President Joe Biden met last week with Senator Shelly Moore-Capito (R-WV) to continue bipartisan negotiations over the “American Jobs Plan,” the president’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan that includes $318 billion in housing investments. Senator Capito, who is leading negotiations on behalf of her Republican colleagues in the Senate, noted the White House and Senate Republicans are “inching towards one another” on a potential deal, but the White House said the latest Republican offer “did not meet the president’s objectives to grow the economy, tackle the climate crisis, and create new jobs.” Time is running short to reach a bipartisan compromise.
Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) suggested that ten days remain before Democrats begin moving forward on a reconciliation bill that could pass without Republican support, but Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) stated that he is not yet ready to give up on reaching a bipartisan deal. In an effort to bridge the divide between the White House and Senate Republicans, President Biden has reportedly backed off the proposed 28% corporate tax rate included in the “American Jobs Plan” to help pay for infrastructure investments, suggesting instead a new minimum corporate tax rate of 15% and utilizing increased revenues from Internal Revenue Service (IRS) enforcement.
NLIHC is working to ensure that Congress includes in any infrastructure spending plan comprehensive resources to achieve housing justice, specifically:
- Expansion of rental assistance to every eligible household
- $70 billion to repair and make energy-efficient upgrades to public housing
- At least $40 billion for the national Housing Trust Fund to build and preserve homes affordable to people with the lowest incomes
Take action by signing your organization on to a national letter urging Congress to robust investments in affordable housing at: https://tinyurl.com/zbau4kee
While negotiations continue over an infrastructure package, the release of President Biden’s budget request (see Memo, 6/1) marked the beginning of the appropriations process for fiscal year 2022 (FY22). House Budget Chairman John Yarmuth (D-KY) stated the committee will take up a “deeming” resolution in the coming weeks to set discretionary spending limits that will likely match the targets proposed in the president’s budget request, including a $9 billion, or 15%, increase to HUD’s budget. With spending limits set, the House Budget Committee will then release a “shell” budget resolution for FY22 that will include reconciliation instructions to pass a potential infrastructure package without bipartisan support.
Learn more about NLIHC’s HoUSed Campaign and get involved at: https://nlihc.org/housed