[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 121 (Thursday, July 26, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1623-E1624]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  TRANSPORTATION, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES 
                        APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 24, 2007

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 3074) making 
     appropriations for the Departments of Transportation, and 
     Housing and Urban Development, and related agencies for the 
     fiscal year ending September 30, 2008, and for other 
     purposes:

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of H.R. 3074, the Fiscal 
Year 2008 Department of Transportation and Housing and Urban 
Development Appropriations Bill. My colleagues, I think that it is 
incredibly appropriate that we are here talking about housing today. 
Forty years ago this week, whole sections of Detroit were engulfed in 
flames and 43 people died amid 6 days of gunfire, looting and chaos. 
While there were many reasons for this unrest, one of the biggest was 
lack of quality, affordable housing; while affordable housing continues 
to be one of our nation's most pressing problems, H.R. 3074 makes a 
number of significant strides in improving the status quo.
  Despite the President's desire to cut Section 8 tenant-based vouchers 
and possibly force

[[Page E1624]]

up to 80,000 families and individuals on the street, this appropriation 
legislation includes an increase in funding of $330 million for tenant-
based vouchers and nearly $667 million for projected-based vouchers in 
order to renew all current Section 8 vouchers, so no one who has a 
tenant-based voucher will lose it. In addition, included within this 
amount is $30 million for 4,000 new, targeted vouchers for homeless 
veterans and for non-elderly people with disabilities.
  Once again this year the President's budget proposed eliminating the 
HOPE VI program, the highly successful program that revitalizes 
distressed and obsolete public housing projects. Instead, by providing 
$120 million, $21 million over 2007, Congress has ensured that HOPE VI 
projects will continue to help transform and revitalize communities 
across the United States.
  Finally, by allocating $64.5 billion to the Department of 
Transportation, H.R. 3074 will safeguard the regional needs of our 
Nation and invest in transit projects for urban areas to help commuters 
save time and money getting to work. The bill likewise rejects the 
President's deep cuts to AMTRAK, protecting our national passenger rail 
system, and it fully funds the highway and transit guarantees set in 
the SAFETEA-LU authorization bill.
  With final passage of this bill today, we in the House of 
Representatives will be addressing the important challenges of keeping 
our Nation's transportation system safe and strong, ensuring that every 
American has adequate shelter, and doing so in a way that strengthens 
the economy.

                          ____________________