A trip to Rio de Janeiro earlier this year could give Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan a legislative headache Thursday.

Rep. Dennis Cardoza months ago called on Donovan to resign for failing to take action to stem the foreclosure tsunami that has hit districts such as his, which has Depression-era unemployment levels, rows of houses with weeds growing to the rooftops and, he says, precious little attention from the administration.

Late Wednesday, the California Democrat, a member of the Rules Committee, succeeded in getting his colleagues to allow an amendment cutting the department’s $21 million travel budget to go to a floor vote Thursday over the objections of the White House. He expects to have strong bipartisan support.

“Rio de Janeiro is a fun place, and I understand why they’d want to go there, but they should have kept their sorry butts in Washington until they got the housing crisis taken care of,” Cardoza said.

The “keep his ass in Washington” amendment will be offered to the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill.