[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 89 (Tuesday, June 10, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E935]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  TRANSPORTATION, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES 
                        APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2015

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                       HON. LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, June 9, 2014

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 4745) making 
     appropriations for the Departments of Transportation, Housing 
     and Urban Development, and related agencies for the fiscal 
     year ending September 30, 2015, and for other purposes:

  Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Mr. Chair, while I extend my appreciation to 
Chairman Latham and Ranking Member Pastor for their hard work on the 
FY15 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Bill, 
unfortunately, it is another example of the inadequacy of the FY15 
budget allocation, and I regretfully rise in opposition.
  The bill before us fails to address our nation's growing 
infrastructure and transportation needs, and the critical housing needs 
of the most vulnerable among us.
  On paper, it looks like the THUD allocation is nearly $1.2 billion 
higher than last year. But as we've heard, due to a discrepancy in FHA 
receipt estimates, this bill is actually $1.8 billion lower than the FY 
2014 bill.
  This means that funding for McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance grants 
falls $20 million short of what is required to prevent vulnerable 
residents from being evicted from their current housing. It also means 
federal efforts to end chronic homelessness by 2016 will be stalled, 
despite evidence homeless assistance grants have contributed to a 
significant drop in the number of homeless people with serious 
disabilities and mental illness.
  In addition, this bill does nothing to restore the 40,000 Section 8 
Housing Choice vouchers eliminated by sequester cuts. Yet the demand 
for affordable housing is acute. In Los Angeles County alone, at least 
490,340 more affordable housing units are needed to ease the housing 
burden on the county's poorest residents.
  Furthermore, this bill cuts funding for the public housing capital 
fund by $100 million to $1.775 billion, which is a level not seen since 
the 1980s. These cuts add to the already chronic capital underfunding 
of deteriorating public housing and the living conditions of the more 
than one million families who live in public housing.
  Unfortunately, the FY15 THUD bill also significantly underfunds 
critical transportation and infrastructure programs.
  The bill cuts the funding for the TIGER Grant Program by 83 percent. 
That's a $500 million cut to a crucial tool for investing in our 
nation's deteriorating transportation infrastructure. Without robust 
funding for Tiger Grants, many critical transportation projects will go 
unfunded and infrastructure needs will be unmet.
  The Federal Transit Authority's Capital Investment Grant Program is 
cut by $252 million. The program funds projects that create jobs and 
encourages future growth and sustainability for my district and for 
cities across the country. Unfortunately these cuts will severely limit 
investments in new projects and have a detrimental effect on current 
projects and jobs.
  Amtrak's capital grants program is cut by $200 million. This will 
impact both current and future projects. People rely on Amtrak to 
commute to work, shop, visit family and friends and travel to other 
cities. These cuts to critical infrastructure investments will leave my 
constituents and thousands of transit dependent Americans with limited 
and unreliable transportation.
  Transit research is cut by $28 million, or 65 percent. This is 
unacceptable and must be fixed. We have now learned that there has been 
a significant human contribution to climate change, and without more 
reliable and accessible public transportation, we will never be able to 
combat this very real and very serious problem which will negatively 
affect many generations to come.
  Mr. Chair, this bill is grossly underfunded in almost every regard. 
The programs that meet the most critical needs in our country have been 
stripped to unacceptably low levels. I urge my colleagues to support 
the people and communities who need these programs the most, and vote 
no on the FY15 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development 
Appropriations Bill.

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