Rep. Lauren Underwood Slams THUD Bill for Fueling Homelessness and Harming Transit

Opposition to the THUD Bill

• ❌ Rep. Lauren Underwood expresses strong opposition to the fiscal year 2026 transportation, housing, and urban development (THUD) appropriations bill.
• 💡 She argues the bill exacerbates the cost of living crisis, particularly for families in Northern Illinois, by failing to lower costs and making housing less affordable.

Housing Program Cuts

• 📉 The bill proposes to cut nearly $1 billion from effective, data-backed housing programs.
• 🏠 These cuts disproportionately affect low-income families, gutting programs that help them maintain housing and potentially pushing more into homelessness.
• ⚠️ Underwood criticizes the bill for including language that blocks HUD from building energy-efficient housing and strips away tenant protections, making evictions easier.

Transportation Funding Reductions

• 🚆 Federal funding for transit programs, crucial for services like Metra in Northern Illinois, is cut by 98%.
• 📉 This reduction is expected to lead to slower trains, longer wait times, worse service, increased road traffic, and more pollution.
• ✈️ Amtrak funding is also slashed, severely impacting communities like Mendota, Illinois, where it serves as a vital lifeline.

Critique of Republican Agenda

• 💰 Underwood contends that the bill represents a Republican agenda of "stealing from the poor to give to the rich," including tax breaks for corporations driving up housing costs.
• 🗣️ She argues that Republicans are cutting popular government services and dismantling them to benefit private corporations and their billionaire friends.
• ✅ Families deserve affordable housing and reliable public transportation, and this bill fails to deliver, instead exacerbating the cost of living crisis.