Merkley announced he joined a bipartisan group supporting the HELPER Act, legislation to help teachers and first responders buy homes in the communities they serve.
Support and advance the bipartisan HELPER Act to help teachers and first responders buy homes in the communities they serve.
Occurrences
Evidence
Congress.gov lists S.1514, the HELPER Act of 2023, with latest action: Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearings held on 03/12/2024. The tracker status is Introduced.
Congress.gov lists 30 current cosponsors for S.1514. The listed cosponsors run from original cosponsors on 05/10/2023 through Sen. Sullivan on 11/13/2024; Jeff Merkley is not listed.
The all-actions page lists only three actions: referral on 05/10/2023 and Banking Committee hearings on 01/11/2024 and 03/12/2024.
The Senate Banking hearing notice included S.1514, described as a bill to amend the National Housing Act to establish a mortgage insurance program for first responders.
Congress.gov identifies H.R.3170 as the identical House bill and lists its latest action as 05/10/2023, referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
Assessments
The promised action was to support and advance the bipartisan HELPER Act. The record provided shows the Senate HELPER Act in the 118th Congress remained at introduced status, received only committee hearing activity, and was not enacted or meaningfully advanced to passage. More importantly for candidate credit, Merkley is not listed as a sponsor or cosponsor despite many bipartisan cosponsors, and the evidence does not show that he materially advanced the bill through another concrete legislative action. Committee hearings show some bill movement, but not attributable candidate delivery.