Housing for the 21st Century Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. FOSTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6644, the Housing for the 21st Century Act, which makes improvements to Federal programs that will support housing development and affordability.

This bipartisan bill will broaden access to homeownership, expedite new construction, and lay the foundation for more cost-effective housing developments across the Nation.

This legislation includes 25 housing provisions that were introduced by Democrats and 12 banking provisions that passed our committee with broad bipartisan support.

To support local lenders and access to financing, this bill includes bipartisan reforms to strengthen our community banks, credit unions, CDFIs, and MDIs.

As ranking member of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions, I support the inclusion of these reforms, including the SMART Act and the Least Cost Exception Act, which I am proud to co-lead.

The banking provisions are narrowly tailored to help our small community financial institutions, to provide regulatory relief for well-managed institutions, to increase access to insured deposits, and to establish safeguards to prevent the largest too-big-to-fail banks from growing even larger during times of economic stress.

This legislation is a strong bipartisan effort to spur new housing development, improve affordability, and increase access to financing.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage a ``yes'' vote on this bill.

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