This article appeared in the April 16 edition of the Daily Post. To stay up to date on the latest news, pick up a copy in the mornings.
BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
Congressman Sam Liccardo, approaching 100 days in office, says he is trying to fight against President Donald Trump’s actions while also working across the aisle to get things done.
“This is a difficult dance we’re doing,” Liccardo said in an interview yesterday.
On housing, Liccardo said he has three ideas without spending money that Republicans could be open to incorporating into a larger bill.
One idea is to give more flexibility on how Section 8 housing vouchers are used so they can pay for transitional homeless shelters.
That includes the Mountain View shelter at 2566 Leghorn Street and the Palo Alto shelter under construction at the end of San Antonio Road. Both have dorm-like rooms managed by the nonprofit LifeMoves and funded by the state, Santa Clara County and individual cities.
But the shelters can’t use Section 8 vouchers to fund operations because of tenancy rules. Liccardo is working on a bill to change that because similar shelters in San Jose ran out of funding when he was the mayor.
“A large city mayor like myself gets frustrated with the rigidity of the federal government, and we need a much more nimble response to this crisis,” he said yesterday.
Liccardo said he is also working on bills to help finance backyard dwelling units for homeowners with moderate incomes and another bill to incentivize office-to-housing conversions using federal tax credits.
Another priority is insurance, although Liccardo said he’s further along on his housing bills. He said he wants to help homeowners make their properties more insurable by doing things like clearing out brush or replacing wood shingle roofs. Like with housing, Liccardo said he would try to unlock the financing power of the federal government for homeowners to pay for these projects.
Liccardo said he’s hired an experienced team around him in Washington, D.C., and landed high-profile assignments, including an appointment to the exclusive House Committee on Financial Services. He credited the appointment to being the representative from Silicon Valley.
Republicans in Congress have proposed a budget with $4.5 trillion in “tax giveaways,” making it difficult to protect basic services let alone take on new projects such as protecting the coast against sea level rise, Liccardo said.
Republicans have refused to negotiate with Democrats, but cracks are starting to form because some Republicans care about increasing the debt or cutting Medicaid, Liccardo said.
“Approval ratings will fall … They’ve painted themselves into a corner, and they’re at some point going to need to come out of that corner and talk to Democrats,” Liccardo said. “And when they are, we’ll be ready to talk. But it’s going to be on our terms.”
In the meantime, Liccardo said he will focus on legislation that cuts across the divide, specifically by addressing how people pay their bills.
That includes introducing the “MEME Act,” a bill that would prevent federal officials from promoting or issuing their own cryptocurrencies.
Around 800,000 retail investors lost at least $2 billion on Trump’s cryptocurrency, Liccardo said. Several cryptocurrency publications have repeated those numbers when reporting on Liccardo’s MEME Act, he said.
“Americans have to see the kleptocracy,” he said.
