[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 52 (Tuesday, March 21, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E648-E649]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


     EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR ADDITIONAL DISASTER 
            ASSISTANCE AND RESCISSIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 1995

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                               speech of

                           HON. NANCY PELOSI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 15, 1995

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 1158) making 
     emergency supplemental appropriations for additional disaster 
     assistance and making rescissions for the fiscal year ending 
     September 30, 1995, and for other purposes:

  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to express my opposition to 
the Republican rescissions bill before us. With this bill, the 
Republicans end the war on poverty and declare war on the poor, 
instead. I am saddened that my Republican colleagues have turned their 
energy, their fervor and their fury toward attacking the most 
vulnerable among us. I note with particular concern the impact of the 
proposed funding cuts on housing programs designed to help the neediest 
and the most vulnerable in our society, children, the elderly, the 
disabled, and people with AIDS.
  More than 40 percent of the cuts in this bill come from low-income 
housing programs. The $7.2 billion in Department of Housing and Urban 
Development [HUD] cuts equals \1/4\ of HUD's total budget. HUD 
estimates that the rescissions will affect 530,000 elderly households 
and 630,000 families with children. The complete elimination of the 
Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS [HOPWA] program will deprive 
at least 50,000 people with AIDS and their families of much-needed 
housing assistance. Public housing takes a direct hit. Efforts to 
improve public housing facilities and in some localities, to demolish 
unfit buildings and replace them, will be stopped dead in their tracks.
  The cuts in the low income housing preservation program will result 
in the displacement of countless low income families from affordable 
housing. Estimates of the impact of losing preservation funds range 
from a low of 27,000 families losing their apartments to a high of 
75,000. In most of the affected communities, there is no other housing 
available for these
 families. The affordable housing stock is disappearing at an alarming 
rate and these cuts will only hasten the process. Where are these 
people supposed to live?

  At the same time that these important programs are being cut, the 
Republicans are also cutting incremental rental assistance, the Section 
8 Program. The funds the Republicans 
[[Page E649]] are taking away would have provided 67,000 more families 
with housing certificates and vouchers. For the first time in the more 
than 20 years of this program, there will be no incremental funding of 
tenant-based rental assistance--a program which is widely acknowledged 
by conservative analysts to be HUD's most cost-effective one.
  Mr. Chairman, the list of important and innovative housing programs 
to be cut by this legislation goes on and on and time prevents me from 
listing all of them. I wish to note for the record, however, my 
opposition to Republican cuts of $90 million in the lead-based paint 
program; $350 million in pension fund rental assistance; and $38 
million in the Youthbuild Program, which not only increases affordable 
housing, but also provides job training and skills for lower income 
Americans.
  I am also opposed to the $350 million cut in the Community 
Development Block Grant [CDGB] Program. CDBG funds allow community-
based organizations to provide a wide range of services in their 
communities. Why, at a time when we are trying to promote community 
control are we tying the hands of communities trying to meet community 
needs?
  What is the response of my Republican colleagues to our concerns 
about the impact of these draconian cuts? They say we simply cannot 
afford to provide housing for needy Americans. I say we simply cannot 
afford not to provide this housing.
  This bill cuts funding which has already been voted on by Congress 
and signed into law by President Clinton. In many cases, communities 
and housing providers across the country struggling with trying to meet 
ever-growing needs with limited funds, will lose money for community 
development and for housing which is part of a community plan and which 
is already underway. Where progress is being made, it will be stopped. 
Would that halting progress is the only consequence under the 
Republican plan. Unfortunately, the bill before us today takes giant 
steps backwards in the fight against homelessness.
  If we have learned anything about homelessness over the course of the 
past decade, it is that it costs less to keep people in affordable 
housing than it does to help homeless people with the transition back 
to being fully-functioning members of our society. The Republican cuts 
in our national housing programs are not only inhumane and cruel, but 
they are also inefficient and costly. While the Republican leadership 
trumpets the saving they propose today, they are covering up the costs 
their cuts will create tomorrow. I urge my colleagues to oppose this 
misguided and cruel bill.


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