[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 89 (Thursday, June 4, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E839]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  TRANSPORTATION, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES 
                        APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2016

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 3, 2015

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2577) making 
     appropriations for the Departments of Transportation, and 
     Housing and Urban Development, and related agencies for the 
     fiscal year ending September 30, 2016, and for other 
     purposes:

  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Chair, I rise today to oppose this appropriations 
measure--and to oppose the policies that it embodies.
  The THUD bill before us, like all of the non-defense appropriations 
measures being drafted by my Republican colleagues, adheres to the 
budget caps set under sequestration, which require cuts in BOTH non-
defense and defense discretionary programs.
  My Republican colleagues have decided that applying these caps to the 
defense side of the ledger, where the budget authority appropriated by 
Congress for discretionary programs topped $560 billion in fiscal year 
2015, is intolerable.
  However, they have decided that these cuts are not only acceptable on 
the non-defense side of the ledger, they are inadequate, and so the 
Republicans' budget plan would impose additional cuts over and above 
those required under sequestration.
  Mr. Chair, what is intolerable is failing to invest in our own 
nation.
  The Republicans' unmistakable budget priority is to disinvest in the 
United States, and that objective is clearly reflected in the THUD bill 
before us.
  Let me tell you about the people who are suffering the consequences 
of this disinvestment.
  They are people just like Freddie Gray.
  Mr. Chair, the eyes of this nation saw Freddie Gray only after he was 
dead.
  They didn't see him when he was reading from text books that were 30 
years old.
  They didn't see him when he was suffering from asthma because of 
exposure to lead paint in his home.
  And they didn't see him when he couldn't find a job.
  There are tens of millions of Americans who are facing the same deep 
and systemic economic challenges today in cities and towns across this 
nation.
  These Americans have watched employers leave their communities and 
have been left with substandard schools, few job training options, and 
no path to the better future they want for themselves and their 
families.
  They have been intentionally targeted by leading banks to receive 
subprime mortgages, or have been left to obtain financial services from 
liquor stores and pawn shops when banks closed in their neighborhoods 
because their communities were deemed ``unprofitable.''
  They are people who are working full-time jobs at the minimum wage--
but are still left below the poverty line.
  They are the millions who are tired of being tired.
  Anyone who sees these people should find the bill before us today 
intolerable.
  This bill does nothing to restore the funding cut in past years from 
the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program.
  As a result of these cuts, the CDBG award amount to Baltimore has 
fallen from $27 million in federal program year 2005 to just $18.8 
million in federal program year 2014. Baltimore officials have 
indicated to me that they will be unable to fund any new non-profit 
social service activities in calendar year 2016.
  City officials indicated to me that among the requests they cannot 
fund was a request for $187,000 to help provide legal assistance for 
300 households facing foreclosure.
  This is particularly devastating in my state, which continues to have 
one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation, and where many of 
the people now facing foreclosure are the very people illegally 
targeted by banks to receive subprime loans.
  The bill before us also cuts funding for the maintenance and repair 
of public housing, cuts the Choice Neighborhoods program, and fails to 
provide the funding requested by the President to restore the more than 
60,000 housing vouchers lost due to sequestration.
  According to the Baltimore City housing authority, there are tens of 
thousands of people waiting for housing assistance in our city. And 
that's just one city in this nation.
  This bill even cuts funding--by 30%--for lead hazard abatement. 
Baltimore City has one of the highest rates of children testing 
positive for elevated lead levels among urban centers in the United 
States, and the highest rates are in the lowest income neighborhoods.
  As I've walked Baltimore's streets in the weeks since Freddie Gray's 
death, I have met countless young people who want exactly what every 
child in this nation wants.
  They want a safe place to live. They want a good school. They want a 
way to fulfill the promise they feel in themselves.
  And they want to know their lives matter--a right deserved by every 
American, not just the privileged few.
  The President has already indicated he would veto this bill--so 
rather than wasting time on it, why don't we craft a new budget 
framework that will ensure every American has the chance to succeed?

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