[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 62 (Tuesday, May 13, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H2493-H2494]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      NATIONAL HOME OWNERSHIP WEEK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 21, 1997, the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia [Ms. 
Norton] is recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor this afternoon on a 
particularly happy occasion. I am pleased to see my good friend and 
colleague, the gentleman from California [Mr. Lewis], from the other 
side of the aisle here as well, because I think we come to talk 
virtually in unison about the same subject. We have just come from a 
press conference involving Democrats and Republicans to kick off 
National Home Ownership Week.
  I want to thank the gentleman from California [Mr. Lewis] for 
deciding to do so with a wonderful initiative here in the District.
  The idea, let me be quick to say, is the idea of Representative Jerry 
Lewis, who has come forward with an idea that is likely to win favor 
throughout the country and to be copied throughout the country. Instead 
of just celebrating National Home Ownership Week with a lot of rhetoric 
on the floor, true to form, Representative Lewis would have us do 
something to indicate our commitment, our continuing commitment, to the 
proposition

[[Page H2494]]

that every family in the United States deserves its own home in which 
to live. So, in early June, Members of the House will help to build a 
house in the Capital of the United States.
  I expect Members to rush back to their districts this year and next 
to try to carry out the idea of the gentleman from California [Mr. 
Lewis] all over this country. If the spirit of Hershey is alive 
anywhere, it will be alive, and I believe the date is June 6, when I 
urge Members from both sides of the aisle to follow the lead of Mr. 
Lewis and come to the southeast section of Washington and help us build 
the house that Congress built.
  If Hershey is alive, it will be alive on June 6. If Philadelphia, 
where the President and where President Bush as well came forward to 
promote voluntarism, if voluntarism that they promoted is alive as 
well, it will be alive in June with this action, which should inspire 
similar action around the country.
  Habitat for Humanity is where the expertise is. Here we have also an 
indication of how an organization can inspire Members to work together 
from both sides of the aisle, because when you have Representative Newt 
Gingrich and former President Carter working hard always for Habitat 
and bringing that partnership to Washington, we see bipartisanship at 
its best.
  Habitat for Humanity has quietly been doing this work all over the 
District of Columbia and all over the country for a very long time, but 
its meaning is especially deep when Habitat decides to build a house 
with Members of Congress doing the building, hammering the nails. 
Posters and shirts with a wonderful design by Vanessa Compos, a fourth 
grader at a public school in the District, Hyde Elementary School, will 
be worn on that day, and this poster will be shown all over the United 
States.
  In the resolution sponsored by Mr. Lewis, there is an important line, 
among many, ``Whereas, the United States is the first country in the 
world to make owning a home a reality for a vast majority of families, 
however, more than a third of the families in the United States are not 
homeowners.''
  Think about how marvelous it is that the average family does own its 
own home. And when you think about how far we have come, it becomes 
unthinkable to leave out a minority of families in rural and urban 
areas who have not yet been able to afford a home.
  Affordable housing is not an oxymoron; it is something that this 
Congress on both sides of the aisle, together with the private sector, 
know we can make a reality. It is remarkable what we have done. We 
cannot slide back to where youngsters now wonder if they too can have 
the kind of home ownership that their parents have. We know they can. 
When the Congress of the United States moves forward to make the point, 
even metaphorically, we send a powerful message.
  I want to thank the gentleman from California [Mr. Lewis] as well for 
reminding us at the press conference that the District of Columbia is 
one of the Congress' five priorities, not simply building homes, but 
rebuilding the city itself. It is my hometown, but it is your Capital. 
The Control Board, together with the city, are making incredible 
progress starting from the ground to build up. The way to build up for 
the average family is for Congress to go forward on June 6 offering to 
do what all of us can do who work together. I thank the gentleman from 
California [Mr. Lewis].

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