Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I call up the Collins-Kirk substitute amendment No. 3896.
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Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I am pleased to begin the Senate debate on the fiscal year 2017 appropriations bill for Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies.

This bill funds many programs that are essential to the American people. Let me begin by thanking the committee chairman, Senator Cochran, and the vice chairwoman, Senator Mikulski, for their leadership in advancing this bill.

I also want to pay a special thank-you and acknowledge the hard work and commitment of Senator Jack Reed, the ranking member of the subcommittee. The two of us have worked together so closely in drafting this bill, and we have worked to incorporate the recommendations of more than 70 Senators from both sides of the aisle.

This bill targets limited resources to programs that meet our most essential transportation and housing needs. It makes vital investments in our Nation's transportation infrastructure, providing $16.9 billion for the Department of Transportation to support much needed upgrades to our roads, bridges, seaports, railroads, transit systems, and airports.

The bill will also provide $39.2 billion for the Department of Housing and Urban Development to meet the housing needs of low-income, disabled, and older Americans, to shelter the homeless, and to create jobs in our communities through economic development programs.

I want to underscore for our colleagues that we have met these essential needs in a fiscally responsible manner. Our bill is $827 million below the current enacted funding levels, and $2.9 billion below the President's budget request. We have also ignored gimmicks in the President's budget request that would shift more than $7 billion in transportation programs from discretionary to mandatory spending.

The bill before us is critical to meeting the vast needs of our Nation's crumbling infrastructure. The TIGER Program is an example of a valuable program that helps do just that. We provide $525 million for this oversubscribed program, which supports not only much needed infrastructure projects but also helps to create jobs and boost economic development in every one of our home States.

The need for the TIGER Program is demonstrated by the statistics. Last year, 625 applicants from all 50 States and territories requested nearly $10 billion in assistance illustrating the need for and the popularity of this vital program. To maintain our Nation's airspace and ensure that it remains the safest in the world, $16.4 billion is provided to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Funding is increased to continue to modernize the Nation's air traffic control system, support the research and safe integration of unmanned aircraft systems into the airspace, and to help improve our Nation's airport infrastructure.

Consistent with the FAST Act, which we passed at the end of last year, $44 billion is made available for the Federal-Aid Highway Programs, including the new freight program and the FASTLANE grant for critical freight and highway projects. I also want to highlight several safety-related provisions included in our bill that will enhance the safety of commercial motor carrier vehicles.

Regrettably, the Department of Transportation has continued to delay its proposed rule on speed governors which will improve safety on our Nation's roadways by preventing commercial trucks and busdrivers from speeding. Once again, our bill requires the Department to issue the proposed rule expeditiously since the Department has already missed the deadline established in last year's omnibus funding bill by Congress.

The growth of autonomous vehicle technologies, or driverless cars, has led the Department to reexamine existing regulations and policies that could affect the safe deployment of these vehicles. Our bill provides additional funding to ensure the safe deployment of autonomous vehicles onto our Nation's roadways and to reduce the cyber security vulnerabilities in their electronics.

The bill also builds on the critical infrastructure investments for rail, providing $50 million for railway safety grants to address the serious and troubling problem of rail accidents. Additional funding is provided to help address the substantial backlog of rail infrastructure needing repair.

For housing programs, this bill provides sufficient funding to renew all existing rental assistance for section 8, for public housing, elderly, and disabled housing programs. The Appropriations Committee continues to face constraints that required us to make difficult decisions regarding funding at a time when resources are limited under the 2015 budget agreement.

Our priority is to ensure that our Nation's most vulnerable individuals and families do not lose assistance that prevents many of them from being at risk of homelessness. Therefore, the bill provides necessary funding to keep pace with the rising cost of housing to these families who might otherwise become homeless.

It is important that rental assistance supports those who truly need it. However, we are aware of a recent HUD inspector general report that found that more than 25,000 households had incomes in excess of qualifying limits. We don't have extra money available to pour into households where the individuals don't meet the eligibility requirements. In response to this finding by the IG, we have included language prompting HUD to update its regulations that ensure there is a process in place to identify and transition such households out of public housing when it is appropriate.

The transportation-housing appropriations bill faces challenges stemming from these unavoidable increases for rental assistance for low-income families and disabled and elderly individuals. In fact, rental assistance alone consumes more than half of our subcommittee's allocation and is a shocking 84 percent of HUD's budget. That makes funding other important needs difficult.

Nevertheless, Senator Reed and I share a passion about reducing and ending homelessness. Therefore, we have included $2.33 billion for homeless assistance grants, and we have also managed to make critical investments to reduce homelessness among our veterans and our youth.

To further help homeless young people, we provided $40 million in grants that are targeting this underserved population. Additionally, to better support youth who are exiting the Foster Care Program, the system includes $20 million for family unification vouchers and makes changes to this program to improve its effectiveness. I know many Members share our concern that young people who age out of the Foster Care Program should have--must have--somewhere safe to go.

For our Nation's homeless veterans, the bill provides $57 million, including $7 million to serve our Native American veterans living on tribal lands. Despite the administration once again this year proposing to eliminate this program, the subcommittee continues to provide funding, recognizing that while we are making progress--veterans homelessness has decreased by 36 percent since the year 2010--we have yet to reach the goal of ending homelessness among our veterans. As the percentage of homeless veterans continues to decrease, less funding will be needed.

Senator Reed played an absolutely essential role in another important issue that we address in this bill; that is, the presence of lead paint in homes, which is of particular concern to families with children under the age of 6. Our bill requires HUD to expeditiously complete its rulemaking to update its lead standards based on the most current CDC guidelines, an action Senator Reed and I requested in a February letter to the HUD Secretary.

While this bill helps families in need, it also recognizes the hardships local communities are facing. Boosting local economies is critical to job creation and helping families obtain financial security. Thus, our bill supports local development efforts by providing $3 billion through the Community Development Block Grant Program and $950 million through the HOME Program.

These programs support the development of affordable housing and other infrastructure projects, which again promote economic development and lead to job creation in ways that allow local communities to tailor the programs to meet their specific needs.

The bill before us does not solve every problem facing our transportation system or our housing program. We simply don't have the money to do that, even if we had a higher allocation in this era of very high debt. This is a fiscally responsible bill, and it is a bill that sets and reflects important priorities. I very much appreciate the opportunity to present this legislation to the Chamber as we begin the debate on the Transportation-HUD appropriations bill.

I urge my colleagues to consider the careful balance struck by the compromises and the negotiations our committee worked so hard to achieve. Again, I thank the ranking member for being such an extraordinary partner as we sought to write this very important bill.

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