Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2019

Floor Speech

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Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I have to agree with my colleagues today. This is not the bill that the House approved or that has everything that we have worked on our subcommittee to get into law to help fund those programs that are so vital to families at home and across this country, but we are here today trying to get the Senate to accept ``yes'' for an answer, because what is critical is that we reopen government.

President Trump is holding 800,000 Federal employees hostage, and that ripples out to millions of Americans who rely on government not just for a paycheck, but for those critical services, whether they are border security or TSA agents, the FBI, food programs, or vital housing and transportation services.

Specifically, the Federal Housing Administration has stopped processing loans and mortgage approvals, putting families trying to buy a new home or refinance an FHA-insured mortgage into financial limbo.

I heard a story of one woman who is battling cancer. She has not been able to earn an income, and refinancing her home was the key way that she could continue to have this battle and get the treatments that she needs and give her family the money to survive and meet their basic needs. With the closing of FHA, she is unable to get those documents and be able to refinance her house.

This shutdown is also threatening to destabilize more than 4 million households that depend on HUD's rental assistance programs.

The phones are ringing off the hook in my office in D.C. and back home in Massachusetts. We heard just this week from a retired Federal employee from Natick who called because she lives in affordable housing and is required to prove her income to renew her lease.

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Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, she cannot obtain the statement from OPM regarding her pension right now because they are closed. This jeopardizes her living situation.

We must reopen government and then resolve our differences about how we address border security. Passage of this bill is a critical first step.

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