Maxine Waters

Ms. WATERS

Ms. WATERS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Hill for working with me to clarify the intent behind this section. I agree with what Mr. Hill has described on the congressional intent for section 1001. Madam Speaker, for years I have fought hard to make housing affordable, but for many years, it was hard to prioritize housing in both Democratic and Republican-led Houses. It is for that reason, I am deeply grateful for Chairman Hill who worked so closely with me to write H.R. 6644 and prioritize it in our committee and in this House. Together, we found compromise that had previously proven so difficult. I hope that this partnership can continue to deliver for America because we still have a lot of work to do. Madam Speaker, I also thank both of our staffs on the committee because without their hard work, this bill would not likely be here before us today. This legislation must serve as a foundation for continued action, not the final step in addressing our Nation's housing crisis. We must build on this progress and continue to advocate and secure the resources our communities critically need. Madam Speaker, I dedicate our work to some of the people in public housing who will have an opportunity now to help understand how their communities can be improved. In my district, Nickerson Gardens, Jordan Downs, Gonzack Village, Imperial Courts, and Avalon Gardens, I thank them for what I have learned. To my home in St. Louis, Missouri, where I was born, I thank those who lived and died in bond projects in Pruitt-Igoe and those projects where they had a difficult time many years ago. We are now leading to a point where we will be able to make all of those projects more livable. We will be able to have the constituents in those projects understand how their lives can be bettered. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6644, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, sponsored by Chairman Hill and myself. This bill represents the most significant housing reform package in decades and will finally get America back on track to building affordable housing. Our bill includes dozens of bipartisan provisions to build new housing, lower mortgage and rental costs, expand homeownership, modernize Federal housing programs, prioritize home buyers and renters over corporate landlords, and support community bankers that finance affordable housing development and mortgages each day. This final bill marks the culmination of numerous hearings, markups, votes, creative input from committee Democrats, and tough negotiations across both sides the aisle and the Capitol. This bill speaks to the real change that our constituents have been demanding, where everyone can afford a dignified place to call home, where tenants are protected, and where working Americans can finally get ahead. As a reminder of who we are trying to help and what is at stake, let's review the facts. The average cost of a single-family home has skyrocketed, and wages have not kept pace. The median age of a first- time home buyer is 40 years old. Rents have soared by nearly 47 percent since before the pandemic. Not surprisingly, 42 million American households are cost-burdened, and most shamefully, 800,000 people experience homelessness on any given night. Our country must do better, and today we will do better by passing H.R. 6644. I have said since day one that housing must be a national priority. That is why I thank Chairman Hill for his partnership. This will be the third time this Congress has passed housing reform legislation, and each time, the bill has gotten better and better. I also commend Housing and Insurance Subcommittee Ranking Member Emanuel Cleaver, Chairman Flood, along with our committee Democrats and Senators Warren and Scott for coming together on this historic bipartisan and bicameral bill. By working together, we will deliver a stronger, more impactful legislative package to be signed into law, one with more practical solutions and affordable housing opportunities for American families than before. This comprehensive package incorporates over 50 housing and banking provisions championed by House Democrats. It will lay the groundwork for the development of new, affordable homes all across America and create new pathways to homeownership. The bill will reduce unnecessary barriers to housing development, expand financing for housing and community investment, and support the development of innovative housing like modular homes and accessory dwelling units. It creates databases for available publicly owned lands so communities know where they can build. The bill provides a range of new protections for renters, including a hotline to file complaints with HUD and corporate landlords. The bill increases access to smaller-dollar mortgages under $100,000, and the bill, finally, codifies the Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery Program, which will help expedite flexible funding to communities seeking to rebuild homes after major disasters like hurricanes and wildfires. H.R. 6644 also supports thousands of community lenders, including community development financial institutions and minority depository institutions, so they can more affordably finance home buyers and housing developers. Importantly, this bill includes the House language to responsibly rein in corporate landlords by banning large institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes but without halting construction of new rental housing or evicting families in the middle of a housing crisis. Tenants will have a national resource center to file grievances about corporate landlords, to which HUD will respond, and large institutional investors will be publicly named in an annual report along with the number and location of their properties. I am very proud of this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to join me in this first step to finally addressing our Nation's affordable housing crisis. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Cleaver), who authored several bills in this legislation, including H.R. 1981, the Choice in Affordable Housing Act; H.R. 5878, the HOME Reform Act; and H.R. 5938, the Innovation Fund Act.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch), who is a strong advocate for affordable and public housing.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman).

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green), who authored several bills in this legislation, including H.R. 8291, the Reforming Disaster Recovery Act, and H.R. 3716, the Systemic Risk Authority Transparency Act.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Himes).

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Beatty). Mrs. Beatty authored H.R. 2031, the HOME Investment Partnerships Reauthorization and Improvement Act, and H.R. 3709, the Advancing the Mentor-Protege Program for Small Financial Institutions Act.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Tlaib), who authored H.R. 6768, the Housing Our Communities Act, which is included in this bill.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Horsford), who is a strong advocate for affordable housing and a former member of our committee.

Ms. WATERS

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, due to unavoidable circumstances, I arrived late on June 3,

Ms. WATERS

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, due to unavoidable circumstances, I was absent on April 27, 2026, and therefore missed two votes. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 138, and YEA on Roll Call No. 139.

Ms. WATERS

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1993, the 25th Anniversary of 9/11 Commemorative Coin Act, sponsored by Representative Goldman of New York. This bill directs the Treasury Secretary to mint coins in remembrance of the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. That is a day that deeply transformed our country and persists in the American memory. This legislation is important because it gives us the opportunity to honor the memory of the 2,977 lives that were taken during these attacks; the strength of their families and loved ones; the sacrifices of many others involved in the rescue, recovery, and relief efforts; and the courage of the survivors. Unfortunately, the devastation did not end that day. In the aftermath, countless people across the country continued to suffer from the physical and mental health impacts of this tragedy. Throughout the years, tens of thousands of first responders, construction workers, volunteers, and survivors have been injured or become ill from the toxic dust, smoke, and debris they were exposed to. The data demonstrating these outcomes is heartbreaking. According to the World Trade Center Health Program, over 63,000 registered members have developed one or more medical issues rooted in their exposure to these toxins, and more than 9,000 people have died from 9/11-related illnesses. That is three times the number of people who were killed on September 11 itself. It is necessary that we continue to remember and honor those who have lost their lives, as well as meaningfully support the individuals who continue to battle these health challenges today. The National 9/11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center carries out this important work by providing services and engaging in educational efforts, which is why I am glad that we are supporting this bill today. This legislation also includes a funding structure which would support the operations and maintenance of the memorial and museum so that visitors and future generations continue to learn about these horrific events and the heroic efforts of Americans. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Goldman), the sponsor of this bill, who has been a real leader in putting this legislation together.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from New York.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. This legislation would establish the creation of commemorative coins in light of the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. These commemorative coins and the critical work of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum will help us honor the bravery of Americans for many generations to come. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. WATERS

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3234, the Keeping Deposits Local Act, sponsored by Representative Emmer and our former Diversity and Inclusion Subcommittee chairwoman, Mrs. Joyce Beatty. I appreciate the sponsors' bipartisan work on this bill. In 2018, I worked with them to establish the initial framework for the so-called reciprocal deposits. When a business comes to a bank and deposits, say, $1 million to cover payroll and other expenses, the FDIC only ensures up to $250,000. To help these customers receive deposit insurance on all of their deposits, banks can send a deposit over the $250,000 cap to another bank in exchange for a separate deposit from the receiving bank, which is known as a reciprocal deposit. The product has become popular, especially after the dramatic failures of Silicon Valley Bank and two other regional banks in 2023 because businesses wanted to make sure they don't have any uninsured deposits. This bill would increase the limits we set back in 2018 based on a bank's size. Now, megabanks don't need our help because they are, unfortunately, still perceived as too big to fail. In fact, a number of small businesses moved their deposits to megabanks after the 2023 regional bank failures. I appreciate that the chairman and the sponsors worked with me to address my concerns that an earlier version of this bill would have been a windfall for megabanks. It has been revised to ensure the bill prioritizes support for smaller community and midsize banks like MDIs and CDFI banks. There is more that we should do than just this bill. Since 2007, there have been at least 37 bank failures where emergency tools were not used to protect depositors because the bank was too small. As a result, small business customers with more than $250,000 lost money through no fault of their own when their bank failed. That is not fair. After convening a roundtable with industry experts and consulting extensively with our former chairman, Mr. McHenry, I introduced my bill, H.R. 4551, the Employee Paycheck and Small Business Protection Act. Under my bill, the government would take a data-driven approach, conduct an extensive analysis, and then propose an increase to the $250,000 deposit insurance threshold for business payment accounts. There would be multiple opportunities for stakeholders to weigh in as the proposal gets developed, with extensive congressional oversight. Furthermore, my bill would allow regulators to do an emergency Transaction Account Guarantee, or TAG, program for up to 9 months, just like the FDIC did in the 2008 crisis, to protect depositors from harm in a major crisis. My bill would help protect all small businesses and their employees while helping community banks and credit unions better serve their communities. This concept has broad support, including several House Republicans recently introducing their own bills, along with a bipartisan effort in the Senate. Moreover, Vice President Vance and Treasury Secretary Bessent are strongly supportive of these efforts. In a letter from when we marked up this bill we are considering today, the Independent Community Bankers of America wrote: ``ICBA looks forward to working with the committee on the broader, comprehensive deposit insurance coverage level debate and ensuring more small businesses can have important protection for their deposits.'' We should do more, Mr. Speaker, but in the meantime, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3234, which will complement broader deposit insurance reform efforts. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Beatty), who is the co-lead on the bill.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield myself the balance of my time to close. Mr. Speaker, this is a good bill that will help community banks. The bill is supported by the National Bankers Association and the Community Development Bankers Association, and I am very pleased to support it. As we have discussed, there is more Congress can do to update the deposit insurance reform framework to ensure it is working for community banks, for midsize banks, for MDIs and CDFIs, for rural banks, and all of their customers, especially the small businesses, nonprofits, churches, and other organizations and their workers. Let's pass comprehensive deposit insurance reform into law without further delay. In the meantime, I, again, urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. WATERS

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4544, the American Access to Banking Act that I sponsored. The number of new banks and credit unions called de novo institutions, that were formed over the past 15 years has been very low. There were only 6 new bank charters issued annually the past 15 years and only 29 new credit unions formed between 2014 and 2023. During that time, we saw about one-third of all Minority Depository Institutions, or MDIs, disappear, including half of our Black-owned banks. Now, research from the Federal Reserve and others found a strong correlation between the interest rate environment and new bank formation. In fact, we did have historically low interest rates at zero percent for many years as we slowly recovered from the crisis, but there is more we can do to help. Earlier this year, ReShonda Young testified before our committee about the challenges she is facing just trying to establish an MDI in Iowa. Ms. Young's story is remarkable. When she was a small business owner with a popcorn business, she tried to get a loan, and she was discriminated against by bank after bank after bank. What did she do? She joined with other entrepreneurs and sued the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for dragging its feet and not implementing section 1071 to ensure we have a more fair and transparent small business loan market. Her lawsuit helped push the CFPB to finalize that overdue rule. But Ms. Young did not stop there. She decided to start her own bank so that she could provide the kind of small business loans to others that she was repeatedly denied for. Ms. Young's story is an American story. When you get knocked down, you get back up and you keep pushing for a better way. Not only that, but you work to help others in your community so they can have chances that you never had. In her testimony, Ms. Young highlighted a few challenges with the de novo process, like a lengthy application checklist. My bill would require these outdated procedures to be streamlined. My bill would also minimize duplicative data requests, and require regulators to review capital-raising challenges de novos face in consultation with the SEC. My bill also requires the designation of a caseworker as a single point of contact to assist de novo applicants throughout the process. H.R. 4544 further requires the development of outreach and education program and Federal regulator engagement with stakeholders as well as coordination with State regulators to support them in chartering de novo firms. For any American like Ms. Young who wants to start a bank or credit union, they should have that chance, and the American Access to Banking Act will help give them that chance. Mr. Speaker, I urge Members to support my bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman very much for advancing my bill to this point and helping to get it passed through the House not only as a standalone bill but also as part of our housing bill. Entrepreneurs like Ms. ReShonda Young who dream of starting their own bank or credit union and providing access to affordable financial products and services to neighbors in their community should have that chance. My bill has broad support, including from the American Bankers Association, America's Credit Unions, Conference of State Bank Supervisors, Consumer Federation of America, Defense Credit Union Council, National Bankers Association, and National Community Reinvestment Coalition. Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. WATERS

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5317, the Community Bank Deposit Access Act of 2025, sponsored by Chairman Hill. Let me start by thanking the chairman for his focus on supporting community banks and credit unions, including community development financial institutions, or CDFIs, and minority depository institutions, or MDIs. This bill will allow community banks to receive so-called custodial deposits from larger banks and then use those funds to lend into their communities. Custodial deposits are shared between banks in a network, allowing them to provide FDIC insurance on amounts larger than $250,000, although for a fee paid by the MDI or community bank. Mr. Speaker, the original introduced bill would have provided an unnecessary exemption for the largest banks which, as we have discussed, honestly don't need help competing for deposits. I appreciate that Mr. Hill and his staff worked with us on important improvements to narrow the focus of this bill to just support community banks. Furthermore, as I have said before, I do not believe this reform will singlehandedly get community banks all the help they need to compete for deposits and acquire more small business customers. Mr. Speaker, I would again urge the chairman and the supporters of this bill to work with me and support advancing deposit insurance reform, like my bill, which takes a data-driven approach that the chairman said he would prefer, with opportunities for stakeholder input and congressional oversight. I also commend Representatives Lucas, Barr, Meuser, and Stutzman for recently introducing their own deposit insurance reform bills. I couldn't help but notice their bills have a lot of similarities with my bill and with similar bipartisan reform efforts in the Senate. It has been more than 15 years since Congress updated our deposit insurance framework, and it is time for Congress to comprehensively update it again. H.R. 5317 is a good piece of that reform effort, and I urge my colleagues to support the chairman's bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, I again thank the chairman for working with me regarding improvements that were made to the bill in markup to ensure it focused on helping community banks. Custodial deposits are something that community banks can use as a funding source to help them better serve their communities. I hope today's vote on this bill and the bill of the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Emmer) and the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Beatty) is just the beginning in our efforts to modernize our deposit insurance framework broadly and to provide even more tools for community banks to compete for deposits from local churches, nonprofits, city governments, and small businesses. Mr. Speaker, I urge the chairman to work with me and our members to advance broad deposit insurance reform. In the meantime, I urge the House to advance the chairman's bill, which serves as a good, complementary reform to help our smallest banks compete. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. WATERS

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 1299, amending H.R. 6644, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, sponsored by Chairman Hill and me. Tomorrow, the House has a historic opportunity to pass an improved bipartisan housing package, negotiated in partnership with Chairman Hill and me, and with the input of many House Democrats. Mr. Speaker, our housing bill is the most comprehensive housing reform bill in a generation and is a huge step toward finally addressing the affordable housing and homelessness crises in our country. Let me make it clear, and let me take a moment to remind everyone what is at stake or who we are trying to help. The age of a median first-time homebuyer is now 40 years old. That is largely because the average cost of a single-family home has skyrocketed, and wages have not kept pace. In fact, 22 million households spend over 30 percent of their paycheck on rent, and 12 million spend over 50 percent on housing. What is most shameful is that nearly 800,000 people experience homelessness on any given night. This is unacceptable, and we must act now. The House first passed H.R. 6644 back in February. A month later, the Senate amended our bill, stripping out numerous House provisions that would address real problems in the housing market. However, the Senate also added a poorly drafted ban on large institutional investors buying new single-family homes. I say this not as someone who is a fan of private equity ownership of these homes, but as someone who was concerned that the Senate's drafting was unconstitutional and could lead to thousands of families and persons living with disabilities being evicted, students and servicemembers without housing options, and private equity being incentivized to use certain types of contracts with tenants that have been rife with abuses. For this reason, I called on the Senate to join us in a conference to resolve our differences. While I am disappointed that our Senate colleagues chose not to conference with us, Chairman Hill and I just kept on going. We pressed on, making those critical improvements to restore the legislation to its intent to address the housing crisis. To be clear, the consequences of simply passing the Senate's bill were stark. The Urban Institute concluded that 72,000 housing units would not be built as a result of the Senate's bill. Even more alarming, the Senate's language also threatened tens of thousands of families with eviction. Mr. Speaker, before I go on, I must say that the process to get here today has been less than ideal. That is an understatement. Chairman Hill, the Speaker, the White House, and I were making changes to this text right up until the last minute. While I support our final agreement, we must inform our colleagues about how this bill has changed since it was posted on Friday, as they will be voting on it tomorrow, so I am going to describe those changes here. First, the bill removes section 204, which was the Build Now Act. Second, we added a new section 107, called Housing Supply Frameworks. Third, section 208, the Housing Innovation Fund, now sunsets after 7 years instead of 5 years. Fourth, we added language ensuring prevailing wage requirements under the Davis-Bacon Act apply to sections 102 and 106 of this bill. Fifth, we are revising section 1001 of the bill, which relates to private equity ownership of single-family homes, by replacing our text with the Senate-based language while removing the divestment requirement, changing the definition of build-to-rent, and inserting a renter hotline that requires HUD to respond to renter complaints. Mr. Speaker, this revised House package of needed housing reforms preserves more than 90 percent of the Senate's bill, while strengthening it by adding numerous, critical House-passed, Democratic- led housing and community banking provisions. As a result, we will be providing more relief and support to millions of families and communities all across the Nation. Mr. Speaker, there is broad recognition in this Chamber of the problems in our housing markets. We need comprehensive reforms at the Federal, State, and local levels, along with a commitment by everyone to get America building housing again. How do we do this? We do this by: creating a pilot to increase access to small-dollar mortgages, especially in rural areas; allowing housing cooperatives, a type of affordable housing option, to participate in Federal programs; creating local databases about unused, government- owned land--very important; increasing access to more family-sized affordable housing units; and adding in community bank and credit union reforms so that these small institutions can help. These and so many other reforms in this bill are a huge first step toward finally addressing the housing crisis in this country. Finally, the Senate had a temporary ban on central bank digital currencies, that is the CBDC. This is the status quo we have in effect today as Trump's new Fed Chair has stated that he will not issue a CBDC during his tenure. More importantly, this temporary ban is only partial and will still allow the Fed to study other forms of CBDC, like the ones that more closely parallel how currency is used in our economy. Mr. Speaker, I urge Members to join me in passing this bill. I will just say that we have learned an awful lot over a number of years about what we could do to create some real opportunities. We are now using our experiences working on housing bills to interject into how we are going to be able to get more housing for all of those who are in desperate need and to get the homeless off of our streets. We have learned a lot. You are going to hear in this bill about how we are learning about land that is owned by cities and counties for years that they could get rid of and don't have to do it for market value, on and on and on. Mr. Speaker, I am very proud, even though this has been a real, real labor--I want to say of love, but it has been a real labor, maybe not of love but something that really had to be done. I think we have finally made these meaningful steps to our Nation's housing crisis and strengthened our community banks. Mr. Speaker, I ask everyone to please support this bill. I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Cleaver), the ranking member of the Housing and Insurance Subcommittee and coauthor of this bill. He is someone who worked very hard to make some changes in the HOME program and that when some questions were raised about Davis-Bacon, he was right there to ensure that they were protected. I thank him so very much.