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Barrar and members of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness committees. Senate Majority Caucus Room, Capitol Complex, Harrisburg.

Representatives Alma S. Adams (D-NC), Peter Welch (D-VT), Lou Barletta (R-PA), James P. McGovern (D-MA) along with 71 other Members of Congress sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell to urge for the swift release of Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funding. Releasing the funding will allow families in need to access critical resources to heat their homes during cold winter months.

Representatives Alma S. Adams (D-NC), Peter Welch (D-VT), Lou Barletta (R-PA), James P. McGovern (D-MA) along with 71 other Members of Congress sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell to urge for the swift release of Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funding. Releasing the funding will allow families in need to access critical resources to heat their homes during cold winter months.

Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21) has cosponsored H.R. 2657, the POWER Act. Currently, the Internal Revenue Code provides tax credits to consumers who purchase renewable energy producing items. This legislation would expand that provision in the tax code to include combined heat and power systems and waste heat to power systems.

Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley, the Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, brought a key Oregon witness, Tony Chrisman, to testify before the panel on an impending rural housing disaster. Specifically, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Development agency – due to a budget miscalculation – has stopped paying its share of low-income tenants’ rent at thousands of rural multi-family housing projects across America. This is placing the tenants at risk of eviction and homelessness

Lead poisoning is the number one environmental health threat in the U.S. for children ages 6 and younger. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has declared Oct. 25-31 Lead Poisoning Prevention Week to make families more aware of the hazards of lead and lead-based paint in the home and in childcare facilities. This year’s theme, “Lead-Free Kids for a Healthy Future,” will focus on ways to reduce a child's exposure to lead and prevent its serious health effects.

Nevada Attorney General Adam Paul Laxalt announced that Rodney Taylor, 51, of Las Vegas, pleaded guilty to two counts of false representation concerning title, a category “C” felony. Taylor participated in a scheme to claim liens on real estate in Las Vegas by filing false documents. The fraudulent acts were committed between March and September 2012

Rep. Judy Chu (CA-27) introduced the San Gabriel Mountains Foothills and Rivers Protection Act. This bill, cosponsored by Reps. Grace Napolitano (CA-32), Adam Schiff (CA-28), Linda Sanchez (CA-38), and Tony Cardenas (CA-29), and supported by local water, conservation and recreation groups, would expand the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument boundaries and create a new National Recreation Area (NRA). An interactive map of the legislation can be found here.

The New York State housing market remained robust in the 2015 third quarter with closed sales increasing by 9.1 percent compared to the 2014 third quarter, according to the housing market report released today by the New York State Association of REALTORS. The statewide median sales price also continued its growth trend in the third quarter, increasing by 4.3 percent compared to a year ago.

State Investment will Leverage Over $170 Million in Private Investment to Expand New York’s Clean Energy Markets WASHINGTON, D.C. - October 23, 2015 -...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) joins the Community Partners Commission Association (CPCA), the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, Inc. (RBSCC) and partners to announce the opening of the Coretta Scott-King Senior Houses in East New York, Brooklyn. The new development includes 51 units of affordable housing with onsite supportive services for very low-income senior citizens and their families

The Solar Electric Power Association has named Jill Anderson, NYPA Senior Vice President for Public Affairs and Business Development, to its Board of Directors. SEPA is an educational nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC, dedicated to enabling the transition to a clean energy economy by facilitating utility integration and deployment of solar, distributed energy resources, and supporting technologies onto the grid.

Erie County (“the county”) is poised to realize substantial energy savings over the next 20 years following legislative approval of a resolution allowing the county to award power purchase agreements (“PPAs”) to SolarCity Corporation and Greenskies Renewable Energy, LLC for the construction of solar arrays on Erie County land, along with the subsequent purchase of the energy generated by these photovoltaic (“PV”) systems.

The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) continued to improve its environmental protection efforts at its South Table Mountain and National Wind Technology Center sites during 2014 by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, adding bird-safety features to campus structures, and assessing environmental impacts of potential laboratory development.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today that it has charged Blackacre, L.L.C. and Alishia Ritchkey, the former owner and manager of Pebble Beach Apartments, a 61-unit complex in Universal City, Texas, with violating the Fair Housing Act by imposing overly restrictive rules on children under 16 who lived there.HUD also charged Implicity Management Company, the current management company, and Pebble Beach Apartments L.L.C, the current owner of the complex, with discriminating based on familial status. Read HUD’s charge.

On Wednesday, October 21, Luetkemeyer convened a hearing in his Housing and Insurance Subcommittee. The hearing entitled “The Future of Housing in America: Federal Housing Reforms that Create Housing Opportunity” focused on steps that can be taken to reduce regulatory burdens and offer greater flexibility and choice in the housing system. Luetkemeyer’s legislation H.R. 3700, the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act, was one focus of the hearing.

The Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation (HHFDC) is partnering with SMS Research to conduct a phone survey to gather data on housing supply and demand. The phone survey began the week of October 19 and will be taken over the next 3 months.

This morning, Congresswoman Cheri Bustos issued the following statement at the opening of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s markup session for H.R. 3763, the Surface Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2015

U.S. Representative Mimi Walters (CA-45) today released the following statement after the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee markup of H.R. 3763, the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform (STRR) Act of 2015. The bipartisan legislation reauthorizes and reforms federal highway, transit, and highway safety programs. As a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Rep. Walters offered two provisions which were included in the reported bill, including

Congressman Gary Palmer (R-AL), a member of the Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Environment and the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on the Interior, both of which have jurisdiction over the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), sent a letter along with Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith concerning the EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) to the Governors and Attorneys General of all 50 states.