[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 11, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E81-E82]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


     DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT ANNOUNCES CHANGES

                                 ______


                            HON. RICK LAZIO

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 11, 1995
  Mr. LAZIO of New York. Mr. Speaker, on December 19, 1994, Secretary 
of the Department of Housing and Urban Development [HUD] Henry Cisneros 
announced that he planned to dramatically alter the manner in which the 
Department operates. He admitted that HUD was a bureaucracy more 
attentive to process than to results, was slavishly loyal to 
nonperforming programs, and did not trust the initiatives of local 
leaders. To correct these problems, he presented a plan, called the HUD 
Reinvention Blueprint, to restructure HUD's programs in an 
unprecedented fashion.
  After reading the blueprint, which is still conceptual, I was pleased 
to see that the Secretary adopted many Republican ideas. For example, 
it proposes to shrink the Federal Government, to reduce 
micromanagement, and to return power and responsibility to State and 
local jurisdictions.
  I told the Secretary that I welcomed his ideas and that I wanted to 
work with him to change the way housing, especially low-income housing, 
is provided in this country.
  Nevertheless, I also told the Secretary that, as the new chairman of 
the Housing and Community Opportunity Subcommittee, I planned to review 
in toto all HUD's programs.
  My reasons for this review are based on reports which question HUD's 
capacity to administer its more than 200 programs. For example, the 
National Academy of Public Administrators [NAPA] has recommended that 
HUD's programs be reduced to 10 by the year 2000 or be eliminated. 
HUD's inspector general [IG], in her most recent report to Congress, 
found that HUD needed to be more proactive and 
[[Page E82]] aggressive to correct its problems, especially in light of 
their magnitude and complexity. The HUD blueprint proposes to 
consolidate only 60 programs into 3--leaving unanswered the question of 
what becomes of the remaining 140 programs.
  Congress must do a top-to-bottom review of HUD programs. Most require 
major overhaul--a process that involves rewriting statutes and reducing 
Federal regulations. Therefore, as part of my review, I intend to find 
ways in addition to the blueprint, to reform, consolidate, streamline, 
and if appropriate, eliminate outdated housing programs.
  As part of this review, I am looking at new approaches to 
administering HUD programs in a cost-efficient, yet people-friendly 
manner so that as many families as possible can get housing. I intend 
to explore various options to deregulate programs so that States and 
local jurisdictions are provided with all the authority they require to 
operate independently--both financially and administratively. It is my 
feeling that unless localities have unfettered discretion to operate 
their programs, with the fewest possible attached strings, deregulation 
is illusory.
  Finally, I want to review HUD's budget. Every Member of this House is 
aware that all Federal agencies must tighten their belts in order to 
reduce the budget deficit and pay for the middle-income tax cut. HUD 
cannot be excused from this effort.
  It is my intention to work with HUD and with my former chairman, 
Henry Gonzalez, for whom I have great respect, as the committee reviews 
the proposals in the blueprint, particularly insofar as they are based 
on Republican efforts over the last 12 years. I welcome many of the 
blueprint's core ideas as a beginning, but intend to take a hard look 
at them and to expand upon them, so that they become in actuality what 
they appear to be in concept.


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