Democratic leaders in the U.S. Senate are continuing high-level negotiations over a revised reconciliation package, even as members grapple with enacting legislation on a myriad of other issues, from gun violence to abortion rights. Members of Congress are expected to continue working over the summer to reach an agreement on a slimmed-down package, even as they prepare to leave town at the end of the week for the July 4 recess.
Reports on the status of negotiations indicate the bill’s provisions are beginning to take shape. President Joe Biden hinted at some of the specific provisions he believes can be enacted, including capping the cost of insulin, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, providing energy-related tax breaks, and creating a 15% minimum tax on corporations as well as higher taxes for the “super wealthy” – all priorities Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), the lone holdout in the Senate on the “Build Back Better Act,” has insisted on since negotiations restarted.
While Democratic members remain hopeful that they will be able to enact an agreement, time is also running out – Congress will be out of session for the majority of August, and the current budget resolution expires when the new fiscal year begins on October 1. That leaves only a few short weeks for advocates to continue weighing in with their members of Congress on the importance of maintaining significant funding for targeted affordable housing investments in any reconciliation bill, including significant funding for NLIHC’s top policy priorities:
- $25 billion to expand rental assistance to more than 300,000 households. See how many vouchers your state would receive here.
- $65 billion to make critically needed repairs to public housing and preserve this valuable asset for its 2 million residents.
- $15 billion for the national Housing Trust Fund to build and preserve over 150,000 affordable, accessible homes for households with the lowest incomes. See NLIHC’s breakdown of how much each state would receive through the Housing Trust Fund here.
While the road to success is steep, this is not the first time advocates have pulled of the seemingly impossible and pushed Congress to maintain significant affordable housing investments in a reconciliation package. Email, tweet, and call your representatives and urge them to include these once-in-a-generation housing investments targeted to ensure people with the lowest incomes have safe, quality, affordable, and accessible places to call home. Use NLIHC’s call-in script and advocacy toolkit to help create your own message to Congress!
Thank you for your advocacy!