Shelby Statement on Senator Lee’s Amendment to Prevent Implementation of HUD’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing
WASHINGTON D.C. – May 20, 2016 – (RealEstateRama) — U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs today spoke on the Senate floor in favor of Senator Mike Lee’s amendment to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill.
The text of Senator Shelby’s remarks, as prepared, is below.
“Mr. President, I rise in support of Senator Lee’s amendment to prevent the implementation of HUD’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing.
“Contrary to statements that have been made, the Senator’s amendment does nothing to change Fair Housing Laws or to prevent the enforcement thereof.
“What this amendment does is prevent the implementation of a rule that would, in effect, give HUD federal control over local planning decisions.
“Supporters of this program have argued that it is intended to protect communities from fair housing law suits. Quite the contrary. This rule, if allowed to be implemented, will actually lay the predicate for endless litigation against every community in our respective states that are required to participate.
“This should be unacceptable to every member of this body.
“Supporting Senator Lee’s Amendment is the only option before us to prevent centralized federal control of local planning decisions.
“The Collins-Reed amendment did nothing to restrain the full implementation of HUD’s program. Therefore, I strongly urge my colleagues to support the Lee amendment.”
