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Floor Speech
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Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I come to the floor to join my colleague, the chair of the Finance Committee, and thank him for his incredible leadership on the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act. I can't think of a more critical effort than the leadership role he has played to negotiate legislation that passed the House 357 to 70.
Now, when in this institution do you see such a big and tremendous vote across many different aspects of financial and tax policy that affect Americans? And yet the House has passed it 357 to 70, and somehow our colleagues here don't understand there is that much support behind that legislation.
Hon. Chuck Schumer, Majority Leader, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Leader Schumer: On behalf of the more than 140,000 members of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), I want to convey our strong support for the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 (H.R. 7024). Because this bill provides much-needed additional resources to increase the supply of affordable rental housing as well as provisions to encourage small businesses to invest in their future, NAHB is designating support for the Cloture Motion on H.R. 7024 as a key vote.
Tax relief and tax certainty are critical for small businesses. Often overlooked is the fact that most home builders are small businesses. The typical home builder is building a median of 6 homes per year with a median of 5 employees on payroll. Restoring and extending 100% bonus depreciation and expanding Section 179 expensing, along with returning the EBITDA standard for interest deductibility, will allow our members to invest more resources in multifamily rental construction, in land development to build more single-family homes, and in new equipment to expand their businesses.
NAHB also strongly supports the inclusion of additional resources for the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). LIHTC is the most successful affordable rental housing production program in U.S. history, but the demand for affordable housing is acute and exceeds the availability of financing through the LIHTC program. Without a program like LIHTC, there's no financially feasible way to build additional affordable rental housing for lower-income households, which is why these additional resources are urgently needed.
To solve our country's housing affordability crisis, we must increase production. This bill includes numerous provisions to help us achieve that goal, and we urge the Senate to act without further delay. Again, NAHB strongly supports Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 and has designated support for the Cloture Motion on H.R. 7024 the Cloture Motion on H.R. 7024 as a key vote.
Thank you for considering our views. Sincerely, Lake A. Coulson.
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Ms. CANTWELL. I think that is an important organization that knows and understands how much affordable housing we need in America and how this underlying bill addresses that by building over 200,000 more affordable units in the next 2 years.
It really is a shot in the arm at a time when Americans know that the cost of their housing has gone up because we haven't built enough supply. And as my colleagues know, especially since the downturn of the financial crisis in 2008, that from big cities to actually small towns, the crunch of a lack of a housing supply has meant an increase in costs. That means it hurts the economy overall. Last month, the skyrocketing costs were the largest contributor to the 3 percent rate of inflation.
So that is why we have an opportunity to do something about that tomorrow. We have the opportunity to do something about the rising costs of housing and to pass this legislation that will build more supply and bring down those costs.
Now, I know our colleagues--this is a very bipartisan aspect of the legislation. They know that expanding supply works. A 2019 study by the DC Office of Revenue Analysis found that renters basically saved $177 per month for every 2,100 units built in the city per year. So, literally, you can do the math. When you don't build supply, you are just making everybody else's expenses go up.
So why aren't we building more supply? Well, I can tell you that the low-income housing tax credits are a real achievement in bipartisan efforts to build more supply. It basically is the best tool to build affordable housing. It expands and improves, just as I mentioned from the National Association of Home Builders--``LIHTC is the most successful affordable rental housing production program in U.S. history.''
That is why it is so important that we remember this analysis.
A New York study found that for every 10 percent increase in housing supply, nearby rents decrease by 1 percent. Yet our colleagues don't want to build more supply.
And for LIHTC properties specifically, new data from Moody's Analytics found that, with these low-income housing projects, the renters in the Seattle area saved a remarkable $957 per month compared to the average rents in the region.
Now, I could go on and on with my colleagues about why we got into this position--certainly, the downturn of 2008 and when we stopped building more supply. We did have returning veterans who needed workforce housing. We had workforce housing overall in a community like Seattle, but it doesn't matter. Yakima or Spokane, it is the same dilemma. If you are not building affordable housing, people don't have places to live, and it stymies the economy moving forward. But we have had seniors living longer. We have had other issues that have made the need for housing a national priority.
So we want to hear what our colleagues say about this very important attack on inflation--most of it derived from housing--and study and analysis that says we will lower costs if we just build supply.
Tomorrow, we have a chance to build that supply. I hope my colleagues will join us in passing this legislation and driving down costs for Americans.
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