ICYMI: Democrats Offer Amendments to Stand up for Main Street at Committee Markup of Budget Views

WASHINGTON, D.C. - At a House Financial Services Committee markup to consider the Committee’s Budget Views and Estimates for Fiscal Year 2019, Committee Democrats offered a series of amendments and challenged Republicans to stand up for hardworking Americans and support vulnerable families.

Amendments were offered by Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA), Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Rep. Al Green (D-TX), Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI), Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI), and Rep. Denny Heck (D-WA). Six of those amendments were adopted.

Unfortunately, Republicans voted down 14 other Democratic amendments, continuing the trend of ignoring the needs of Main Street while proposing policies that benefit big banks and Wall Street.

Committee Republicans voted down the following amendments:

• An amendment by Ranking Member Waters to prioritize the funding and review of legislative proposals necessary to end homelessness
  
• An amendment by Rep. Lynch to support HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI), which provides funding to revitalize severely distressed public housing units.
  
• An amendment by Rep. Kildee to increase funding for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program and highlight the importance of CDBG in meeting the needs of underserved communities.
  
• An amendment by Rep. Kildee to increase funding for HUD’s housing counseling program and highlight the proven benefits and high demand for housing counseling services.
  
• An amendment by Rep. Kildee urging the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs (HUD) to reexamine its investment in programs that are critical to America’s cities and towns.
  
• An amendment by Rep. Green to appropriately fund the overall HUD budget.
  
• An amendment by Rep. Lynch to support the Dodd- Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) and highlight the legislation’s safeguards, as well as the economic growth and success since its enactment.
  
• An amendment by Ranking Member Waters to support the Committee’s efforts to investigate President Trump’s financial ties to Russia. The amendment also urges the Department of Treasury to hold Russia accountable for interfering in the 2016 Presidential election and deter future meddling by imposing the mandatory sanctions on Russia as required by the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
  
• An amendment by Rep. Green highlighting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (Consumer Bureau) unique role in enforcing fair lending laws and preventing discrimination, particularly through testing.
  
• An amendment by Rep. Ellison highlighting the importance of consumer protections and maintaining the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) independent funding structure.
  
• An amendment by Rep. Ellison to support the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), a program that is critically important for collecting data about potential discrimination in mortgage lending.
  
• An amendment by Reps. Moore and Heck to support restoring the full functionality of the Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank).
  
• An amendment by Ranking Member Waters urging the Committee to monitor the rapid developments in FinTech and conduct extensive oversight to ensure inclusion and protection of consumers as well as support for our nation’s community banks and credit unions.
  
• An amendment by Ranking Member Waters to support small businesses by appropriately funding the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, reauthorizing the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) and enforcing data collection requirements regarding women and minority-owned small businesses, as mandated by Section 1071 of Dodd-Frank.
  

The Committee adopted the following amendments proposed by Democrats:

• An amendment by Rep. Velazquez to examine the conduct of landlords participating in the Section 8 Program.
  
• An amendment by Rep. Velazquez to investigate the impact of funding of Public Housing Authorities and seek ways to ensure capital repairs are made to improve the health and well-being of residents.
  
• An amendment by Rep. Green urging HUD to quickly and efficiently disburse CDBG disaster funding and highlighting the disasters that devastated the Southern United States and communities across the country in 2017.
  
• An amendment by Rep. Green highlighting the need for HUD to use funding efficiently as it pertains to the programs at the agency and the use of taxpayer funds for procurement of interior décor.
  An amendment by Rep. Heck highlighting potential reforms to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
  
• An amendment by Rep. Green highlighting the need for the Federal Reserve to use its resources to achieve maximum employment in all communities for the betterment of our economy.
  
  

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