Providing for Concurrence by House with Amendments in Senate Amendment to H.R. 710, Charlie W. Norwood Living Organ Donation Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. MORAN of Kansas. I thank the gentleman from New York for yielding to me.
I, like the gentlemen are from Texas, am here in a state of disappointment. But mine is the reverse. A provision that was included in the Senate is not included in the House version of this bill. It is a piece of legislation that I introduced earlier this session and one that was offered as an amendment when this bill was considered by the House Ways and Means Committee, and it failed on a party-line vote. This provision, as I say, is included in the Senate bill, but it was removed when it was returned to the House, and it received unanimous approval by the Senate.
This is a commonsense clarification to the Tax Code to prevent lower income military personnel from being discriminated against when applying to live in affordable housing built under the low income housing tax credit. Our Nation's military families deserve access to safe, decent, affordable housing, and they should be given a fair opportunity to qualify for it.
This provision would clarify that members of the military will not have their military housing allowance counted against them as income when applying for affordable rental housing. The IRS does not consider military housing allowance as income, but, unfortunately, the Department of Housing and Urban Development does. The result is that some servicemembers, particularly enlisted ones, are considered to earn too much and are, thus, disqualified from living in affordable housing. Comparatively low-income civilians will qualify because they are treated differently by the IRS.
This clarification is needed now more than ever. A number of military installations across the country are experiencing housing shortages as a result the 2005 BRAC. For example, Fort Riley, an Army post located in the State of Kansas, is nearly doubling in size and will see an influx of nearly 30,000 people. Without access to adequate affordable housing opportunities, many families stationed at Fort Riley are being forced to live far away from post.
The House acted this year to exempt military housing allowance from income eligibility requirements under Head Start. Unfortunately, this discrimination persists when military families apply to live in affordable housing, and enlisted servicemembers and their families continue to be treated unfairly in communities across the country.
Mr. Speaker, while I support this legislation, I again am here to object to the exclusion of language that would level the playing field for our military enlisted men. I have introduced legislation to correct this issue; and should it not be resolved in this legislation, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 1481.
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