[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 121 (Wednesday, July 1, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H2985-H2986]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        TWO SIMPLE SOLUTIONS TO THE CRISIS AMERICANS ARE FACING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  MR. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, the longer I am here the more I question 
why everything must be so complex. Some, like our transportation bill, 
are complex because of the massive interrelationships we have, but 
others we just make complex.
  I would offer two simple solutions today to the crisis that we are 
facing, not just from Black Americans, for justice. First, I would 
suggest that we remove the dead hand of Richard Nixon

[[Page H2986]]

from the scales of justice with his cynical, cruel war on drugs, which 
continues to this day.
  Tens of thousands of young Black Americans are arrested or cited 
still for something that two-thirds of Americans think should be legal; 
and, in fact, voters in 10 States have done so. We are watching how 
these interactions with police with young people for something that 
even a majority of Republicans now say should be legal can lead to 
tragic consequences. Why do we do this?
  We have an opportunity before us now with legislation approved by the 
House Judiciary Committee, the MORE Act, which incorporates many 
elements of Congresswoman Barbara Lee's Marijuana Justice Act, which 
would just legalize marijuana, what the majority of American people 
want, what is happening in States across the country, and prevent this 
opportunity for interference with law enforcement that is completely 
unjustified. Completely unjustified.
  I suggest that there is another simple action to deal with a century 
of discrimination dealing with housing specifically against people of 
color. I spent most of last summer and fall doing a deep dive into 
American housing policy. I have a report on my website: ``LOCKED OUT. 
Reversing Federal Housing Failures and Unlocking Opportunity.''
  But what I found dealing with this is a tragic, embarrassing record 
of blatant discrimination by the Federal Government against people of 
color, especially Black Americans.
  Look at the history of the Federal Government denying them housing 
for wartime work projects, for redlining, denying applications for New 
Deal housing projects, excluding African Americans. And an example of 
something that I just recently became aware of, the 1968 Housing and 
Urban Development Act, which had good intentions and generous terms, 
but gave way to predatory inclusion where real estate interests, banks 
sold essentially deficient properties at terms that unsophisticated 
buyers did not fully understand. But the banks and real estate 
interests didn't care because the loans were guaranteed by the Federal 
Government at inflated prices. Banking and real estate interests were 
able to take those back, flip them, sell them again. It is a shameful 
chapter in this century-long process of discriminating against African 
Americans in housing.
  I would suggest that when we look at what we might do, some are 
thinking about reparations, I suggest we just provide generous rental 
subsidies and loan terms for Black Americans. Think of it as a GI Bill 
for Black Americans who endured a century of discrimination and denying 
them the access to wealth that has built much of the White middle 
class.
  I would respectfully suggest that this is long overdue. It is 
justified. It would help stop some of the free-fall in housing markets 
that is moving forward and could lead to the same economic burst of 
energy that we saw after World War II for the GI Bill, which too many 
Black Americans were denied.

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