Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2014

Floor Speech

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Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Madam Chair, I thank the ranking member and I thank the chair. I would like to, if I may, compliment you and thank you for what you did with the HUD-VASH vouchers, the $75 million which is what was requested. I did join in that request, serving on Financial Services, and we share some jurisdiction with reference to the VASH vouchers. So I am appreciative, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Ranking Member, for what was done. And, of course, I respect anyone who wants to increase the amount that we accord our veterans. They have gone to distant places; and many times when they return, they don't return home to circumstances that we enjoy, and I'm eager to do all that I can to make sure that they have a place to call home when they return.

With reference to this amendment, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Ranking Member, this amendment deals with the Fair Housing Initiative Program and the Fair Housing Assistance Program. The Fair Housing Assistance Program was started in 1968, the Fair Housing Initiatives Program in 1987. They have enjoyed bipartisan support here in Congress, and the purpose of these two programs happens to be that of elimination of invidious discrimination.

Invidious discrimination does not know the boundaries that many of us assume it is limited to. We find right now that a good many of our persons who have gone to war and who are returning home have been injured. A good many of them don't return the way they left. And the truth be told, the greatest number of complaints that we have in this area of discrimination are related to persons who have disabilities. Evidence shows us we had 27,092 complaints in 2011 and 28,519 complaints in 2012. That's a 1,427 complaint increase; and disability are the greatest percentage of these complaints, with 47.1 to 55.6 percent going against persons who have disabilities.

This piece of legislation seeks to make sure that all persons--this would include our veterans who may have disabilities--have a place to call home and that they are not discriminated against. I know ``discrimination'' is not a word that we like to use. I, quite frankly, don't find favor with the word, but for making our point, we have to mention it because there are people who are suffering from it.

I would hope that we can restore FHIP to the amount that was in the original bill from the Senate, and FHAP as well. This is the Fair Housing Initiatives Program, FHIP, and the Fair Housing Assistance Program, FHAP, as they are commonly called. The bill reduces FHIP to $32.2 million, and this amendment restores it to $44.1 million, which is an $11.9 million increase. The bill reduces the Fair Housing Assistance Program to $23.4 million, and the amendment restores it to $24 million. That's a $600,000 increase, making a total of a $12.5 million increase.

It is my hope that we can find a way to accord these programs the losses they are suffering because the losses go beyond just the numbers. They impact people, and a good many of these people are our veterans.

With that, I ask the chairman if he would engage me in a colloquy.

Mr. Chairman, my assumption is that you have a point of order on this piece of legislation, the amendment, and I understand why; but I wanted to make sure that I emphasized the need to protect all persons, and I wanted to focus on our veterans tonight. My hope is that as we move forward, you and I and the ranking member can work together so that we can make sure that veterans are not the victims of invidious discrimination.

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