Rep. Ellison Statement on Housing and Transportation Appropriations

Statement

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) released the following statement today after voting against the appropriations bill to fund the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Trnsportation.

"There is an affordable rental housing crisis in this nation and Republicans are choosing to make it worse," said Rep. Keith Ellison. "The resources provided in the bill to fund the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Transportation make it impossible to address the needs of low-income working families, people with disabilities and the elderly. We need more than 7 million new homes affordable to extremely low-income families, but the bill provides too little assistance to serve families that currently receive housing assistance nor does it provide new resources for the millions of low-income families paying more than half of their income for rent and utilities. Too many people today face discrimination when they try to buy a home, but this bill includes three amendments to weaken our enforcement of the Fair Housing Act, which protects people with disabilities, racial, religious and ethnic minorities and families with children.

"Families who work hard should be able to afford a place to call home, but Republicans in Congress are choosing to make it harder for working families to afford to put a roof over their heads."

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