Nov. 17, 2015, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging the U.S. Senate to adopt an amendment expected to be introduced by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) that would deny funds to implement the rule “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD):
“Sen. Mike Lee deserves the thanks of the American people for again proposing an amendment to defund HUD’s attempts to rezone any municipality that accepts any part of the $3.5 billion a year in community development block grants from the federal government. The Obama administration is engaged in a utopian plan to create evenly distributed neighborhoods based on racial composition and income. It is social engineering at its worst, and a back-door attempt to gerrymander districts.
“It is also unconstitutional. Under principles of federalism, zoning is left up to states, counties and municipalities to determine for themselves. HUD has no place in drawing up neighborhoods based on racial preferences. In addition, the HUD rule will do nothing to stop individual cases of housing discrimination based on race that have been illegal since the 1960s.
“Americans for Limited Government strongly supports the Lee amendment to defund Obama’s racial zoning quotas, and urges it be included in any upcoming omnibus spending legislation for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2016. Companion legislation by Rep. Paul Gosar has already been included in the Transportation and HUD appropriations bill that passed the House of Representatives in 2014 and 2015. It’s time it be included in Senate appropriations as well.”
Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Rick Manning.
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