NAHB First Vice Chairman Carl Harris and Second Vice Chairman Buddy Hughes met with congressional leaders on Capitol Hill this week to address a wide range of legislative and regulatory issues with serious repercussions for the nation’s supply of affordably priced housing. The two NAHB Senior Officers are slated to become NAHB chairman and first vice chairman, respectively, on Feb. 29 during the NAHB Leadership Council meeting in Las Vegas that is held in conjunction with the International Builders’ Show.

Harris and Hughes reiterated the importance of housing and homeownership to the economy and urged lawmakers to focus on supply chain, regulatory, codes and workforce development issues to help stem rising housing costs. They also stressed that a vibrant housing market is critical to maintain robust job and economic growth.

Discussions were held with more than a dozen influential lawmakers in key leadership positions, including:

• House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.)
• House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.)
• Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee
• Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
• House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.)
• House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.)
• House Rules Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.)
• House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.)
• Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), co-chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus
• Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), co-chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus
• Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus
• Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.), co-chair of the Congressional Agricultural Trade Caucus

Specifically, House members were encouraged to act on the following issues:

• Transformers
  • NAHB urges Congress to support additional funding to boost production of sorely needed transformers and to advance legislation that will prevent the Department of Energy from enacting stricter efficiency standards on transformers that would raise costs and exacerbate ongoing supply-chain shortages.
• HUD/USDA Minimum Energy Standard
  • NAHB urges lawmakers to include a provision in the T-HUD appropriations bill to prevent HUD from adopting the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code as the minimum energy efficiency standard for all HUD- and USDA-financed new construction housing. The two agencies recently proposed adopting the 2021 IECC, which would raise housing costs while doing very little to provide meaningful savings for residential homes and apartments.
• Job Corps
  • NAHB urges Congress to fund Job Corps at its fiscal 2023 level of $1.7 billion.
• National Flood Insurance Program
• Waters of the United States
  • NAHB is urging the House to hold an oversight hearing focusing exclusively on why the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have failed to implement the Biden administration’s waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule as directed by the recent Sackett Supreme Court decision.

Attend the June 12 NAHB Legislative Conference

You can also have the opportunity to speak directly with your member of Congress on the key issues affecting your business and our industry by attending the NAHB Legislative Conference on Wednesday, June 12.

The meetings, held on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., are a critical part of the Federation’s advocacy efforts to keep housing issues a priority with federal lawmakers. Your participation can make a difference.

Learn more at nahb.org/legcon.