[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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