OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Public Housing Disaster Relief Act of 2008

Date: June 18, 2008
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: National Security


PUBLIC HOUSING DISASTER RELIEF ACT OF 2008 -- (House of Representatives - June 18, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. CUELLAR. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Mr. Childers. I also want to thank Chairman BENNIE THOMPSON of the Homeland Security Committee and Chairman BARNEY FRANK of the Financial Services Committee, as well as Chairwoman MAXINE WATERS of the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity and our ranking members, also, for working together on this piece of legislation.

I, too, congratulate our two newest Members of the House, Congressman Cazayoux from Louisiana and Congressman Childers from my home State of Mississippi for drafting H.R. 6276.

As you know, earlier this month, Ms. Waters and I teamed up to hold a hearing examining the roles and responsibilities of HUD and FEMA in providing affordable housing to disaster victims under the direction of Chairman Frank and Chairman Thompson. During this hearing, there was confusion as to which agency is responsible for providing disaster recovery funds to public housing authorities damaged during disasters.

The Public Housing Disaster Relief Act of 2008 will strike section 9(k) of the U.S. Housing Act of 1937 clarifying the funding structure for public housing authorities in the wake of disasters. After Hurricane Katrina, housing authorities received no funds from the 9(k) account, and it's not hard to see that this account is no longer needed. In fact, this account only caused us confusion as to who is responsible for providing disaster recovery funds to public housing authorities. Let's do our part to eliminate this confusion.

This legislation, H.R. 6276, will eliminate the 9(k) account and clarify the funding structure by identifying FEMA as the responsible party for providing assistance to public housing authorities through the Stafford Act. We need to streamline government and provide services to our constituents in a more efficient and effective manner, and this is exactly what H.R. 6276 does.

So I encourage our Members, all of my colleagues, to support H.R. 6276.

Again, I congratulate both Mr. Cazayoux and Mr. Childers for bringing up this good piece of legislation.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT


Source
arrow_upward