New Developments: No Time To Wait
By Thom Amdur
3 min read
As I write this month’s column, there are 81 days until the mid-term elections (probably closer to 60 by the time you read it) and only about 35 remaining legislative working days through the end of the year. This is not much time to complete what I consider to be a lot of critical unfinished affordable housing and Historic Tax Credit related legislative business.
Once the 115th Congress gavels out for the last time this December, our significant legislative progress essentially resets, and we must return to the starting line as we renew our efforts. Of course, it is not as though Congress fires off a starting gun and we are off to the races either. There is a ponderous and time-consuming shuffle that occurs at the beginning of any new Congress, made more painful when majorities in one or both chambers change. (And if history is our guide, it is likely that the Republican majority in the House of Representatives will narrow or be lost entirely and the possibility of the Senate flipping from Republican to Democratic party control is not unthinkable).
Some things are relatively mundane, like the assignment of new offices and the hiring of new staff. New committee and subcommittee assignments are negotiated over time and can have significant consequences on a piece of legislation’s prospects and our own advocacy strategies. The legislative process must begin anew – legislation must be reintroduced, co-sponsors recruited, committee hearings and votes scheduled, and so on.
Whether or not the House or Senate flips, when you consider resignations, retirements, lost primaries and your typical electoral churn there will likely be more than 100 new Representatives and Senators walking the halls of Congress next year and the vast majority of them will likely have never heard of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit or HTC. This is a lot of ground to cover. As advocates, our strategy has always been reflective of the Taoist approach to gardening: You plant the tree.
What happens in the future is anybody’s guess (few of us correctly predicted the last election so and I won’t be making any bold proclamations just yet). But we know that the LIHTC and HTC have unprecedented support in this Congress and, with several tax or spending bills on the docket this fall, we have a unique opportunity over the next three months to push for the passage of impactful legislation to improve and expand both programs.
Now is the time to step on the gas of our advocacy and be available and visible when the legislative opportunity arises. As you return from your summer vacations, be sure to take some time to connect with your Senators and Representatives. Thank them for their support and urge them to stand up for the LIHTC and HTC this fall.
I’ll leave you with a closing thought from Carol Deppe, author of Tao of Vegetable Gardening, (Now you know a little bit more about my summer reading and hobbies), “There are three reasons to do something: It is the right thing to do, it is the right time to do it, and you are the right person to do it.” Let’s get to work!
