[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 204 (Tuesday, December 12, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5905-S5907]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DASH Act
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I got back late last night from Oregon--
another round of community meetings. You can't do your job well sitting
behind your desk back here; you have to get out into the community. I
have had more than 1,000--really more than 1,060--open-to-all
townhalls, in every corner of Oregon, and I am going to talk for a few
minutes about the issue I hear about constantly, and that is the
shortage of affordable housing for working families.
I am going to talk about what it means for my constituents, but I
will tell you, I hear about it all across the country and from Senators
on both sides of the aisle. I have just introduced legislation with the
distinguished Senator from Alaska, Senator Sullivan, about housing that
is affordable for working families. Ask the New Hampshire Senators
about employers and workers facing housing challenges there. Ask those
from Kansas what is going on in Kansas City, where they can't house
teachers. Oregonians from Brookings to Baker City are facing rising
rents and housing costs and are making tough financial choices. They
ought to have enough money because they are working hard to pay for
affordable shelter.
Here is a statistic that will give you a sense of what the challenge
is all about. In my State, 26 school districts have been forced to buy,
rent, or build housing for their teachers. So get this, Mr. President--
and we are westerners, and we understand this. We know we have a lot of
challenges competing in tough markets. We have a leg up geographically
with Asia, for example, on the west coast, but we are losing it if we
don't have affordable housing for working families, for firefighters
and teachers.
Folks, the minority community has said: We are trying to start small
businesses on a credit card, and we can't afford shelter.
In Oregon, these school districts--more than 20 of them--are now
basically in the housing business. How in the world--I see my friend
from Alaska is here. We have been talking about these issues. It is
wonderful to work with him on it. How in the world did our schools
suddenly get in the housing business? I guess in some places they are
going to in effect rent houses they bought to teachers, and the
teachers will practically be back, I say to my friend from Alaska, in
their college days. They will be waiting to use the washing machine in
line with other teachers.
So I just don't think it is right that all our school districts have
to get into the housing business--by the way, there was a front-page
story in the Wall Street Journal here not long ago about the same sort
of thing in Kansas City.
I have introduced comprehensive legislation as chairman of the
Finance Committee to tackle this issue. It is called the DASH Act--the
Decent, Affordable, Safe Housing for All Act. Today, we are just going
to focus on one piece, which is affordable housing for working
families.
Senator Sullivan and I have teamed up here in the Senate. I am very
pleased that our bill is bipartisan and bicameral.
I am very pleased that our bill is bipartisan and bicameral.
Representatives Jimmy Panetta and Mike Carey are offering the same
kind of tax credit that Senator Sullivan and I are offering for working
families, and our proposal is built on the proven and successful--what
is called LIHTC--low-income housing tax credit.
My view is that the combination of LIHTC, plus the help that Senator
Sullivan and I and our counterparts in the House want to advance--those
two efforts--could spur a juggernaut of new and desperately needed
housing construction. Our bill could be a big shot in the arm to the
countless middle-income Americans hoping to get their shot at the
American dream of owning a home.
I want, as we get into this issue of working families, to make sure
that everybody understands that we are also recommitting our support to
the existing programs that help the homeless and help folks of modest
incomes, like LIHTC. These are people who, every week, walk an economic
tightrope. They are balancing the food bill against the fuel bill and
the fuel bill against housing costs. We desperately need more LIHTC
funding, and as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, I am going to
continue to push that.
But I don't think the two needs here for working families and low-
income folks are mutually exclusive. We can do both. We ought to do
both. Our country is not at its best when we pit working families
against people of modest means. We ought to be extending opportunity
for all Americans.
I will just say--and I am going to yield to my friend from Alaska--
that small businesses across my State--and I heard it yesterday again
at our business summit in Portland--can't grow because employees can't
afford housing. Even when they have good-paying jobs, families are
forced to search for months for reasonably priced properties, only to
be up against several other families in similar circumstances and
contending for the same property.
So we are going to continue to try to build on the progress of LIHTC.
My hope is--and I had a good talk just this morning with the chairman
in the other body, Chairman Jason Smith of the Ways and Means
Committee, my counterpart. We had a good conversation about the effort
to get help for kids with what is called the child tax credit, and an
equal amount of help for the research and development tax issue for
innovation so we can outcompete China. We made good progress just in
the last week, Chairman Smith and I,
[[Page S5906]]
in looking at the numbers and the various ways in which we can ensure
that an equal amount of assistance--an equal amount of assistance--goes
for the child tax credit and the research and development tax credit.
One of the reasons I was so pleased to be able to come to the floor
this morning and talk with my colleague from Alaska is I think we also
ought to be talking about, on top of--and I use those words--an
agreement that is proportional in assistance for the child tax credit
and for the research and development tax credit. I think, on top of
that, we ought to give a boost to housing, particularly the low-income
housing tax credit, which has gotten significant support from my
colleague from Washington, Senator Cantwell, and a number of
Republicans as well, and we should include such a housing effort--on
top of a child tax credit and a research and development-innovation
package, help on housing--and make them all bipartisan.
I see my friend from is Alaska here. I thank him for his cooperation.
I will just say, in closing, no community is immune from the
skyrocketing cost of housing. Democrats aren't usually supposed to use
this word, but I will tell you I am a supply-sider on housing. We need
to increase supply, and on that, Senator Sullivan and I are working
together.
I yield the floor to him.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I want to begin by offering my sincere
thanks to the chairman of the Finance Committee, my friend Senator
Wyden of Oregon. I am honored to be on the floor with him today to talk
about these housing issues and this really important bill, the
Workforce Housing Tax Credit Act, which, as he already mentioned, is
bipartisan and bicameral.
As Senator Wyden already mentioned, our country is facing a lot of
challenges right now: inflation, fentanyl coming through our borders,
national security threats all over the place overseas. But it is very
obvious, and anyone reading the paper knows, that we are also
experiencing in rural and urban America a severe housing crisis.
Everywhere I travel in the great State of Alaska, I hear from Alaskans
reeling from the scarcity of housing, and it is everywhere--Anchorage,
Fairbanks, Sitka, Ketchikan, Kodiak--every single small rural village
in my State. It is everywhere.
I know it is a big challenge in Oregon, but it is a big challenge all
over the country, and it is a challenge that impacts low- and middle-
income families. It stands as a stark obstacle to getting and keeping
jobs, to having a family, to building communities. This is really
foundational stuff in terms of what matters in communities--housing.
So solving this challenge has been one of my top priorities, and I
really want to thank Senator Wyden and his team for being so patient in
working with us--a really good partner here. This is going to take all
kinds of solutions. There is no silver bullet here. It is going to take
everybody pulling on the same oar--the Feds, State, private sector,
Tribes, nonprofits--but this is an important start.
I actually hosted the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development,
Marcia Fudge, in Alaska this past August. We held a roundtable and some
meetings on urban housing issues and on rural housing issues. It was
very well attended. I want to thank all of the Alaskans who took part.
They weren't shy with Secretary Fudge--she got an earful--and there is
a whole host of things we are going to follow up on with her:
challenges dealing with overregulation from HUD, homelessness
definitions, housing formulas for cities. But it was progress our
getting her up to Alaska.
So this is progress. This is progress. What Senator Wyden and I have
introduced is an exciting and creative bill that will broaden a tried-
and-true Federal tax incentive program--the low-income housing tax
credit.
This all started during the 1980s, during the Reagan administration.
It is market-based. It is private sector-focused. It is a proven,
successful formula that will help catalyze the private sector to build
more housing in urban and rural areas for working families. That is why
we actually named it the Workforce Housing Tax Credit Act. Teachers,
law enforcement, first responders, nurses, healthcare officials,
electricians--the backbone of so many communities--are, right now,
priced out of the market to buy a home. Expanding the low-income
housing credit will help address the core issues of not just
homelessness and overcrowding in many places in Alaska, particularly in
rural Alaska, but it will empower hard-working Alaskans to stay in our
communities and build a more robust workforce.
Now, sometimes, when you bring legislation down on the Senate floor,
you are not sure who is going to support it. Well, I am very proud to
say that, back home in Alaska, this bill has enormous support--
liberals; conservatives; mayors; our Governor; the mayor of Anchorage,
our biggest city; the chair of the Anchorage Assembly. I know these
guys really well. They don't really get along on much, but they support
this bill. We have Tribal groups. We have private sector groups. We
have home builder groups. It is a super big list.
I think that is the signal for Senator Wyden and me that we are on to
something here. We are on to something here. If there aren't homes in
communities for hard-working families, then entire communities are shut
off for growth. Housing is a catalyst for community and economic
development and good jobs and pride in where you live.
This bill offers one solution that will actually lead to the
construction of these kinds of housing developments. How do I know
that? How can I say that? Because, as the chairman of the Finance
Committee already said, we know this works. The low-income tax credit
already works. We know that, and we are building on that program in the
best way to ensure that the private sector will actually use this
program to break open other bottlenecks for economic development.
Importantly, this bill provides flexibilities to States and
developers to decide what is best for their communities. It is not a
one-size-fits-all Washington mandate. We don't like those in Alaska. As
I mentioned, it has broad support--bipartisan, bicameral.
Once again, to my friend from Oregon, I really want to thank Senator
Wyden. He was very patient with me and my team as we had a number of
edits. We were trying to make sure that this would work for America and
Alaska. Sometimes, my State has some really unique challenges, and he
accommodated so much and was very patient with us. You can tell, again,
from the reaction of this broad-based group of stakeholders back home
in my State, that this has a lot of support.
So I thank Senator Wyden again. I look forward to working with him
and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in getting this over the
goal line and addressing one of the big challenges in America that, I
think, impacts every State in the country. This is one of the many
tools we will use to try to address it.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
Mr. WYDEN. I will yield very quickly to Senator Peters after I wrap
this up.
Mr. President, first, I want to thank Senator Sullivan again for
giving us a chance to bring housing, in a bipartisan way, to the Senate
floor and just to tell colleagues there is an opportunity to do
something really big here in the U.S. Senate.
I just got off the phone again with the chairman of the Ways and
Means Committee in the other body, my counterpart. We are making good
progress in the effort to make sure that there is a child tax credit
and a significant boost to research and innovation in this country.
They have to be proportional. We have made that clear. That is the
essence of a good and fair agreement.
Now, Senator Sullivan and I and our colleagues who are advocating for
LIHTC are getting an opportunity to also discuss building upon that and
taking some steps to ensure that there is housing for working families
and for low-income folks.
I thank my colleague from Michigan for the chance to close this
discussion up.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.
Mr. PETERS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to
4 minutes prior to the vote.
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The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Nomination of Harry Coker, Jr.
Mr. PETERS. Mr. President, I rise in support of Harry Coker's
nomination to be the National Cyber Director. The National Cyber
Director is responsible for driving cyber security policy and strategy
all across the Federal Government.
The Office of the National Cyber Director was established by Congress
in 2021 to foster a coordinated, whole-of-government approach to cyber
security. Harry Coker is an accomplished leader and a dedicated public
servant who is well qualified to lead this important office.
Mr. Coker has over four decades of national security and cyber
security experience. He served as a naval officer and in senior
leadership roles at the National Security Agency and the Central
Intelligence Agency, where he worked to combat cyber and national
security threats. His nomination received bipartisan support from the
Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and he
has been endorsed by a wide range of bipartisan cyber and national
security experts.
During the 2 years since the Office of the National Cyber Director
was created, the office has done impressive work, including developing
an ambitious national cyber security strategy and national cyber
workforce and education strategy. The Office of the National Cyber
Director has been without a confirmed leader for almost 10 months. A
dedicated, Senate-confirmed leader is critical to building upon these
efforts and continuing to grow and mature the Office of the National
Cyber Director.
I urge my colleagues to join me in confirming Mr. Coker to this very
important role.
I yield the floor.