Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. REED. Mr. President, the pending amendment is authored by my colleague from Maine and myself. The amendment makes very clear that local officials will remain in charge of zoning decisions and will determine how to best meet their obligations under the Fair Housing Act. Those obligations are fundamental to our American fabric, our lives, and the aspirations of this country, because they protect Americans' housing choices no matter their physical ability, race, family status, or religion. These protections are fundamental to who we are. But without effective information and transparency so that local communities can make wise decisions, these aspirations can never be realized, are seldom realized, or are not realized to the extent that we, as Americans, feel that they should be.

Senator Collins and I have worked very hard to develop language that provides local communities with wide flexibility to meet their requirements under the Fair Housing Act. Those requirements will still be there regardless of our action today. If the resources made available under the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regulations are not provided, however, those communities will still be required to ensure that housing is available within their communities, regardless of race, physical ability, or the other protected classes under the law.

The Lee amendment would make grantees liable for compliance without providing the data and tools needed to comply. The thrust--the heart and soul--of this HUD proposal, based on GAO analysis, is to give local communities the tools, so that they can determine the local answer that makes sense.

Thank you.

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Mr. REED. Mr. President, let me return the compliment to the Chairman of the committee, Senator Collins of Maine, for her extraordinary insight, leadership, and ability to bring us together. This bill reflects the priorities of members on both sides of the aisle, it reflects sound policy, and it was a pleasure to work with her.

I think that she will also commend our extraordinary staffs who provided support, working many times when we were not working to get the job done. I thank Dabney Hegg, Heideh Shahmoradi, Christina Monroe, Nathan Robinson, Jordan Stone, Jason Woolwine, Mike Clarke, Lydia Collins, and Gus Maples. These are professionals who are thoughtful, skillful, pleasant, and probably deserving of the real praise for work done on the floor.

Let me once again thank Senator Collins for her thoughtful leadership and her commitment to fairness and principle. I think that she is one of the major reasons we are here today.

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