LITTLE ROCK, AR - Rep. French Hill (AR-02), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development, and Insurance on the Financial Services Committee, issued the following statement after committee Democrats voted to advance their portion of the reconciliation legislation:
“Democrats in Congress continue to push forward a partisan, $3.5 trillion tax-and-spending bill and Financial Services Committee Democrats have been at the epicenter. Let’s be clear, this legislation is a trojan horse filled with tax hikes for American families and a wish list of far-left, progressive priorities. Democrats are pushing legislation that fails to fix the Emergency Rental Assistance program and throws taxpayer dollars at ineffective housing programs without actually improving them.”
Instead of agreeing to commonsense fixes to their flawed legislation, Democrats instead voted against all 25 amendments from Republicans, including the following amendments from Rep. Hill:
To remove the additional, burdensome conditions placed on property owners in the Democrats’ bill, disincentivizing them from participating in the Emergency Rental Assistance program and further slowing the disbursement of aid to those who need it the most;
To require households that directly receive Emergency Rental Assistance to actually use those funds to repay their rent, which would have prevented fraud;
To prevent individuals that have previously owned homes from being able to qualify for federal down payment assistance intended for first-time homebuyers; and
To prohibit individuals that receive down payment assistance from “double dipping” by combining those funds with other federal assistance programs.
