[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 123 (Tuesday, July 18, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H3686-H3687]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




OPPOSITION TO STRIPPING FUNDING FROM THE LGBT CENTER OF GREATER READING

  (Ms. HOULAHAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Ms. HOULAHAN. Mr. Speaker, today Appropriations Committee Republicans 
struck down community project funding requests for three projects 
related to LGBTQ organizations, and one was from my community.

[[Page H3687]]

  The decision to strip this specific request from the bill, a request 
previously approved by the Transportation, Housing and Urban 
Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee is not based in 
reasoning or legitimacy, but instead on bigotry and discrimination.
  My office's selection process for Community Projects Funding is 
recognized as one of the most thorough and fair in Congress. We use an 
independent board of community leaders from our district. That means 
today the committee overrode the will of my constituents.
  My district is a vibrant community in the suburbs of Philadelphia, 
and I would venture to say that many on the committee who voted against 
this funding have never visited it. It is demonstrated in the fact that 
they couldn't pronounce the name of the city of Reading and pronounced 
it Reading.
  They have not visited the LGBT Center of Greater Reading itself like 
I have many times, and they have never seen the food pantry that helps 
those who have been rejected by their family or the warm spaces that 
welcome people in the winter and allow them a clean space to live and 
be themselves. These are basic human needs.
  On behalf of my community and on behalf of the LGBTQ community, I 
express my vehement opposition to stripping lifesaving funding from the 
LGBTQ Center of Greater Reading.

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