Dear Mayor:

Thanks to those of you who made critical calls to your House Representatives to urge support for H.R. 3221, the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act.  Because of your support, the House passed H.R. 3221 late yesterday afternoon, on a bipartisan vote of 272-152! 

New Jersey Congressmen Andrews, Ferguson, Holt, Pallone, Pascrell, Payne, Rothman, Sires and Smith all voted in the affirmative. (Congressmen Frelinghuysen, Garrett, LoBiondo and Saxton voted ‘no.’)  

This success followed an announcement yesterday morning from the White House that President Bush had decided to withdraw his veto threat against the bill and was prepared to sign the bill as passed by the House today. 

Prior to the White House announcement, our National League of Cities (NLC) along with a small group of housing stakeholders met with Office of Management and Budget staff and other Presidential advisors to argue in favor of the $4 billion in CDBG neighborhood stabilization funds contained in the bill, which was at the center of the Presidential veto threat. 

During the meeting, NLC shared letters that local elected officials had written urging attention to the housing crisis.  In addition, NLC cited several examples of local efforts already underway to mitigate neighborhood decline caused by vacant housing that would benefit from CDBG funding under the bill. 

One step remains before the President can sign the bill: The Senate must still pass H.R. 3221 without amendment.  The Senate could vote on the bill as early as Friday.  We urge you to contact Senators Menendez and Lautenberg in support of this initiative.

                                                                        Very truly yours,

                                                                        William G. Dressel, Jr.
                                                                        Executive Director