[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 28 (Tuesday, March 2, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S920-S921]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     LOW-INCOME HOUSING TAX CREDIT

  Ms. LANDRIEU. I rise to speak for a few minutes while we are in a 
quorum call and trying to decide how we are going to proceed on this 
bill, to speak about a very important amendment that, hopefully, at 
some time as this debate moves forward, could be considered.
  It is an extremely important amendment, not just to the people of 
Louisiana but to the people of Mississippi and Alabama as well, three 
States that were very hard hit by a natural disaster 4\1/2\ years ago, 
when Katrina, one of the largest hurricanes ever recorded, slammed into 
actually the gulf coast, hit the State of Mississippi directly and then 
parts of Louisiana.
  Then, 3 weeks later, we were hit by another category 4 storm, 
Hurricane Rita. We are 4\1/2\ years into that disaster and catastrophe, 
and the gulf coast is still struggling to recover.
  People are very familiar with the scenes they are seeing in Haiti, 
and now, unfortunately, we are getting very familiar with the scenes we 
are seeing in Chile. So it was not that long ago that we were seeing 
similar scenes along the gulf coast, not as desperate a situation as 
Haiti. We are not clear about how the situation in Chile is playing 
out.
  But we can all remember the terrible videos and slides of 
destruction. Having represented that State now for all this time, let 
me tell you, our work is still going on. That is what brings me to the 
floor today. In the underlying bill, there are some big issues that 
have gotten a lot of coverage: unemployment, COBRA, et cetera. These 
are all very important. There are also some smaller pieces of this bill 
that are very important, the extension of some tax credits that help to 
restore tax credits in the region; a 1-year extension. There is a 1-
year extension for low-income housing, a tax credit for the whole 
country.
  But what is not in the bill, what is missing, is the piece I wish to 
talk about and ask my colleagues to consider adding to this bill when 
we get to a position where some amendments might be considered.
  This amendment that I offer is not just offered by myself but offered 
by Senator Cochran and Senator Wicker and Senator Vitter. It was a 
bipartisan amendment and something the four of us feel very strongly 
about. In addition to the support it has from the four of us, it also, 
happily, has the support of the administration and the Secretary of 
HUD.
  At this time, I would ask unanimous consent to have printed in the 
Record a very strong letter in support from Secretary Geithner and 
Secretary Donovan.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:
                                                    March 2, 2010.
     Hon. Mary L. Landrieu,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Senator Landrieu: Thank you for your letter of 
     February 25, 2010, regarding the extension of the Gulf Coast 
     Opportunity Zone (GO Zone) Low Income Housing Tax Credit 
     (LIHTC) placed-in-service date. Please be assured that the 
     Administration understands the critical need for the 
     extension of the GO Zone tax credits, and also the negative 
     impact that failing to extend the credits would have on New 
     Orleans and other communities impacted by Hurricanes Katrina 
     and Rita as they continue recovery efforts. You should also 
     be assured that the Administration supports an extension of 2 
     years to December 31, 2012, of the GO Zone placed-in-service 
     date and is committed to working with Congress to see that 
     the extension is enacted as soon as possible.
       As you mentioned in your letter, the economic activity 
     spurred by the GO Zone credits has played an important 
     stimulative role in the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast. These 
     tax credits have fostered development in devastated areas and 
     have enabled the return of people who love their communities 
     and who are the drivers of local economies throughout the 
     Gulf Coast. GO Zone projects have created jobs and stimulated 
     the economic recovery in these areas. In New Orleans, 
     specifically, the tax credits have played a central role in 
     leveraging the financing needed to complete the rebuilding of 
     the Big Four public housing developments: St. Bernard, C.J. 
     Peete, Lafitte, and B.W. Cooper. The revitalized developments 
     have not only spurred activity surrounding construction and 
     will restore essential affordable housing, but have also 
     encouraged the establishment of new businesses and improved 
     civic life around these developments.
       Since the beginning of the Administration, President Obama, 
     Vice President Biden, Dr. Jill Biden, 13 other members of the 
     Cabinet, and numerous agency heads, assistant secretaries, 
     and other senior level administration officials have visited 
     New Orleans and the wider Katrina- and Rita-impacted area to 
     see firsthand the scale of the recovery challenges that 
     remain. Our respective agencies have made significant 
     investments of staff and funding to support the recovery 
     efforts. Many of these programs continue to provide 
     meaningful resources to disaster survivors and the 
     communities being rebuilt. Through these visits, we have come 
     to recognize the dire impact that failing to extend this tax 
     credit would have on Gulf Coast communities and individual 
     families, many of whom were the hardest hit by Hurricanes 
     Katrina and Rita and the recent recession. Not extending the 
     GO Zone placed-in-service date would result in a major 
     setback for the recovery, and would impact public housing 
     residents, business, and communities. It would be 
     unconscionable to let the work that has created so much 
     progress, and so much hope, go unfulfilled.
       We will continue to urge members of Congress to extend the 
     GO Zone placed-in-service date and stand firmly behind such 
     an extension. We are confident that with your help we will 
     see the extension signed into law, and with it, continued 
     economic activity and community revitalization in the Katrina 
     affected Gulf Coast.
           Sincerely,
     Timothy F. Geithner,
       Secretary of the Treasury.
     Shaun Donovan,
       Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

  Ms. LANDRIEU. They have written a very lengthy letter saying why the

[[Page S921]]

amendment I am offering is so important. In addition, I am happy to 
say, today we got a very strong editorial in the New York Times, which 
does not always write favorably about some things we have requested. 
But they have looked at this and have indicated this is something that 
should be done.
  Let me take a minute to explain what we are asking for. Right after 
Katrina and Rita, the Congress, in its wisdom, said: Your situation is 
so bad down there, you have had so many houses destroyed, so many low-
income houses destroyed, we are going to give you some extra low-income 
housing tax credits.
  We normally get a formula of about $2 per person in the country. 
Well, they gave us like $18 per person in the country, which was 
wonderful. We needed the help. We needed those extra low-income housing 
tax credits to build housing for the very poor but also to build 
housing for the working middle class, people whom we rely on to help 
our hotels get started, our restaurants get started, our schools to 
run, our teachers, our firefighters, our police officers.
  So the city and the region--this happened in New Orleans and lots of 
other parishes. It also happened along the gulf coast of Mississippi. 
Catholic Charities stepped to the plate, developers stepped to the 
plate and said: OK, we will use these low-income tax credits to build 
some housing.
  Think about Haiti right now. Think about the scene you saw on CNN 
this morning. I was just looking at the scene. There is no plan. The 
rainy season is coming. One million people have no shelter. All they 
have are those sad old little blue tarps we had along the gulf coast. 
But Congress, in its wisdom, instead of keeping them in tents in the 
Mississippi gulf coast said: OK, hire, private sector. Here are some 
tax credits. Go out and build houses for these people as fast as you 
can.
  So the developers, of course, had to scramble. We all had to scramble 
because it was very chaotic. But we put plans together and we decided 
how--it would take us some time, but we figured out how to build good 
housing, smart housing, not the same old terrible housing we had but 
new housing.
  That is wonderful. That is the good part of the story. The bad part 
of the story is, we have run out of time. But it is not our fault we 
ran out of time. We worked as hard as we could. But as soon as we were 
ready to go to the market with these tax credits, what happens? The 
market collapses. So then our developers could not even get the tax 
credits.
  The problem for us, which is a big problem, is that now if we do not 
have all these units, what they call, in service, by the end of this 
year, we are going to lose over 7,000 housing units. That is a lot. Not 
70, not 700 but 7,000 all through the city of New Orleans, all through 
the gulf coast.
  People--seniors, policemen, firefighters, teachers, workers in the 
restaurants--will have no place to live. Everybody says: Oh, Landrieu, 
there you are crying wolf again. I am not crying wolf. This is going to 
happen. So that is why this amendment--I have been asking for it for a 
year. The team has been very supportive, but it is not in the bill.
  So I am on the floor to shake the bells, rattle a little bit, to say: 
Please consider this amendment. We are not asking for any new credits. 
We are not asking for any special credits. We do not--well, we need 
some new credits, but we are not asking for new credits. We just need 
to have the credits we have that have already been put into place. We 
cannot lose them.

  This amendment is going to cost about $300 million. It has a cost to 
it. I am asking the Finance Committee to please see how we can pay for 
this. It is an emergency, but I understand we want to try to pay for 
things as we go on, things such as this. So I am asking the Finance 
Committee to think about how this can be paid for.
  But, again, I submit, in conclusion, the letter from the 
administration supporting it, the letter from Secretary Donovan, the 
editorial we got in the New York Times, the articles I am going to 
submit from our newspapers that clearly say this is important.
  I thank the Members of this body for at least considering this 
amendment. I thank Senator Cochran, Senator Wicker, and Senator Vitter 
for joining in a bipartisan way to ask for it. I most certainly hope we 
can get this done because if not we are going to shut down these 
projects that are underway, we will lose 13,000 jobs, as well as lose 
the opportunity for over 7,000 families on the gulf coast to get good, 
affordable housing.
  That is our argument, and I do not think there is any opposition. I 
hope not. Because it would be very important for us to get this 
amendment on this bill.
  Mr. President, if there is no one here to speak, 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. KAUFMAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Hagan). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. KAUFMAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak in 
morning business for up to 20 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. KAUFMAN. Thank you, Madam President.

                          ____________________