Providing For Consideration Of H.R. 3288, Transportation, Housing, And Urban Development, And Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010

Floor Speech

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Mr. NADLER of New York. I rise in support of the rule for the Transportation-HUD Appropriations Act, and I think that the transportation appropriation in this bill is excellent, but I'm going to focus on a different aspect of it.

I want to, in particular, thank Chairman Olver for securing more than $18 billion for tenant-based rental assistance and $8.7 billion for project-based rental assistance. This represents about $3.7 billion more than last year. This should be enough to fully fund the renewal of section 8 tenant-based and project-based rental assistance and provide $75 million for about 10,000 new incremental tenant-based vouchers for homeless veterans.

The bill also has $350 million for the Housing for People with AIDS program, also known as HOPWA, $50 million more than was appropriated last year. This is a great victory for these programs, and I applaud the chairman and the committee for their efforts to secure these badly needed resources.

I also want to thank all of my colleagues who signed on to my letter to the committee in support of increases for section 8 housing and for the HOPWA program earlier this year.

For many years, our letters were ignored and we were forced to come to the floor and offer an amendment to increase funding for section 8 housing and HOPWA, where more than not we were successful at passing amendments to increase funding for these programs. I am pleased that this year, because of the efforts of the chairman, that was not necessary for us to come to the floor with an amendment.

But I do want to recognize that the need for affordable housing will still greatly outpace the supply. During this time of economic recession, much more needs to be done. I understand the Financial Services Committee is working on legislation to reform the section 8 program and authorize 150,000 additional new vouchers, and I look forward to working with them to pass that legislation so we can more properly address the severe housing crisis by substantially increasing funding for vouchers.

Similarly, while we requested $360 million this year for the HOPWA program and $350 million is appropriated in this bill, the National AIDS Housing Coalition estimates that over $3.2 billion is required to truly meet the housing needs for all those living with HIV/AIDS.

While we could always do more when it comes to funding for section 8 and HOPWA, I recognize it is no small feat to increase funding for a program by $3.7 billion in a single year for section 8 and $350 million for HOPWA.

I commend the chairman for his leadership, and I want to thank him for his continued support for these important housing initiatives. And I also want to thank the chairman and the committee for their initiatives in the transportation field and for the funds they have brought to this.

And I want to express, while I have the opportunity, my agreement with Chairman Oberstar that it is essential that we pass, this year, a reauthorization of the transportation bill and not put it off for 18 months into the next Presidential election year cycle if we're going to start catching up to the necessity to keep our infrastructure from falling apart, and also if we're going to get some more stimulus for this economy that we so desperately need during this recession.

So I support the rule. I thank the chairman for yielding me time.

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