Waters
Floor Statement on Moving Forward Act
Infrastructure
Package Includes Waters’ Housing Infrastructure Legislation
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WASHINGTON, D.C.
- Today, Congresswoman
Maxine Waters (D-CA), gave the following floor statement in
support of H.R. 2, the Moving
Forward Act. The Moving Forward Act includes Chairwoman
Waters’ legislation, H.R. 5187, the Housing
Is Infrastructure Act.
Thank you very much, Chairman DeFazio for your tremendous
leadership and work on this legislation. Mister Speaker, I rise in strong
support of H.R. 2, the Moving Forward Act, which includes $100 billion in
critical funding for our nation’s affordable housing infrastructure to
create or preserve approximately 1.8 million affordable homes. While we
need stronger and better roads and bridges, they mean nothing for families
that don’t have a roof over their head or are forced to live in substandard
housing.
This country is in the midst of an affordable housing crisis. It is a crisis
of tragic proportions that has resulted in over 550,000 people experiencing
homelessness, and nearly 38 million renter households paying unaffordable
rents even before this crisis began.
The public health crisis that we are currently experiencing has exacerbated
matters, with millions of Americans across the country having lost their
jobs and struggling to afford their housing costs. Communities of color
continue to suffer disproportionately both from the virus and the resulting
economic damage.
The investments into affordable housing through this bill will not only
increase and improve the supply of affordable housing, but it will also
create jobs throughout the country, and generate revenue for state and
local governments, which will go a long way to help our economy recover
from the pandemic.
I would like to thank Speaker Pelosi and Chairman DeFazio for their work
putting together this legislative package. I urge my colleagues to support
this important piece of legislation and I yield back my time.
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