Sen. Mike Lee is hoping this week to upend President Obama’s push to ensure diversity in communities around the country, by blocking any federal spending for that plan.
Lee is the sponsor of an amendment to the 2017 transportation and housing spending bill that would prevent any federal spending on Obama’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule. That rule would tie federal community grants to the demographic makeup of communities around the country in an effort to make them more attractive to “families with different income and ethnic profiles.”
But Lee’s language would defund the effort. The Senate may take it up on Thursday as part of the debate on the spending bill.
If the amendment passes, it would block federal money from being spent “to implement, administer or enforce this rule.”
Conservatives have criticized the rule since its introduction in July. It’s aimed at bringing more diversity to communities and reducing the isolation that characterizes poorer, minority neighborhoods.
“HUD’s rule clarifies and simplifies existing fair housing obligations for HUD grantees to analyze their fair housing landscape and set locally-determined fair housing priorities and goals through an Assessment of Fair Housing,” the agency announced.
Lee argues that the rule would essentially turn the Department of Housing and Urban Development into a national zoning board that encroaches on local planning authority in exchange for federal grants.
The conservative group Heritage Action is pushing the GOP leadership to help pass Lee’s amendment, although it would guarantee a presidential veto of the THUD spending bill.
“The Republican Senate majority must use the power of the purse to stand up to the Obama administration’s unending executive overreach,” Heritage Action spokesman Dan Holler said. “Stopping this egregious effort to bring Big Brother into local neighborhoods would be a great start.”
