Date: 2007-03-20
Speaker: AL GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. please permit me to take just a moment to thank the chairperson of the Financial Services Committee. Mr. FRANK. I am so honored to have the opportunity to serve under his leadership. There are many persons who are great managers. Great managers are concerned about doing things right. but I want you to know that our leader is concerned about doing the right thing. and I am honored that he is the chairperson of our committee. I also want to thank the subcommittee chairperson Chairwoman WATERS. She has gone to Louisiana on many occasions. and Mississippi. She has held one hearing there where she was Chair. and she attended another hearing wherein she was a ranking member. And in attending these hearings. she did more than sit in a physical location and listen to people talk. She actually went to the housing complexes. She actually talked to persons who were living in the apartments. the units. and in so doing. she gained a greater understanding of what is actually taking place in the lives of the people who have been displaced. So I thank her for all that she has done. I also thank the Members of the minority who attended. I am greatly appreciative that they were there and showed great interest in what was happening to the people from Louisiana who have moved to other locations as well as those who are trying to move back. And finally I thank the staff. The staff has done an outstanding job in helping us to put this legislation together. They are to be commended. We do a lot of things. but we do most of them because we have good staff. and I thank them. Mr. Chairman. Hurricane Katrina. one of the greatest natural disasters of our time. has caused us to confront one of the greatest domestic issues of our time. And the question that we have to confront is how does the richest country in the world treat the poorest victims of one of the worlds greatest disasters? The richest country in the world. the country where 1 out of every 110 persons is a millionaire. how does it treat persons who are among the least. the last. and the lost who have suffered as a result of a natural disaster? With all due respect given to my chairman. I dont want to get into the war. but a country wherein $177 million is being spent not per year. not per month. not per week. but per day on the war. how does this country. the richest in the world. treat the least. the last. and the lost when they have suffered a natural disaster? I am proud to say that our response to Hurricane Katrina has taught me that in times of disaster. Americans of goodwill want to see that no American. to borrow a cliche. is left behind. Communities across the length and breadth of this country opened their arms. their homes. their hearts to the Katrina survivors. From financial services institutions to nonprofits. from apartment owners to homeowners. we answered the clarion call for help. understanding in a sacred sense that but for the grace of God there go I. However. I also understand and I have learned in a secular sense that HUD. not FEMA. is best suited to meet the mid- to longterm needs of disaster victims. In fact. a White House report from February of 2006. styled "Lessons Learned" indicates that HUD was mistakenly not engaged in the housing response until late in the effort. It also indicates that HUD has expertise in providing the longterm housing needs that these victims so desperately need. It further indicates and recommends that HUD be designated the lead Federal agency for providing temporary housing. FEMA. the Federal Emergency Management Agency. by definition should not. should not manage longterm housing needs. Today. more than 18 months after Katrina. more than 120.000 households are still receiving FEMA assistance. More than 37.000 households are still receiving FEMA rental assistance. It is past time. Mr. Chairman. to get the Federal Emergency Management Agency out of the Katrina longterm housing crisis. and it is time that we put the Housing and Urban Development program in charge. Why is there a longterm Katrina housing crisis? Because the vast majority of all families receiving FEMA rental assistance have extremely low incomes and are disabled and/or elderly. Why is there a longterm Katrina rental housing crisis? Because of the Katrina survivors receiving rental assistance. 7 in 10 households have annual incomes below $15.000 per year. because more than half of the monthly incomes are $750 or less. because more than 44 percent have health care problems that *ill impact their abilities to work. How has FEMA responded to this housing crisis? By moving real people with real problems from one deadline to another deadline. The section 403 rental program alone speaks volumes. The deadline for section 403 moved from March 1. 2006. to March 30. 2006. to May .31. 2006. to June 30. 2006. to July 31. 2006. to August 30. 2006. It is time to end the deadlines and extend a lifeline to only those who are eligible for HUD assistance. This amendment. I believe my friends on the other side should really love this amendment because it provides assistance to the people that dont have a place to return home to. and I think that is what my friends are indicating we should do. This amendment extends section 408 rental housing assistance until the end of this year. Further. it would help the families who are eligible for section 8 rental vouchers to get section 8 rental vouchers. And as soon as a family becomes ineligible for section 8 rental vouchers. then the family would cease to get the vouchers. and the vouchers would cease to exist. This amendment also allows persons living in FEMA trailers who are eligible to receive section 8 vouchers to receive section 8 rental vouchers. Again. they must be eligible to receive the vouchers to. in fact. acquire the section 8 vouchers. This amendment is supported by over 50 notforprofits and other agencies. It has a zero direct impact on spending. It has a budget score of zero. And I think it is time for us to end the deadline. extend the timeline. and extend longterm rental assistance only to those persons who are eligible to receive it. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time.