be the partisan issue that it 
suddenly became this year and that we can get back to the business of 
taking care of our citizens and those who have sent us here to 
represent them.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. JONES (for himself, Mr. Kennedy, and Mr. Cassidy):
  S. 1709. A bill to direct the Secretary of Transportation to 
establish a grant program to improve evacuation routes in rural 
communities, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Environment 
and Public Works.
  Mr. JONES. Mr. President, while it is critical that communities get 
the disaster relief they need after the fact, it is also important that 
folks can better prepare for natural disasters and help make our 
communities safer so that we can reduce the impact and costs of the 
inevitable severe weather we will have in this country.
  The 2019 hurricane season is upon us. It started just last Saturday. 
Folks in my neck of the woods and especially down in South Alabama know 
that means storms can come at any time. Fortunately with hurricanes, 
they can get some warning, but for tornadoes like the ones that hit Lee 
County, it is just minutes.
  It is not a question of whether severe weather will happen; it is a 
question of when and where. It is also a question of whether we will be 
prepared when it strikes again. That is why today I am introducing two 
bills. The first is cosponsored by my Louisiana colleagues, Senators 
Kennedy and Cassidy. It would establish a new grant program through the 
U.S. Department of Transportation that would award up to $100 million 
for projects to improve emergency evacuation routes in small and rural 
communities.
  Generally in our State and in a lot of the coastal States, there is 
only one or two major evacuation routes, which is just not enough to 
handle the situation should another hurricane hit the gulf. This grant 
money would help expand those routes.
  The grants would be used for two purposes: to build State and local 
connector roads that would improve access to the broader thoroughfares 
and to expand existing roads and bridges so that folks can evacuate 
safely during extreme weather events. These infrastructure investments 
would also have the additional benefit of serving rural Alabama 
communities year-round and expanding and improving some of our aging 
roadways. With expanding and improving aging roadways and giving better 
access to rural communities, economic expansion will follow.

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