[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15619-15620]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              STOP HURTING THE PEOPLE WE CAME HERE TO HELP

  (Mr. CARTWRIGHT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

[[Page 15620]]


  Mr. CARTWRIGHT. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I received this letter from 
Lori Sywensky. She wrote:

       As a Commissioner of the Northhampton County, Pennsylvania, 
     Housing Authority, I wanted to make you aware that the 
     County's Housing Authority issued layoff notices today to 
     over half of its staff members because of financial 
     uncertainty created by the government shutdown.
       The next pay period would be payable on November 1, 2013, 
     and since we cannot assure that there will be sufficient 
     funds to honor that payroll, it has been determined that 
     there is no legal choice other than to shut down operations 
     of the Housing Choice Voucher Program and effect a temporary 
     layoff beginning on Monday, October 14, 2013.
       If not resolved soon, over 500 landlords will next be 
     notified by the Housing Authority that rent payments will not 
     be issued, resulting in lost income for them and potential 
     eviction for 637 families.

  That is what she wrote.
  Mr. Speaker, isn't it time we stopped hurting the people we came here 
to help?

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