Cite as: 535 U. S. 125 (2002)
Opinion of the Court
ity is wrong, see supra, at 130-132, there is no need to consult legislative history.4
Nor was the en banc Court of Appeals correct in concluding that this plain reading of the statute leads to absurd results.5 The statute does not require the eviction of any ten-4 Even if it were appropriate to look at legislative history, it would not help respondents. The en banc Court of Appeals relied on two passages from a 1990 Senate Report on a proposed amendment to the eviction provision. 237 F. 3d, at 1123 (citing S. Rep. No. 101-316 (1990)). But this Report was commenting on language from a Senate version of the 1990 amendment, which was never enacted. The language in the Senate version, which would have imposed a different standard of cause for eviction for drug-related crimes than the unqualified language of § 1437d(l)(6), see 136 Cong. Rec. 15991, 16012 (1990) (reproducing S. 566, 101st Cong., 2d Sess., §§ 521(f) and 714(a) (1990)), was rejected at Conference. See H. R. Conf. Rep. No. 101-943, p. 418 (1990). And, as the dissent from the en banc decision below explained, the passages may plausibly be read as a mere suggestion about how local public housing authorities should exercise the "wide discretion to evict tenants connected with drug-related criminal behavior" that the lease provision affords them. 237 F. 3d, at 1134 (Sneed, J., dissenting).
Respondents also cite language from a House Report commenting on the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000, codified at 18 U. S. C. § 983. Brief for Respondents 15-16. For the reasons discussed supra, at 132 and this page, legislative history concerning forfeiture provisions is not probative on the interpretation of § 1437d(l)(6).
A 1996 amendment to § 1437d(l)(6), enacted five years after HUD issued its interpretation of the statute, supports our holding. The 1996 amendment expanded the reach of § 1437d(l)(6), changing the language of the lease provision from applying to activity taking place "on or near" the public housing premises, to activity occurring "on or off" the public housing premises. See Housing Opportunity Program Extension Act of 1996, § 9(a)(2), 110 Stat. 836. But Congress, "presumed to be aware" of HUD's interpretation rejecting a knowledge requirement, made no other change to the statute. Lorillard v. Pons, 434 U. S. 575, 580 (1978).
5 For the reasons discussed above, no-fault eviction, which is specifically authorized under § 1437d(l)(6), does not violate § 1437d(l)(2), which prohibits public housing authorities from including "unreasonable terms and conditions [in their leases]." In addition, the general statutory provision in the latter section cannot trump the clear language of the more specific § 1437d(l)(6). See Green v. Bock Laundry Machine Co., 490 U. S. 504, 524-526 (1989).
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