Affordable Rental Housing ACTION (A Call To Invest in Our Neighborhoods) issued resources to assist housing credit supporters in reaching out to their representatives in support of current legislation. NH&RA encourages our members to voice your support bills in the House and Senate that will set a minimum credit rate.
Minimum Credit Rate Legislation
The minimum Housing Credit rate legislation recently introduced in the Senate, S. 1193, now has 27 co-sponsors. The newest co-sponsors are Senators Thad Cochran (R-MS), Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Gary Peters (D-MI).
The companion legislation in the House, H.R. 1142, introduced by Representative Pat Tiberi (R-OH-12) and Richard Neal (D-MA-1) in February, now has 59 co-sponsors. The most recent additions are Representatives Zoe Lofgren (D-CA-19), Alcee Hastings (D-FL-20) and Lynn Jenkins (R-KS-2).
We encourage you to reach out to your senators and representatives to sign on to these bills if they haven’t already. Use the ACTION House and Senate bill summaries to help make your case.
Tax Reform and Tax Extenders
The Senate Finance Committee continues to review the feedback it received during industry roundtable discussions and the submissions sent to the tax reform working groups, though the timeline for consideration has been extended. Working groups are now expected to provide recommendations to the full committee by the end of June. Though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said recently that passing tax reform in this Congress is unlikely, any draft tax reform proposals that the Senate Finance Committee produces are likely to be used as a starting place for future reform efforts.
House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI-1) has shown interest in advancing more limited tax reform legislation, potentially to address international taxation and tax extenders, as soon as this summer. In the meantime, the Ways and Means Committee continues to mark up individual tax extenders bills, though there are no plans to mark up an extension of minimum Housing Credit rates at this time. The ACTION Campaign is encouraging Housing Credit supporters in Congress to reach out to Chairman Ryan and ask that the Ways and Means Committee mark up H.R. 1142.
