CONGRESSMAN BISHOP FIGHTS TO KEEP ROADS, RAILWAYS, & AIRPORTS SAFE, HOUSING AFFORDABLE & ACCESSIBLE, AND COMMUNITIES HEALTHY

WASHINGTON – This week, Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (GA-02) opposed the Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) as well as the FY24 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies funding bill. These bills make massive cuts to federal programs that safeguard the country’s roads, railways, bridges, airports, and other critical infrastructure. They also undermine programs that ensure affordable housing is accessible as well as the put the health and well-being of communities at risk.

“I could not support these bills which jeopardize the clean water that communities need, cut programs that check for and remove lead from homes, undermine fair and just availability of housing, and take a sledgehammer to federal regulations and programs at a time when we need to build and make our critical infrastructure safer,” said Congressman Bishop. “We still have communities dealing with the fallout of train derailments that have killed people and polluted towns. Other communities still struggle to remove lead from homes or provide affordable, clean water and wastewater treatment.”

Congressman Bishop added, “These bills ignore the devastating effects of climate change – wildfires and droughts, super storms and floods – all of which destroy the homes and businesses of American families, wiping out their savings and security. These bills sacrifice the safety of families, in both red and blue communities, in the name of saving a few bucks.”

The FY24 THUD Appropriations Bill

The FY24 THUD funding bill was voted on in the House Appropriations Committee where Congressman Bishop serves as a senior member. It was approved on a party-line vote. Most notably, the bill:

• Eliminates the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) and mega grant programs that support projects of all sizes that improve freight, highways, rail and port infrastructure, advance public-private partnerships, and improve the safety, longevity, and sustainability of our transportation networks.

• Eliminates the neighborhood and housing revitalization program, Choice Neighborhoods Initiative, which helps communities redevelop distressed housing and attract economic development.

• Guts the sole Federal program dedicated to affordable housing construction by 67 percent, cutting the HOME program from $1.5 billion to a mere $500 million.

• Prohibits HUD from using funds to implement, administer, or enforce the proposed “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” rule or proposed rule which was published in January in order to fulfill the requirements of the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

• Takes $564.2 million from the ‘‘Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes,” which means over 80,000 households will not have the funds to assess lead hazards or remove them and puts over 100,000 children at risk of lead poisoning.

The FY24 Interior, Environment, & Related Agencies Appropriations Bill

The FY24 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies funding bill was voted on in the House Appropriations Committee. It was approved on a party-line vote. Most notably, the bill:

• Cuts $1.77 billion from Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds which are especially vital to smaller communities whose budgets cannot handle the large, upfront costs of these capital improvement.

• Slashes $312 million from the Forest Service.

• Gouges the National Parks Service budget, which not only hamstrings the ability to welcome tourists to and maintain these national treasures, but also jeopardizes more than 1,000 jobs in the communities in which they are located.

• Rescinds almost $7.8 billion from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, undermining efforts to rein in climate change, the effects of which are devastating communities across the country and costing taxpayers billions of dollars each year in disaster relief.

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