Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2012

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I am pleased the Senate is now considering the fiscal year 2012 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill.

This bill has been supported by broad bipartisan majorities. The Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations subcommittee has 19 members. That is almost a fifth of the Senate. It is one of the largest subcommittees in the Senate.

Despite the diversity of views on our very large subcommittee, back on September 20, we voted unanimously to report the bill to the full Appropriations Committee. The next day members of our committee voted 28 to 2 to report the bill to the Senate.

This bill has strong bipartisan support because it addresses pragmatically the very real housing and transportation needs of families across all regions of our Nation.

We all realize that middle-class families face many challenges in these troubling economic times. Businesses across the country continue to struggle in the aftershocks of the financial and economic crisis that has rocked communities everywhere. Too many workers are struggling to get back on the job and far too many families are still fighting to stay in their homes. Yet, at the same time, our Federal Government's debt continues to grow.

Sensitive to these realities, we put together legislation that funds critical pieces of our Federal Government, while cutting spending in a responsible way. I believe this bill achieves these goals while continuing to ensure that we are investing in our future and protecting the most vulnerable among us.

It was not an easy task. The allocation for housing and transportation programs is 19 percent lower--almost $13 billion less--than the level Congress appropriated in fiscal year 2010. Believe me, the demands for the activities that are funded in this bill have not diminished. If anything, the needs have increased.

With unemployment still painfully high, poverty rates are now at their highest level in almost 20 years. This bill funds a critical piece of the safety net--housing assistance and homeless shelters--for millions of families who are one step from the street.

This bill is also a principal underwriter of the Nation's transportation network. The investments we included make it possible for people to get to work and get products to market.

Investing in our aging transportation system--our highways, aviation, and mass transit--is a key factor in making sure America can compete and win in the 21st century economy.

There are undoubtedly elements in the bill that many will not like. That was unavoidable. But Senator Collins and I had some very clear priorities, however, that guided our decisionmaking.

We wanted to invest in our transportation system, ensure that it remains safe, and protect the poor and disabled who depend on the programs in this bill to keep a roof over their heads, so the bill before the Senate includes funding to preserve the highway program at the current level of $43.7 billion. This funding will allow communities to continue improving our transportation network, while providing critical jobs.

It also includes $550 million for the highly competitive TIGER Grants Program for surface transportation projects that make a significant difference in our communities across the country.

This program has already helped finance projects in many States across this country, including in Seattle and Spokane in my home State of Washington.

This bill also provides funding to support FAA's efforts to develop its next-generation air transportation system to accommodate growth in air travel in future years. It continues Federal support for Amtrak, providing the same level of funding as in fiscal year 2011 to maintain this key element of the transportation grid.

We are also investing in transit, providing almost $2 billion to meet our commitments to communities that are improving their transit systems. These systems, as we all know, help reduce congestion and provide a critical service to those who rely on them every day to get to their jobs and home to their families.

Importantly, we continue the Federal oversight that makes travel on our Nation's air, road, and rail transportation systems the safest in the world.

The bill also provides funding to preserve rental assistance and affordable housing for the Nation's low income, including $18.9 billion for the section 8 program, which over 2 million elderly, disabled, and low-income families rely on to ensure they have a safe place to live.

For those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, we have provided $1.9 billion for homeless assistance grants. As part of this, we have included $285 million for the Emergency Solutions Grant Program, which is critical to helping the growing number of homeless or at-risk families avoid or quickly escape homelessness.

I am also very proud that we worked to include $75 million to fund over 11,000 new HUD-VA supportive housing, or HUD-VASH, vouchers.

Providing permanent housing for homeless veterans and their families, including veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, will help us achieve the goal of ending homelessness among our Nation's veterans.

The bill includes efforts to preserve and revitalize public housing, including $120 million for the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative, as well as the Rental Assistance Demonstration. These programs support innovation and collaboration, including leveraging private sector resources. In this difficult fiscal environment, these are tools we need to help protect irreplaceable public housing, which is so desperately needed throughout our country.

Finally, the bill includes $1.8 billion to provide disaster relief to communities where highways, public facilities, and other infrastructure have been damaged by flooding and other disasters.

Achieving all these goals required very difficult choices. The bill provides significantly reduced funding for high speed and intercity passenger rail grants. It also makes deep cuts to the Community Development Block Grant HOME Investment Partnership, and other programs I have long supported and I continue to believe in. It wasn't easy to make these decisions, but the real sacrifices will be felt in communities across our country.

The programs funded in our bill support important investments back home. Our constituents will be the ones to see firsthand the impact of these cuts. Unfortunately, these types of painful sacrifices were necessary within the allocation we were provided.

In summary, this bill provides assistance to those who need it most, and it directs resources in a responsible and fiscally prudent way. It is a good bill. It will help commuters, homeowners, the most vulnerable in our society, and it helps our economy.

This bill has broad bipartisan support because it takes a practical approach to addressing the real needs we find in the transportation and housing sectors. I urge all of my colleagues to support the bill and help us move it rapidly toward passage.

Before I yield, I will take a moment to specifically thank Senator Susan Collins for her hard work and partnership. This was a very difficult bill to put together. It benefited from her input and from the hard work of her and all of her staff. I thank her for that.

With that, I yield for my friend and partner, Senator Collins.

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