[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 27 (Monday, February 10, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H593-H595]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DISABLED VETERANS HOUSING SUPPORT ACT
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
pass the bill (H.R. 224) to amend section 102(a)(20) of the Housing and
Community Development Act of 1974 to require the exclusion of service-
connected disability compensation when determining whether a person is
a person of low and moderate income, a person of low income, or a
person of moderate income, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 224
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 ``Disabled Veterans Housing
Support Act''.
SEC. 2. SERVICE CONNECTED DISABILITY COMPENSATION.
Section 102(a)(20) of the Housing and Community Development
Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5302(a)(20)) is amended by adding at
the end the following:
``(C) Service-connected disability compensation.--When
determining whether a person is a person of low and moderate
income, a person of low income, or a person of moderate
income under this paragraph, a State, unit of general local
government, or Indian tribe shall exclude any service-
connected disability compensation received by such person
from the Department of Veterans Affairs.''.
SEC. 3. REPORT.
The Comptroller General of the United States shall, not
later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this
Act, submit to the Congress a report that--
(1) examines how service-connected disability compensation
is treated for the purposes of determining eligibility for
all programs administered by the Secretary of Housing and
Urban Development;
(2) identifies any instances where service-connected
disability compensation is treated in a manner inconsistent
with the amendment made by section 2; and
(3) with respect to each program administered by the
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in which service-
connected disability compensation is treated inconsistently,
provides legislative recommendations relating to how such
program could better serve veteran populations, and under-
served communities.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Arkansas (Mr. Hill) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Vargas) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arkansas.
General Leave
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their
remarks and include extraneous material on the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Arkansas?
There was no objection.
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 224, the Disabled
Veterans Housing Support Act, introduced by my good friend from Texas,
Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz.
It has been said that what the American people desire is not bigger
government but a much better and more effective government. The reforms
proposed in this bill would accomplish just that. This bill would
reform a program meant to assist those in need, HUD's, Housing and
Urban Development's, Community Development Block Grant program. This
includes helping our Nation's low-income veterans with the housing
challenges that many of them face across our Nation. However, the
bureaucratic obstacles at HUD know no bounds.
Mr. Speaker, today, veterans are being turned away from this very
positive CDBG program. How is that? The formula HUD tells communities
to use to see if veterans qualify as low income and are therefore
eligible to participate in the CDBG program counts service-connected
disability compensation as income, whereas other government programs
correctly do not.
The result has been, in some places, especially in our most rural
areas, communities have to tell low-income, disabled veterans they are
too wealthy to qualify for help.
Truly, Mr. Speaker, you cannot make this up.
Excluding low-income veterans because they are disabled is not what
Congress intended for communities to take action on by receiving CDBG
funds. Of course, HUD understands this exclusion has been happening.
Yet, rather than fix the issue by providing clear rules on how to
calculate the income of disabled veterans, the Biden administration
kept saying that it was someone else's problem.
Mr. Speaker, that ends today with this good bill.
This bill would reform CDBG's income calculation formula, telling
HUD, in no uncertain terms, to stop including service-connected
disability compensation as income.
Fixing programmatic flaws and bureaucratic obstacles is exactly what
the American people have sent these Members to this House floor to do.
It is unfortunate that HUD has had several opportunities to fix its
flawed guidance without Congress, but it has refused to act even with
multiple letters from our Financial Services Committee.
This commonsense fix, which passed out of the committee with strong
bipartisan support and on suspension in this House during the previous
Congress, ensures that disabled veterans who have served our Nation
with honor receive the benefits that they have earned and deserved.
Under the leadership of Representative De La Cruz, we will ensure that
HUD stops excluding our Nation's heroes.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. VARGAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 224, the Disabled Veterans
Housing Support Act, sponsored by Representative De La Cruz.
While I appreciate Ms. De La Cruz's intention to better serve our
veterans who have served this country, it is ironic that this bill
seeks to improve a program that the Trump administration has already
threatened to dismantle through an illegal funding freeze.
Specifically, the Trump administration and Musk's illegal DOGE unit
continue to threaten to cut programs and
[[Page H594]]
freeze Federal funding that has already gone out the door, including
funds meant to serve veterans. In fact, committee staff continue to
hear that some CDBG grantees remain locked out of their payment systems
and are therefore unable to access Federal funds authorized by
Congress. These are funds that are meant to help low-income and
moderate-income communities, including disabled veterans, the very
people this bill claims to want to help.
If Republicans are concerned about housing upgrades for disabled
veterans who honorably served this Nation, then they should find the
honor and courage to stop the Trump administration's and the
billionaire boy's illegal actions that are harming our Nation's
veterans, whether it is stealing private Federal data on millions of
Americans or stealing the funding that would otherwise help a disabled
veteran upgrade their home to make it more accessible and livable.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to
stand up for disabled veterans and oppose co-president Musk's illegal
takeover, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, Mr. Vargas from
California, for his strong support of this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. De
La Cruz), who is the lead sponsor of the bill.
Ms. De La CRUZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my bill, H.R. 224, the
Disabled Veterans Housing Support Act.
Veterans, particularly disabled veterans, have made extraordinary
sacrifices for our Nation, and it is simply unacceptable that those who
selflessly defended our freedoms are met with bureaucratic red tape
when they return home.
Government overregulation should never stand in the way of veterans'
ability to receive the help they need. That is what this legislation
will fix.
Due to inconsistencies in the way income eligibility is determined
for Community Development Block Grant assistance, a veteran could be
disqualified simply because their service-connected disability
compensation is counted as income in one case but excluded in another.
This simply doesn't make sense.
This is the result of HUD currently allowing multiple different
definitions of income for CDBG assistance, some of which count service-
connected disability received from the VA as income while one does not.
To put it more simply, the same veteran who may have been disqualified
for assistance could very well be eligible if the grantee would only
have used the proper definition of income.
This legislation will create a standard and ensure VA service-
connected disability income is always excluded from income calculations
when determining eligibility for CDBG assistance.
By passing this bipartisan legislation, we are correcting an issue
that HUD has failed to address. Further, we will require a report from
the GAO to identify any additional inconsistencies in the treatment of
service-connected disability income within housing programs.
Last Congress, I was proud to see this legislation garner bipartisan
support in the Financial Services Committee and pass out of this House
as recently as this past December. We will continue to build on this
progress to ensure federally funded programs best serve our veterans
and do not penalize them for the benefits that they have earned.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the bipartisan cosponsors for this legislation,
including Congressman Brad Sherman, and I urge my colleagues to join me
and vote in favor of H.R. 224.
Mr. VARGAS. Mr. Speaker, I believe this is the first time the
gentleman from Arkansas has been presenting as the chairman, and I want
to say that, as a friend, I am very proud of the gentleman, and it is
good to see him as chairman.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr.
Sherman), who is the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Capital
Markets.
Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I join with the gentleman in his comments about how we
need to protect our veterans from the ill-considered actions of
President Trump and, I was about to say Secretary Musk, whatever he is.
I, of course, join with Mr. Vargas in welcoming our new chair of the
Financial Services Committee.
I want to focus on the bill at hand, actually two bills at hand. We
are dealing with this bill now and about four other bills will go by,
and then we will deal with the companion legislation.
Ms. De La Cruz is the chief Republican on my bill, which is going to
come up in what I hope will be only 30 or 40 minutes. I am the chief
Democrat on her bill.
Mr. Speaker, Congress has created various Federal programs to help
those who are housing insecure, particularly veterans. Of course, to
qualify for those programs, Mr. Speaker, you have to have an income
under a certain threshold, so we have to define what is income. In
particular, we have to ask: Do disability benefits paid by the VA count
as income which might put a veteran over the threshold and deny the
veteran participation in the housing benefits?
I think it should not for a number of reasons. First, we don't want
disabled American veterans who are homeless or near homeless to be
excluded from homeless programs. Second, the Internal Revenue Code
already recognizes that disability benefits paid to veterans should not
be considered income.
At the urging of many of us--I was particularly strong on this--the
Department of Housing and Urban Development has reached the same
conclusion, at least from now, but here in Washington, it is not always
good to just rely on an agency determination. A simple stroke of a
Sharpie can change it one way or the other, now or in 4 years. What you
want, Mr. Speaker, is legislation because that is near permanent.
Mr. Speaker, we have statutory provisions that make it clear that
disability benefits paid by the VA should not be included in
determining eligibility for veterans' housing. There is a reason for
that, Mr. Speaker, and that is that you ordinarily think that if two
people have the same income, then they are living at the same level.
That is not true if you are a disabled veteran because you have the
additional difficulties and the additional expenses of being disabled.
A veteran may have to pay for a health aide. The veteran can't get
across town to take advantage of a sale. He or she is going to have a
variety of additional costs because they are disabled, and that is what
their disability benefit pays for, those additional costs. It doesn't
necessarily mean that they have a standard of living that includes
their disability payment.
Now, we deal with Congresswoman De La Cruz's bill, which I strongly
support. I hope it will pass unanimously in the next few minutes. This
deals with the HUD Community Development Block Grant program. As I
said, my legislation, which will come up hopefully not too long from
now, deals with a different HUD program.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support both bills. They both have
no score, so this doesn't cost the Federal Government any money.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. VARGAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 10 seconds to the
gentleman from California.
Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, both bills are overwhelmingly supported by
veterans organizations, including the VFW, Vietnam Veterans of America,
The American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, U.S.VETS, and Black
Veterans Empowerment Council.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill and
its companion legislation.
{time} 1615
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman
from Iowa (Mr. Nunn).
Mr. NUNN of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding,
and I thank the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. De La Cruz) for bringing
this bill forward, the Disabled Veterans Housing Support Act, which I
am proud to co-lead as a bipartisan sponsor on this bill.
Mr. Speaker, our country is facing a housing shortage crisis, and our
veterans are hit the hardest, like the Vietnam veterans I spoke to in
Bloomfield,
[[Page H595]]
Iowa, who highlighted their lack of affordable quality housing.
Nearly 22 percent of all of Iowa's disabled veterans are finding it a
challenge not only to find affordable housing but are also being put in
a position where they can no longer gain access.
Mr. Speaker, no more. As a 20-year Air Force veteran, it pains me to
see my fellow servicemen and -women literally on the streets in the
heart of the heartland.
I have heard directly from our veterans services officers, and this
is one of their top concerns. Ms. De La Cruz' bill takes a positive
step forward in helping more of our veterans access the resources they
need to get into affordable housing. It ensures disability payments do
not restrict their access to housing, whether they are in urban,
suburban, or rural America.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to take up this bipartisan
call and support our veterans who need help now, particularly those who
have given their all and served in a disabled capacity but have still
earned the respect to live in affordable housing.
Mr. VARGAS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am
prepared to close if the gentleman from Arkansas has no further
speakers.
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. VARGAS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, as the Trump administration continues its attack on the
poor, the homeless, and on federally funded assistance with no
Republicans stepping up to provide a check and balance on an illegal
government takeover, House Democrats cannot sit here and have an honest
debate about this policy.
What is more, the Trump administration has vowed to put more of
America's housing in the hands of big investors and private equity
firms.
The data shows what happens when private investors get their hands on
more housing: Costs and junk fees go up, maintenance gets deferred, and
evictions go up.
That is why I support this bill, most certainly. I think it goes the
other way.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my
time.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 224 as put forward
by the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. De La Cruz). She has heard strong
support on a bipartisan basis on both sides of the aisle from our
friends, Mr. Vargas and Mr. Sherman in the minority, and Mr. Nunn in
the majority.
Mr. Speaker, I urge Members to support this bill, and I yield back
the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill) that the House suspend the rules and
pass the bill, H.R. 224.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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