[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 106 (Wednesday, June 24, 2026)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E615]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          PERSONAL EXPLANATION

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. KWEISI MFUME

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 24, 2026

  Mr. MFUME. Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, I missed votes due 
to my obligations given that it was Maryland's primary election day. 
Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 223 and YEA 
on Roll Call No. 224.
  Final passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act was originally 
set for the second vote series on Wednesday, June 24, the day after 
primary elections in Maryland, New York, and Utah. The Speaker chose to 
move it up to Tuesday evening's suspension calendar instead, at a time 
when he knew Members from three states would be home with their 
constituents on Election Day.
  The Speaker moved this vote because his own conference was in open 
rebellion over the schedule he had set for Wednesday. The result was 
that more than 40 Members, from both parties and from all three states 
holding primaries, were not recorded on final passage of a housing bill 
the House had already approved once before by a vote of 396 to 13. The 
Speaker put his internal conference politics ahead of his obligation to 
give every Member a fair opportunity to vote, and ahead of the voters 
in three states who deserved their Representatives' full attention on 
Election Day. He owes this institution, and the people of Maryland, New 
York, and Utah, better than that.
  I was proud to vote yes for the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act when 
it passed this House earlier this year. This is a good, bipartisan bill 
that will increase the supply of affordable housing at a moment when 
families in Baltimore and across Maryland's 7th District are being 
priced out of homeownership, and too often, out of stable housing 
altogether. It expands access to modern manufactured housing, lets 
localities use Community Development Block Grant funds to build new 
housing, and protects veterans receiving VA disability paments from 
losing housing assistance they have earned. These are the commonsense 
solutions this Congress should be delivering more often.

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