[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 166 (Wednesday, December 15, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10240-S10241]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         LOW INCOME HOUSING FIX

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I thank the leadership on both sides for 
giving me an opportunity, in just a few minutes, to have a portion of 
the time when it comes to the discussion of the bill we are going to be 
voting on at noon. But I thought before I got to that time I had been 
allotted in the unanimous consent agreement--and I am very grateful to 
the leadership on both sides for giving me that opportunity--I would 
take a minute to give a preview while there was no one on the floor 
asking for time now.
  This massive tax bill has been negotiated by many people of good 
will. I see the Senator from Montana, the Finance Committee chair, who 
has been at the table in these negotiations, and Senator McConnell and 
Senator Kyl and Senator Reid--men who have truly worked very hard. 
There were representatives from the White House in these negotiations. 
I know in their minds they did their very best. I have had some serious 
issues with portions of the package. I have expressed those on the 
floor of the Senate on behalf of the constituents I represent. I think 
I have made my points. I think they have been very clear. I appreciate 
the

[[Page S10241]]

opportunity, as a Senator, to be able to voice those complaints.
  I am not on the floor right now to talk about the major pieces of 
that tax package with which I strongly disagree. I intend to vote for 
it. I signaled that in the vote 2 days ago. I am unhappy with many 
pieces of it, but that is not why I am here to speak today. I am here 
to ask the Members of this Senate to consider, when I ask unanimous 
consent later this morning, to grant unanimous consent to fix a 
mistake. I am going to ask, in just a few minutes, for the Senate to 
fix a mistake that was made in the negotiations. I am going to need all 
100 Senators to say yes in order to fix this mistake.
  Senator Vitter, Senator Shelby, Senator Sessions, Senator Cochran, 
and Senator Wicker--all the Senators from both parties in all the Gulf 
Coast States that are affected by this amendment--join me in this 
request. There is not any difference of opinion among those of us who 
represent these States. Only these States are affected by this 
amendment. It is very narrowly crafted. It has to do with a placed-in-
service date for low-income housing; that is all, low-income housing.
  We lost, as many people will recall, 6 years ago, over 250,000--not 
5,000, not 25,000, not 50,000 but 250,000--homes in the aftermath of 
Katrina, Rita, and the great flood that ensued. It is only 6 years ago 
that happened so, of course, we are still trying to build housing, 
private, stand-alone, single-family housing, multifamily housing, 
housing for seniors. It is a huge work. In fact, it may be the largest 
single residential building program going on in this century, maybe not 
after World War II--I don't have the figures--but it has been a huge 
residential rebuilding program.
  This GO Zone package was crafted with the help of almost every 
Senator in the aftermath, and we are grateful. It had basically three 
main components, what I call bonds for big infrastructure project 
development, bonds for historic credits, because many of these 
neighborhoods--particularly Waveland, New Orleans, some of these 
historic places along the gulf coast--were destroyed. We wanted to 
preserve, when we rebuilt, the historic nature, so we asked the Senate 
and were granted historic preservation credits: the low-income housing 
tax credits to replace the thousands of low-income units for seniors, 
for the disabled and for the poor and the working poor. In this 
package, the negotiators got everything, but they forgot and left out--
out of the total $800 million for the GO Zones for all the Gulf Coast 
States, for everything I just described--they forgot to extend the 
placed-in-service date for the low-income housing projects.
  As a result, and I see Senator Voinovich on floor--and I know he is 
in line to speak--as a result, if we do not fix this today--it is not 
truly an amendment, it is a correction to the underlying bill--these 
projects will come to a halt. There are 77 of them. They are narrow. It 
does not open Pandora's box. It fixes a mistake. I have testimony from 
the Senator from Montana, I have testimony from the White House, I have 
testimony from the Republican leadership that it was not their 
intention and that they did not understand clearly enough that if this 
placed-in-service date was not extended, these projects--they thought 
they could go on. They cannot. They will come to a halt.
  It is only low-income housing projects, only in the gulf, and there 
are only 77 of them. Not all of them will collapse, but the largest 
will because they cannot be corrected. They cannot be built in this 
year alone. We need to give them 2 years to be built. If we can do 
that, the great redevelopment of the city of New Orleans and the region 
will continue.
  Please, in the next hour, my colleagues, contemplate this. I am going 
to ask for your unanimous consent. I hope I can get it.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Montana is 
recognized.
  Mr. BAUCUS. I know there is an order for the Senator from Ohio to 
speak. I would ask for the Senator's indulgence for maybe 15 or 30 
seconds.
  Mr. VOINOVICH. Sure.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I have discussed this matter with the 
Senator from Louisiana. She is right. These projects cannot be built 
fast enough. There is just not enough time. The placed-in-service date 
should be extended an extra year. It is not expensive at all. I hope we 
can find some way to accommodate this need.
  The people in Louisiana and the whole gulf coast need this extended 
service date because, otherwise, these homes will not be built. I hope 
we can find some way to pass what the Senator from Louisiana is 
suggesting.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Ohio is 
recognized.

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