House Appropriations Subcommittee on HUD Chair David Price (D-NC) welcomed HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge as a the sole witness for a hearing on HUD’s fiscal year 2022 (FY22) budget request, the details of which have not been released by the Administration. Overall, HUD is seeking a 15% increase for FY22.
On April 20, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, held a hearing, “COVID-19 Recovery: Supporting Workers and Modernizing the Workforce Through Quality Education, Training, and Employment Opportunities.” The hearing focused on strengthening our nation’s workforce programs to provide quality education, training, and employment opportunities for working families impacted by the pandemic.
The plan also provides support for building a state infrastructure to improve the quality of services that support caregivers, which includes offering caregiving and essential home care workers a living wage, benefits and the ability to collectively bargain.
Legislation to expand and improve the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (Housing Credit) was introduced today in the Senate and House. The identical bills represent close iterations of Housing Credit legislation introduced, and widely-supported, in previous sessions of Congress.
On April 14, President Biden signed the Medicare sequester suspension bill.
This legislation continues the suspension of the 2% Medicare reimbursement cuts (the "sequester") through December 31, 2021. The continued suspension applies to all Medicare billers, including home health, hospices, PACE organizations and skilled nursing facilities.
The House Financial Services Committee considered 17 bills as part of its hearing on housing infrastructure legislation on April 14, including a draft bill that would provide $2.5 billion for the Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly program. The funding can also be used to provide residents with access to high-speed internet.
An April 13 hearing on, Separate and Unequal: The Legacy of Racial Discrimination in Housing, coincided with steps from HUD to reinstate fair housing rules undermined by the Trump Administration: affirmatively furthering fair housing and disparate impact.
President Biden’s discretionary funding request offers a blueprint for Congress to build on the successes of the recently passed American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and complement the goals of the President’s infrastructure proposal, the American Jobs Plan. The President believes now is the time to build on efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and improve the public health infrastructure.
House Committee on Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) is circulating a sign-on letter to her House colleagues in support of strong rental assistance funding levels for several HUD programs, including Section 202 Housing for the Elderly and Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance. Once the signatures have been gathered, the letter will be sent to House majority and minority appropriators. Representatives have until April 21 to sign the letter.
The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 appropriated $2 billion dollars for a COVID-19 funeral assistance program administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). This is an opportunity for those who lost a loved one to COVID and are facing financial hardship to get assistance with funeral costs.
Here are some key things to know.
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