[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 29, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S779-S784]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NOMINATION OF ANDREW M. CUOMO OF NEW YORK TO BE SECRETARY OF HOUSING
AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
The assistant legislative clerk read the nomination of Andrew M.
Cuomo of New York to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The able Senator from New York is
recognized.
Privilege of the Floor
Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Melody
Fennel and David Hardiman be permitted privileges of the floor during
consideration of the pending nomination.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, I rise today to support a native New
Yorker, a fellow New Yorker, Andrew Cuomo, to be Secretary of the
Department of Housing and Urban Development. I am pleased that the
Senate Banking Committee reported Mr. Cuomo's nomination yesterday by a
unanimous vote. I am privileged to support the confirmation of a native
New Yorker, particularly one who has done so much in the area of
housing in such a relatively short period of time. I commend Mr. Cuomo
for his record of public service, first as an advocate for the
homeless, and second in terms of his stewardship as Assistant Secretary
for Community Planning and Development at HUD.
Since 1993, the Secretary has successfully presided over an annual
budget of nearly $10 billion, encompassing a wide diversity of housing,
community, and economic development programs. He has shown innovation,
insight, and tireless efforts to serve our cities, suburbs and rural
areas. He has done so in a way that has avoided partisanship with an
eye toward giving to many of those who would otherwise not have the
opportunity for good, safe, affordable housing. That is his record as
it relates to the private sector in providing transitional housing for
the homeless.
[[Page S780]]
It is not good enough, Mr. President, to simply say, ``Let's build a
shelter, temporary, for the homeless,'' and bring them off the streets
and leave them in a situation that during the day, or when the weather
is not inclement, they go back out into the community and wander around
aimlessly. We cannot then think the community has met its obligation,
its moral and ethical responsibilities to those people--when we take
them back in during inclement weather but again discharge them.
Mr. Cuomo, as a young man in 1986, founded and served as president of
Housing Enterprise for the Less Privileged, known as HELP. HELP is a
provider of housing which uses a strategy to move homeless people from
the streets to transitional housing with supportive services to deal
with the number of problems that these families may have, like drug
addiction and alcohol addiction. HELP was a model for his approach to
homelessness that he utilized at the Department of Housing and Urban
Development. HELP is providing assistance for over 4,000 people each
year.
His grassroots background working in communities, not coming in
opposition and thrusting a program upon the community, but working with
the community and the private sector, has helped provide him with the
insights that I think are so necessary in order for us not to have a
department that looks down upon the cities and the States and the
communities, but instead works with them in partnership.
Mr. President, let me suggest the Department of Housing and Urban
Development needs a lot of work. It needs to be improved. There are
some very serious problems. Indeed, unless we address those problems we
could face a very difficult situation with hundreds of thousands of
people being in a position that they are unable to live in a decent
place. We are now approaching a situation that has built up over the
years. Our section 8 program's current renewal budget is something in
the area of $3.4 billion. That is what we are going to spend to help
people who live in this section 8 assisted housing pay for the
differential in terms of what they can afford to pay and what the rent
is established at. Mr. President, 38 percent are senior citizens. That
budget need will rise this October from $3.4 billion to over $10
billion.
The total HUD budget is only $20 billion. And we have an increase of
approximately $7 billion. Where will that money come from? Are we going
to increase? Is the administration and the Congress going to increase
by $7 billion the HUD budget? I do not think so.
This is going to take innovative leadership. It is going to take a
husbanding and directing of resources in the way they should be
directed to maximize our spending. I believe it will take a more
enlightened approach by the administration and Congress to deal with
the insufficiency of resources that HUD presently has.
I do not think it is going to be an easy job to get additional
resources given the fact that the inspector general has indicated that
there are some very severe problems that exist at HUD. There are
serious problems ahead that the new Secretary and the Congress are
going to have to deal with. HUD faces a fiscal crisis. Hard choices are
going to have to be made.
This really calls upon all of us, including the Secretary under his
leadership, to work together to ensure that our Nation's most needy,
particularly our senior citizens, are not going to be jeopardized as a
result of this fiscal crisis that we are facing. Again that crisis is
going to be upon us sooner rather than later. It will be with us this
coming October.
In conclusion, Mr. President, I again say that after a very thorough
nomination hearing, and Mr. Cuomo meeting with just about every Banking
Committee member, the committee unanimously voted for his confirmation.
I look forward to a successful confirmation of Andrew Cuomo so that we
can begin to work toward our mutual goals of improving access to
housing in all of our Nation's communities.
I strongly urge my colleagues to approve this confirmation, and I
applaud the President for choosing Andrew Cuomo and designating him to
be our next Secretary of HUD.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
Mr. SARBANES addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The able Senator from Maryland is
recognized.
Mr. SARBANES. I thank the Chair.
Mr. President, I join my colleague, the chairman of the Banking
Committee, Senator D'Amato of New York, in strong support of the
nomination of Andrew Cuomo as the next Secretary of the Department of
Housing and Urban Development.
In my judgment, Mr. Cuomo is well qualified for this position. In
addition to his background, experience, and record of significant
achievement, Andrew Cuomo will provide the Department with stability
and continuity since he has been an Assistant Secretary at the
Department over the past 4 years.
As HUD's Assistant Secretary for Community and Planning Development,
Andrew Cuomo played a significant role in this administration's efforts
to revitalize America's distressed communities and a significant role
in their efforts to restructure the Department itself. In that regard,
outgoing HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros--who I think deserves the thanks
of all of us for the very stellar service he has given to the Nation--
made significant progress in addressing the management difficulties
that confronted the Department at the beginning of his tenure. Andrew
Cuomo was part of that team, and his familiarity with the way the
Department works and the reforms now underway will provide for a smooth
transition that will allow this progress to move forward.
Mr. Cuomo's activities in the realm of housing and urban development
prior to his joining the Department at the beginning of the first
Clinton administration demonstrated the initiative and innovation that
he has brought with him to the Department. He created HELP, a homeless
assistance organization that is now the Nation's largest provider of
transitional housing for the homeless. He also developed the
alternative approaches to urban revitalization and community
development that led to the founding of the Genesis project, a program
that has created partnerships between State and local governments and
the private sector to provide affordable housing.
Mr. Cuomo has put this past experience and the vision connected
therewith to work over the past 4 years as HUD Assistant Secretary for
Community Planning and Development. His achievements during this period
in that office were many. This morning, I want to underscore three
achievements, in particular, that indicate his promise as he takes on
the larger challenge of stewardship of the entire Department of Housing
and Urban Development.
First, I want to commend Mr. Cuomo's administration of the HOME
Investment Partnership Program. Chairman D'Amato and former housing
subcommittee chairman, Senator Alan Cranston, were very much involved
in establishing the HOME program. When the Clinton administration
arrived, the relatively new HOME program was moving slowly, seemingly
mired in regulation. Mr. Cuomo took the initiative in eliminating those
regulations that were obstructing the program's progress. He worked
closely with State and local governments and the private sector--both
for-profit and nonprofit--to identify the features of the HOME program
that needed to change in order to allow the program to function better.
The result of his hard work is the effective housing program that HOME
has become today. State and local governments, in conjunction with
private for-profit and private not-for-profit partners, are producing
significant results using HOME funds for activities ranging from
housing rehabilitation to home ownership assistance.
Mr. Cuomo has also earned praise for his tireless work on behalf of
the homeless. After 4 years as Assistant Secretary, he can take the
credit for changing the way that our Nation's homeless programs are
administered at the local level. Under his leadership communities have
now instituted a continuum of care approach. The continuum of care is a
phrase that Andrew Cuomo coined for a comprehensive system of
assistance that provides prevention, outreach and screening, emergency
shelters, transitional and supportive housing, and permanent housing
with services to the homeless where needed. I have seen the
effectiveness of the service delivery that comes
[[Page S781]]
with the local planning and coordination that are at the core of the
continuum of care approach. Andrew Cuomo has made these happen.
Third, Mr. Cuomo deserves recognition for his direction of the HUD
programs that assist local economic development. He has worked hard to
make the Community Development Block Grant Program a more effective
tool for local communities pursuing new economic development
opportunities. He has also expanded the section 108 loan guarantee
program, greatly improving that program's use by local government. And,
he has served ably as the principal Federal official charged with the
implementation of the Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community
Programs. All of these activities will become increasingly important as
the Nation struggles with its commitment to move families from welfare
to work.
Andrew Cuomo reiterated his commitment to his role as HUD Secretary
in his statement before the Banking Committee last week, and I quote
him:
Our goal must be to create a future unlike any that has
come before--a future open to all--in which no person is left
behind and in which no community is forgotten. A future in
which everyone willing to do his or her part will be
empowered with the tools to reach as high as their talents
and hard work will take them.
Mr. President, it is clear why President Clinton has selected Andrew
Cuomo as the next Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban
Development. I urge my colleagues to join with me in supporting this
very fine nomination.
Mr. President, I yield to the Senator from Connecticut whatever time
he may require.
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Roberts). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise today in strong support of the
nomination of Andrew Cuomo for the Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development.
Those of us who have worked closely with Andrew Cuomo over the years,
and have witnessed his remarkable range of skills, know that he will
become an outstanding leader for the Department. He has a remarkable
record of achievement in both the public and private sectors.
I commend President Clinton for selecting him to help our communities
prepare for the next century.
For a number of years, Andrew Cuomo worked on the frontlines of
community development. Although he could have lived a comfortable life
as a partner at an established law firm, he answered the call to public
service. In 1986, he started an organization called HELP, that worked
to improve the lives of homeless people.
Under his leadership, HELP grew to 500 employees, and used its $30
million annual budget to build more than 120 million dollars worth of
housing and help thousands of homeless people move off the streets.
While developing HELP, Andrew Cuomo realized that it was not enough
to simply build housing. Although shelter was a key part of the formula
for success, homeless people could not move to productive lives without
additional support. Consequently, HELP also provided opportunities
designed to make the homeless self-sufficient, including substance
abuse treatment, mental health care, job training, education, and child
care.
This experience at the local level, the hands-on effort to build
housing and transform lives, gave Andrew Cuomo invaluable experience.
He met a payroll. He dealt with Government bureaucracies. And he
learned that public-private partnerships will only work if everyone
performs efficiently.
Andrew Cuomo brought those lessons to HUD, when he was confirmed as
Assistant Secretary of Community Planning and Development in 1993. His
consolidated planning effort merged 12 bureaucratic processes into a
streamlined system.
This system reduced paperwork and redtape. Now communities can use
Government programs more effectively. We need more efforts like this--
where the Federal Government is not the problem, but part of the
solution.
Additionally, Andrew Cuomo helped make HUD's homeless programs work
better. With the knowledge gained from his experience at HELP, he
implemented a new continuum of care strategy. This strategy addresses
each part of the homeless problem--from the emergency situation where
someone is sleeping on the street, to the drug and alcohol problems
that must be treated when a person is in transitional housing, to the
final job-training efforts that are necessary to help someone become a
productive and member of society.
This comprehensive approach to complex problems will be critical in
the years ahead. Welfare reform will have a dramatic effect on cities
across this country. We must all work to ensure that efforts to solve
one problem do not create new problems.
In the years ahead, we must do much more to rebuild our cities. Too
many families are trapped by poverty and despair. We have to free their
talents with better educational and job-training opportunities. And
most importantly, we must help people find work, because a good-paying
job--and the respect and self-esteem that come with it--provides the
foundation for a better life.
Andrew Cuomo's dedicated efforts to expand economic opportunity will
play a critical role in helping to meet this challenge. At HUD, he
helped strengthen job creation tools, including the Economic
Development Initiative which provides low-interest loans to cities.
With these tools, communities have leveraged over $8 billion from
private sources, and helped put thousands of Americans to work.
In short, Andrew Cuomo offers the talent, dedication, and leadership
that HUD needs to help communities meet the challenges of the next
century.
During the Banking Committee hearing on his nomination, he
demonstrated a keen understanding of the problems facing HUD, including
staffing issues, expiring section 8 contracts, and the need to
revitalize our cities. I am confident he will be an outstanding
Secretary, and I urge my colleagues to support his nomination.
Before closing, I would also like to commend the outgoing Secretary,
Henry Cisneros, for his outstanding work. When he took the reins back
in 1993, the future of HUD looked bleak. The Department was still
struggling to recover from years of corruption, mismanagement, and low
morale. The turnaround has been remarkable.
Under the leadership of Secretary Cisneros, HUD is now a stronger
partner in the national effort to build better communities. With a
smaller work force, HUD is running more efficiently. Around the
country, people are regaining confidence in the department.
The changes in public housing are a good example of the changes.
Every Member of this body knows how badly conditions had deteriorated
in some public housing developments.
I have been through too many buildings that were covered with
graffiti, where the ceilings and walls were falling apart, and where
families were afraid to go out after dark because gangs controlled the
neighborhood.
Secretary Cisneros saw this national disgrace, and took action. HUD
is well on its way to tearing down 100,000 units of decayed and
dangerous housing. Working with the resilient residents who want to
build a better neighborhood, he has brought not only better living
conditions, but a sense of hope to families across this Nation.
In my home State of Connecticut, these efforts are helping to
transform urban neighborhoods. At the Charter Oak Terrace development
in Hartford, residents will soon have better housing, educational
programs, and job opportunities. In New Haven, the redevelopment of the
Elm Haven apartments will also help lift families out of poverty.
Working together, Henry Cisneros and Andrew Cuomo have already
accomplished a great deal. With that experience, Andrew Cuomo will hit
the ground running and build upon that record of success. I look
forward to working with him in the years ahead.
Let me say in summation for those of us who have worked with and
known Andrew Cuomo, this is going to be a
[[Page S782]]
very fine appointment. He understands the agency now, having been there
for 3 years in a major capacity. He knows the personnel. He has
demonstrated abilities, as I mentioned, in developing the kind of
efficiencies in HUD that are absolutely critical.
My hope is that the housing issues and related subject matters will
once again become what they were initially, and that is a bipartisan
subject. When housing initiatives were identified and supported back in
the late 1940's, it was through the efforts of Republicans and
Democrats who said that decent, affordable shelter ought not to be
something that divides people based on politics or party. I think it is
vitally important we get back to that.
We have a wonderful opportunity, in my view, with the chairman of the
committee, Senator D'Amato, and the ranking member, Senator Sarbanes,
who understand these issues, and a very fine staff that wants to work
on them. The fact that Andrew Cuomo comes from New York, the home State
of the chairman of the committee, can only strengthen the excellent
relationship between the Senate Banking Committee and HUD. I look
forward to a new era of cooperation and bipartisanship in seeing to it
that decent, affordable shelter and economic development are given the
attention they deserve.
With that in mind, I am delighted to join my colleague from New York
and my colleague from Maryland and others in strongly endorsing the
nomination of Andrew Cuomo to be the Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development.
I yield the floor.
Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, today I would like to stress my unambiguous
support for President Clinton's nomination of Andrew Cuomo to serve as
the next Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
In my opinion, Mr. Cuomo has the potential to be one of the strongest
HUD Secretaries in the agency's 30 years of existence. Not only does
Andrew Cuomo bring strong and relevant skills to this job, but Mr.
Cuomo will inherit an agency that is moving in the right direction.
HUD is in much better shape than the agency was in when Henry
Cisneros arrived. HUD had suffered greatly during the 1980's from
mismanagement and scandal. Secretary Cisneros applied his boundless
energy and unique vision to a very difficult task. Those who oppose
HUD's important mission tried to use the management difficulties at HUD
as an excuse for eliminating the agency. The success of Secretary
Cisneros' stewardship has deflated calls for HUD's elimination and has
instead changed the national conversation about HUD and housing policy.
In this new conversation on housing programs, we can talk about the
transformation of public housing. You can easily witness this
transformation at many sites across the country. In my state, you can
see public housing changing at the Orchard Park redevelopment site in
Boston and at the Jackson Parkway HOPE VI site in Holyoke, MA. These
HOPE VI sites have become the lifeblood for thousands of people and
whole communities.
We can also talk about HUD's positive role as a partner with our
States and cities: In Massachusetts, HUD is a partner with the State
housing agency in a property disposition demonstration. In the
neighborhoods of Roxbury and Allston-Brighton, HUD is a partner with
the city and the nonprofit community development corporations using
CDBG and HOME funds to revitalize distressed neighborhoods.
And, we are able to change the way we talk about cities: Violent
crimes in the Nation's 50 largest cities have declined by an average of
13 percent, unemployment has been cut by 3.1 percent in the past 4
years, and home ownership has expanded with nearly 700,000 central city
residents having become homeowners since 1990.
Andrew Cuomo has played an important role in these changes. He has
helped to change this agency and its role in America's communities.
And, because he has been a major player at HUD over the last 4 years,
he will be able to capitalize on the progress that he and his
predecessor have made.
We can be confident that Andrew Cuomo will be successful over the
next 4 years because he has been extremely successful over the last 4.
Mr. Cuomo has directed the empowerment zone and enterprise community
programs for the Federal Government, he has made major changes in the
administration of HUD's homeless assistance programs, he has nurtured
and supported the highly successful YouthBuild Program, and he has
expanded and improved upon the role that HUD plays in assisting the
economic development of distressed communities. He has already made a
major mark. He is well prepared to take over the reins at HUD.
In closing, Mr. President, let me reiterate my strong support for
this nominee. Most importantly, he comes from one of the major urban
centers in the country and from a tradition of paying attention to and
assisting our communities. Over the course of the next few years, HUD
could face some very tough choices and we need to understand what the
consequences of those choices will be. Andrew Cuomo is wholly qualified
to meet the challenges that he will face. As the ranking member of the
subcommittee with primary responsibility for HUD and its programs, I
pledge to do all that I can to aid Mr. Cuomo in succeeding as HUD
Secretary. I look forward to working with him over the next 4 years to
restore the agency, reinforce its mission, preserve affordable housing,
and make significant progress in meeting the housing needs of our
people and in revitalizing our distressed communities.
Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I offer today my strong support for the
confirmation of Andrew Cuomo as the new Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development.
I want my colleagues to know that Mr. Cuomo is a proven leader in the
housing and community development field. For the past 4 years, he has
served as the assistant secretary for HUD's Office of Community
Planning and Development. While managing a $10 billion portfolio that
has doubled over the last 4 years, he helped reduce administrative
overhead by 20 percent--helping us to get more bang for the taxpayers
buck. Mr. Cuomo's efforts in merging 12 bureaucratic processes into one
streamlined system known as consolidated planning won him the
Innovations in American Government award for 1996 from Harvard
University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. His goal of
streamlining, decentralizing, and consolidating programs is one that I
have advocated for years as chairman and ranking member of the VA, HUD
and Independent Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee. Many of Mr.
Cuomo's initiatives were based on the recommendations made by the
National Academy of Public Administration in a report that I
commissioned as chairman of the subcommittee.
Mr. Cuomo has also overseen the implementation of the Empowerment
Zone and Enterprise Community Initiative, which has combined local
community planning with Federal dollars to help produce new jobs and
housing in 72 cities. He also created a new economic development
initiative which worked in conjunction with a loan guarantee program to
provide $1.85 billion in much needed low-interest loans for cities in
1995, up from $229 million in 1993. Mr. Cuomo's work on implementing
the continuum of care strategy to help the homeless has led to 14 times
as many homeless people being served with only twice the funding. In
addition, his emphasis on coordination of services and resources has
generated 30 times more private and nonprofit dollars since 1992. His
focus on real results instead of simplistic statistical compilations of
program activity is one which I share and strongly commend.
Mr. Cuomo's service in the field dates back to his founding in 1986
of HELP--Housing Enterprises for the Less Privileged, which grew to
become the Nation's largest provider of transitional housing for the
homeless. Mr. Cuomo also founded the Genesis project--which develops
comprehensive approaches to linking community development with
affordable housing. His experiences on the front lines of the battle
against urban poverty and despair help him to make practical decisions
that work in the real world.
Mr. President, I look forward to working with Mr. Cuomo on making the
Department of Housing and Urban Development a more effective and
efficient agency. There are major issues that the Department and the
Congress
[[Page S783]]
must address this year. We must continue to work to find solutions to
the problem of the over-subsidized Section 8 assisted housing
inventory. I will continue to insist that we don't create an additional
burden for the taxpayers, and that we find a solution that does not
lead to community destabilization.
Mr. President, we must also work with Mr. Cuomo to ensure that HUD
maintains proper oversight and standards for local public housing
authorities. HUD must stand sentry and ensure that local public housing
authorities are providing real opportunities--not hollow
opportunities--and ensuring adequate housing for the poor citizens of
our Nation. I want to work with Mr. Cuomo on ending what I call the zip
codes of pathology that have resulted from the programs of the past. We
have repealed--in our annual appropriations bills--the Federal
preferences that concentrated the poorest of the poor in one area. I
will work with Mr. Cuomo and my colleagues on the Banking Committee to
make these repeals permanent, in addition to the repeal of such Federal
requirements as one-for-one replacement, take-one-take-all, and endless
leases.
Mr. President, there is much work to be done at HUD. We must continue
to streamline the agency, demolish the worst public housing, and
deliver programs that focus on personal and community empowerment. I
was pleased to see in Mr. Cuomo's testimony before the Senate Banking
Committee on January 22, 1997, he noted that ``the object of our
efforts must be the development of self-sufficiency, not the
perpetuation of government programs.'' Indeed, the days of a bloated
bureaucracy with a focus only on bricks and mortar are gone. We must
combine local sweat equity and public-private partnerships with Federal
dollars to help rebuild the social fabric of our deteriorating
communities. I look forward to working with Mr. Cuomo to make HUD a
model agency that makes a real difference in the lives of the people it
serves. I will support his efforts to make HUD smarter, smaller and
better. I am certain he is up to the task.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I believe Andrew M. Cuomo has the
potential to be our Nation's finest Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development. I am impressed with his understanding of our Nation's
budget situation, and I am equally impressed with his commitment to
meeting the housing challenges of needy Americans.
Andrew Cuomo impressed the Senate Banking Committee with his
understanding of the section 8 crisis that is upon us. Section 8 is the
program by which HUD provides landlords with the necessary subsidies to
allow them to rent their property to low-income Americans. A typical
section 8 HUD payment will make up the difference between the actual
market rent and the ability of the renter to pay. Thus, landlords
continue to provide private housing stock to needy Americans. Because
many of the 20-year contracts for section 8 housing are expiring, new
Federal commitments of $16.4 billion are needed by the year 2002.
Continuing this basic HUD program will require careful balancing to
avoid crowding out other needed housing and community development
programs.
I have personally worked with Mr. Cuomo in his valiant efforts to
increase funding for housing the homeless while streamlining the many
HUD homeless programs. Together, and with the able guidance of the
Senate Banking Committee chairman, Senator D'Amato, we have
consolidated them into fewer grants with greater and more reliable
impact on the very tough problems of homeless Americans.
A little known HUD section 811 program for the disabled has come a
long way under Mr. Cuomo's direction. HUD makes better housing
available for the mentally ill and mentally retarded at reasonable
costs, so that a handicapped person living on supplemental security
income and Medicaid can afford to try more independent living. More
group homes have been started to give these disabled Americans a
fighting chance at independent living. I am confident that Secretary
Cuomo will not abandon the mentally ill or the homeless when he makes
his hard budget choices in the next few critical years.
Andrew Cuomo is the founder of the largest provider of homeless
services in the Nation. He did this in his native State of New York.
There he learned first hand the true value of federal housing
assistance as well as its limitations and frustrations. Now he will
lead the nation's efforts to help others like himself do the best
possible for those most in need of temporary and permanent housing.
Before he left his widely respected HELP nonprofit in New York,
Andrew Cuomo had built an organization with 350 employees, a $25
million budget, and more then $120 million worth of needed and
affordable housing. While serving as HUD Assistant Secretary for
Community Planning and Development, Andrew Cuomo got the Empowerment
Zone and Enterprise Community Programs up and running after a stiff
national competition to select participating towns and cities in urban
and rural America.
Under his leadership, the fledgling HOME affordable housing program
increased its achievements from less than 2,000 units of affordable
housing to over 110,000 units across America. Andrew Cuomo created the
HUD Economic Development Initiative, now seen by mayors as their most
flexible economic development tool for revitalizing poor communities
through a unique combination of HUD resources.
As he said in his confirmation hearing, HUD can be a vital partner
with State and local government by being ``smarter, smaller, and
better.'' He has a keen eye for the projects that can attract private
sector support. He understands the support HUD can give these projects
in revitalization efforts in our inner cities and in rural towns.
I was very impressed with his observation that ``the pride and
dignity of having a job and earning one's own bread is the best social
services program that exists.''
Mr. President and Senate colleagues, I highly recommend Andrew M.
Cuomo for the important job of Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development. I urge you to vote in favor of his confirmation today. If
you vote to confirm Mr. Cuomo, you will be doing a great service to the
millions of Americans whose lives will be touched by his active and
creative leadership.
Ms. MOSELEY-BRAUN. Mr. President, I strongly support the nomination
of Assistant Secretary Andrew Cuomo to be the next Secretary of the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and I look forward to
his confirmation by the Senate today.
As a member of the Banking Committee, I had the pleasure of
participating in Mr. Cuomo's confirmation hearing. I continue to be
impressed by Mr. Cuomo's commitment to expanding housing opportunities
for the people of this Nation and to cutting the bureaucracy which too
often hinders such efforts.
When Congress passed the Public Housing Act of 1937, the findings
stated, ``It is the policy of the United States to promote the general
welfare of the Nation by employing its funds and credit * * * to remedy
the unsafe and unsanitary housing conditions and the acute shortage of
decent, safe, and sanitary dwellings for families of lower income * *
*'' In other words, it is in the Nation's best interest to invest in
housing for the American people.
In both word and deed, Andrew Cuomo has demonstrated that he believes
in the goals of the 1937 act. From his work founding HELP, the Nation's
largest nonprofit provider of transitional housing for the homeless, to
his efforts as Assistant Secretary for the Office of Community Planning
and Development at HUD, Secretary-designate Cuomo's commitment to
expanding housing opportunities for all Americans is clear.
His work was recognized by former New York City Mayor David Dinkins
who named Andrew Cuomo chairman of the New York City Commission on the
Homeless. The commission's report, ``The Way Home: A New Direction in
Social Policy,'' suggested a continuum of care policy that was adopted
by the mayor and has been recognized nationally as a model for ending
homelessness.
One of the reasons that I am particularly pleased to be supporting
this nominee today is that his approach to expanding housing
opportunities is multifaceted. When we talk about housing, we are, in
reality, talking about community. The home is the building block of the
community which in turn is the building block of the Nation.
[[Page S784]]
In order to build community, it is foolish to ignore the availability
of capital, the presence or lack of jobs, the wealth or poverty of the
residents, or the ability of people to pay their own way, now or in the
future.
Andrew Cuomo understands that people often need not only a home, but
a job to pay for that home. And he understands the fundamental role of
public/private partnerships in providing access to both.
Under his tenure as Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and
Development, there has been an increase in the amount of investment
available for job creation, business expansion, and capital access for
cities, a more effective strategy for reducing homelessness, and the
implementation of the important empowerment zone/enterprise community
initiatives.
Any new Secretary of HUD will face enormous challenges, not the least
of which will be how to effectively streamline and improve the HUD
bureaucracy. Good ideas and sound efforts are often prevented from
succeeding because the costs of the bureaucracy are too great.
Efficiency and economic savings must go hand-in-hand with vision and
hard work. I am confident that Andrew Cuomo is the right person to
address this set of problems.
I look forward to the rapid confirmation of Andrew Cuomo to be the
Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
I support his confirmation and look forward to working with him to
tackle the challenges facing America's communities at the end of the
20th century and the beginning of the 21st century.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, it is a pleasure to have the opportunity to
cast my vote today in support of the nomination of Andrew Cuomo for
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Given the opportunity to
choose a replacement for outgoing Secretary Henry Cisneros, I would be
hard pressed to find a better candidate.
Andrew Cuomo has spent his life helping low-income families find
answers to housing problems. His work to combat homelessness in New
York and most recently at the Department has helped to take countless
needy people off of the streets and put them back on their feet. His
innovative continuum of care initiative provided the impetus for
Vermont and other States to bring together housing and service
providers and develop a comprehensive plan for dealing with
homelessness. This approach has ensured that the Department's
homelessness programs get the most bang-for-the-buck, and should serve
as a model for other Federal programs.
That Yankee knack for cost cutting will serve him well in his new
position. When I look at the funding problems ahead for the section 8
housing program and the uncertain impact of welfare reform on the cost
of HUD rental assistance programs, I don't know whether to congratulate
Andrew Cuomo on his promotion or offer my sympathies. However, I do
know that outgoing Secretary Cisneros is leaving the Department in good
hands, and I look forward to working with Secretary Cuomo in the years
ahead to address these and other problems facing our Nation's housing
programs.
Andrew Cuomo had nationwide responsibilities which he exercised with
great skill. In Vermont we look at the people who turned to him for
help in my home city of Burlington. He listened. He helped. Today their
life is better because of him.
Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I am very pleased about President
Clinton's nomination of Andrew Cuomo for Secretary of the Department of
Housing and Urban Development, and am delighted to support this
nomination.
Secretary-designate Cuomo's accomplishments in the private sector and
as Assistant Secretary of HUD's Office of Community Planning and
Development are numerous. Housing assistance systems developed by
Andrew Cuomo have served as model systems, achieving success all across
this Nation.
At his hearing last week, Secretary-designate Cuomo showed his
knowledge, not only of the management problems within HUD, but of the
substantive programs as well. Moreover, Secretary-designate Cuomo
expressed his vision for HUD with a refreshing realism. He understands
HUD's mission, and the limited discretionary spending to achieve the
goals of providing housing assistance in this country.
The issues I am primarily concerned about working on were clearly
understood by the Secretary-designate. California faces the brunt of
the burden with regard to section 8 renewals, preservation, and the
impact of welfare reform on housing. Another issue I will continue to
try and resolve with HUD and the Veterans' Administration is
homelessness among veterans who fought this country's wars.
I believe Andrew Cuomo is distinctly qualified to be Secretary of
HUD. The Secretary-designate has been with HUD in a leadership capacity
since 1993. He worked closely with outgoing Secretary Henry Cisneros
and understands the complex matrix that makes up HUD's existing
programs. From his background, experience, and responses at his
nomination hearing last week, Mr. Cuomo has shown he understands what
it will take to improve upon that matrix.
Americans all across this Nation, in both urban and rural areas, can
expect changes positively affecting housing assistance. Again, I fully
support Mr. Cuomo's nomination as Secretary of HUD.
Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, I yield back any time that we might have,
and I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There is a sufficient second.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
Mr. SARBANES. I yield back any time remaining on this side.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and
consent to the nomination of Andrew M. Cuomo, to be Secretary of
Housing and Urban Development? On this question, the yeas and nays have
been ordered, and the clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Hawaii [Mr. Inouye] is
necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 99, nays 0, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 3 Ex.]
YEAS--99
Abraham
Akaka
Allard
Ashcroft
Baucus
Bennett
Biden
Bingaman
Bond
Boxer
Breaux
Brownback
Bryan
Bumpers
Burns
Byrd
Campbell
Chafee
Cleland
Coats
Cochran
Collins
Conrad
Coverdell
Craig
D'Amato
Daschle
DeWine
Dodd
Domenici
Dorgan
Durbin
Enzi
Faircloth
Feingold
Feinstein
Ford
Frist
Glenn
Gorton
Graham
Gramm
Grams
Grassley
Gregg
Hagel
Harkin
Hatch
Helms
Hollings
Hutchinson
Hutchison
Inhofe
Jeffords
Johnson
Kempthorne
Kennedy
Kerrey
Kerry
Kohl
Kyl
Landrieu
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Lott
Lugar
Mack
McCain
McConnell
Mikulski
Moseley-Braun
Moynihan
Murkowski
Murray
Nickles
Reed
Reid
Robb
Roberts
Rockefeller
Roth
Santorum
Sarbanes
Sessions
Shelby
Smith, Bob
Smith, Gordon
Snowe
Specter
Stevens
Thomas
Thompson
Thurmond
Torricelli
Warner
Wellstone
Wyden
NOT VOTING--1
Inouye
The nomination was confirmed.
Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I wish to extend my congratulations to
Mr. Cuomo.
____________________