[House Report 118-586]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


118th Congress   }                                     {        Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 2d Session      }                                     {       118-586

======================================================================



 
                      HUD TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 2024

                                _______
                                

 July 15, 2024.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
              State of the Union and ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

 Mr. McHenry, from the Committee on Financial Services, submitted the 
                               following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 7280]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Financial Services, to whom was referred 
the bill (H.R. 7280) to require the Inspector General of the 
Department of Housing and Urban Development to testify before 
the Congress annually, and for other purposes, having 
considered the same, reports favorably thereon with an 
amendment and recommends that the bill as amended do pass.

                                CONTENTS

                                                                   Page
Purpose and Summary..............................................     2
Background and Need for Legislation..............................     2
Related Hearings.................................................     2
Committee Consideration..........................................     3
Committee Votes..................................................     3
Committee Oversight Findings.....................................     6
Performance Goals and Objectives.................................     6
Congressional Budget Office Estimates............................     6
New Budget Authority, Entitlement Authority, and Tax Expenditures     7
Federal Mandates Statement.......................................     7
Advisory Committee Statement.....................................     7
Applicability to Legislative Branch..............................     7
Earmark Identification...........................................     7
Duplication of Federal Programs..................................     7
Section-by-Section Analysis of the Legislation...................     7

    The amendment is as follows:
    Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the 
following:

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

  This Act may be cited as the ``HUD Transparency Act of 2024''.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY.

  Not later than October 1 of each year, the Inspector General of the 
Department of Housing and Urban Development shall appear before the 
Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and 
present testimony on the Office of Inspector General's--
          (1) efforts to detect and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse;
          (2) ability to conduct and supervise audits, investigations, 
        and reviews;
          (3) actions to identify opportunities for the programs of the 
        Department of Housing and Urban Development to progress and 
        succeed;
          (4) recommendations to improve overall efficiency and public 
        accountability;
          (5) assessment of the extent to which the Department of 
        Housing and Urban Development has resources sufficient to carry 
        out its statutory mission; and
          (6) ongoing activities regarding any such additional work, as 
        appropriate.

                          PURPOSE AND SUMMARY

    Introduced on February 7, 2024, by Representative Monica De 
La Cruz, H.R. 7280, the HUD Transparency Act of 2024, would 
require annual testimony from the HUD Inspector General by 
October 1 of each year before the House Financial Services and 
Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committees.

                  BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

    The heads of several federal agencies that fall under the 
jurisdiction of the Financial Services Committee--including the 
Secretary of the Treasury, the Chairperson of the Financial 
Stability Oversight Council, the Director of the Bureau of 
Consumer Financial Protection, the Chairperson of the Committee 
on Foreign Investment in the United States, the Chairman of the 
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Vice 
Chairman for Supervision of the Board of Governors of the 
Federal Reserve System--each have an annual testimony 
requirement. However, there is no such requirement for the 
Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development (HUD). In fact, prior to the current Inspector 
General's appearance in 2023, the Committee had gone 5 years 
since it had last received testimony from the Office of the 
Inspector General regarding the ongoing activities of HUD.
    As an agency with over 9,000 full time employees and an 
annual enacted gross discretionary budget authority of more 
than $77 billion, conducting meaningful oversight of HUD and 
its programs is one of the Committee's primary 
responsibilities. To ensure Congress remains informed of HUD's 
activities, Rep. De La Cruz introduced H.R. 7280, the HUD 
Transparency Act of 2024, which would require the HUD Inspector 
General to testify annually before the Committee and the Senate 
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee prior to October 
1 of each year. An annual testimony requirement will allow for 
greater oversight of the agency to ensure taxpayer resources 
are effectively and efficiently used.

                                HEARING

    Pursuant to clause 3(c)(6) of rule XIII, the following 
hearing was used to develop H.R. 7280: The Subcommittee on 
Housing and Insurance of the Committee on Financial Services 
held a hearing on January 11, 2024, titled ``Oversight of the 
Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal 
Housing Administration.''

                        COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION

    The Committee on Financial Services met in open session on 
February 29, 2024, and ordered H.R. 7280 to be reported 
favorably to the House as amended by a recorded vote of 50 ayes 
to 0 nays (Record vote no. FC-122), a quorum being present. 
Before the question was called to order the bill favorably 
reported, the Committee adopted an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute offered by Ms. De La Cruz by voice vote.

                            COMMITTEE VOTES

    Clause 3(b) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives requires the Committee to list the record votes 
on the order to report legislation and amendments thereto. H.R. 
7280 was ordered reported favorably to the House as amended by 
a recorded vote of 50 ayes to 0 nays (Record vote no. FC-122), 
a quorum being present.
    An amendment offered by Ms. Garcia, no. 4, was not agreed 
to by voice vote.
    An amendment offered by Mr. Cleaver, no. 5, was agreed to 
by a recorded vote of 48 ayes to 2 nays (Record vote no. FC-
121), a quorum being present.

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                      COMMITTEE OVERISGHT FINDINGS

    Pursuant to clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives, the findings and recommendations of 
the Committee, based on oversight activities under clause 
2(b)(1) of rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives, 
are incorporated in the descriptive portions of this report.

                    PERFORMANCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

    Pursuant to clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives, the goal of H.R. 7280 is to require 
annual testimony from the HUD Inspector General by October 1 of 
each year before the House Financial Services and Senate 
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committees.

                 CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE ESTIMATES

    Pursuant to clause 3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives, the following is the cost estimate 
provided by the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to section 
402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974:

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


    H.R. 7280 would require the Inspector General of the 
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to testify 
annually before the Congress on different topics including the 
sufficiency of the agency's resources, actions taken to 
identify opportunities for program improvement, and the 
inspector general's ability to investigate and audit HUD 
programs to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse.
    Using information from the agency, CBO estimates that 
implementing H.R. 7280 would cost less than $500,000. Any 
related spending would be subject to the availability of 
appropriated funds.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Zunara Naeem. 
The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy 
Director of Budget Analysis.
                                         Phillip L. Swagel,
                             Director, Congressional Budget Office.

   NEW BUDGET AUTHORITY, ENTITLEMENT AUTHORITY, AND TAX EXPENDITURES

    Pursuant to clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives, the Committee adopts as its own the 
estimate of new budget authority, entitlement authority, or tax 
expenditures or revenues contained in the cost estimate 
prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office 
pursuant to section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 
1973.

                       FEDERAL MANDATES STATEMENT

    Pursuant to section 423 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform 
Act, the Committee adopts as its own the estimate of the 
Federal mandates prepared by the Director of the Congressional 
Budget Office.

                      ADVISORY COMMITTEE STATEMENT

    No advisory committees within the meaning of section 5(b) 
of the Federal Advisory Committee Act were created by this 
legislation.

                  APPLICABILITY TO LEGISLATIVE BRANCH

    The Committee finds that the legislation does not relate to 
the terms and conditions of employment or access to public 
services or accommodations within the meaning of section 
102(b)(3) of the Congressional Accountability Act.

                         EARMARK IDENTIFICATION

    With respect to clause 9 of rule XXI of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives, the Committee has carefully reviewed 
the provisions of the bill and states that the provisions of 
the bill do not contain any congressional earmarks, limited tax 
benefits, or limited tariff benefits within the meaning of the 
rule.

                    DUPLICATION OF FEDERAL PROGRAMS

    Pursuant to clause 3(c)(5) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives, the Committee states that no 
provision of the bill establishes or reauthorizes a program of 
the Federal Government known to be duplicative of another 
Federal program, including any program that was included in a 
report to Congress pursuant to section 21 of the Public Law 
111-139 or the most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic 
Assistance.

             SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE LEGISLATION

    Section 1. Designates the short title of the bill as the 
``HUD Transparency Act of 2024.''
    Section 2. Requires the Inspector General of the Department 
of Housing and Urban Development to present testimony before 
the House Committee on Financial Services and the Senate 
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on an annual 
basis prior to October 1 regarding the Office of Inspector 
General's efforts to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse, as well 
as other topics.

                                  [all]