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Housing:The Showdown Over Segregation in Suburbia
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Housing

How AOC Could Block Trump’s New Housing Discrimination Rules

Amendments introduced by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would defund a pair of controversial new federal regulations designed to roll back housing desegregation.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez campaigns on June 23, 2020 in the Bronx borough of New York City. 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez campaigns on June 23, 2020 in the Bronx borough of New York City. 

Photographer: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images North America
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Last week, to considerable fanfare, the White House rolled out a surprise rule on fair housing. The new policy, which overrides an existing Obama-era regulation, would all but eliminate the federal obligation for state and local governments to demonstrate that they are using federal housing dollars to actively reduce segregation. President Donald Trump has framed this civil rights-era federal mandate as an effort to “abolish the suburbs.”

If New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has her way, the rule might be undone before it ever takes effect.