Providing for Consideration of H.R. Women's Health Protection Act of Providing for Consideration of H.R. National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year Providing for Consideration of H.R. Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act; and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me the time. I also am most appreciative to the members of the Rules Committee, who have devoted an inordinate amount of time to bringing this legislation to the floor.

I am also appreciative for the consideration of three amendments that we will have in the NDAA.

Our first amendment, Homes for Heroes, requires the Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as public housing agencies, to improve consideration of and reporting on the status of veterans.

Friends, outside of my office in Houston, there is an overpass. There are persons living under that overpass, some of whom claim to be veterans.

We need to know what is happening to our veterans in this country. We want to make sure everybody is given equal opportunities and equal access to the opportunities that we have in this country. But I especially am concerned about the veterans because, quite frankly, it hurts my heart to hear someone say, ``I served my country, risked my life,'' and we find them sleeping under bridges. This will give us an opportunity to get more information on what is happening to them.

The second amendment is the Universal Residential Loan Application. This amendment will require housing enterprises to include a military service question on the Universal Residential Loan Application in a prominent position on the form.

This is done because many of our veterans are not aware of the VA loans that are available to them, and we want to make sure that before they sign that loan application, they understand that there are other opportunities available to them.

We also have an amendment that will deal with our merchant mariners. This amendment requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to distribute a payment to the U.S. merchant marines who engaged in qualified service during World War II and who have not received their just desserts, in the sense of something positive, for something that they did for this country.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, finally, the private student loan borrowers amendment, I am a cosponsor of this amendment with Representative Alma Adams. This would extend the private student loan forbearance period to January 31, 2022, citing the COVID-19 pandemic as the rationale.

I think these amendments are exceedingly important. They are in this NDAA, and I will be supporting it in large part because these amendments are there, as well as for other reasons that I have not been able to discuss today.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source