Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise to discuss Vice President Kamala Harris' housing plan. First, let's talk about the broader problem. Housing is less affordable and less available today, and it is bringing costs onto the American people. Overall, housing underproduction costs the U.S. economy $1.6 trillion in lost wages and productivity every single year. The U.S. needs to build 4.3 million more apartments by 2035 to meet the demand for rental housing. This includes 600,000 units to fill the shortage from after the 2008 financial crisis. Underproduction of housing has translated to higher housing costs, resulting in a decline of 4.7 million affordable apartments from 2015 to 2020. Housing underproduction also increases the cost of living for families, inhibits geographic mobility, burdens both renters and buyers, and stifles economic productivity. According to one estimate, from 1964 to 2009, our national housing shortage lowered aggregate economic growth by 36 percent. All of that is to say there is no question we have a housing supply problem in this country. Unfortunately, Vice President Kamala Harris' plans would make the problem much, much worse. The Harris plan's goals are to ``lower housing costs for working families and end America's housing shortage.'' The problem is that the Biden-Harris policies and the Harris plan will actually raise housing costs and worsen the housing crisis. I will break it down piece by piece to demonstrate why.…”