Date: 1983-04-19
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

I thank the distinguished gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman. I have watched dillgently as this legislation has progressed through the subcommittee and the committee. and I want to pay a very sincere commendation to the distinguished gentleman from Texas who has been foremost in espousing this legislation. Mr. Chairman. and my colleagues listening to me. I come to you in very sincere and frank support of this legislation. I am well aware of those who oppose the legislation. and perhaps they have legitimate reasons. I do not know. I come to you from the people. It is often said and tradition is that this is the peoples House. and we as Members of the House are but one weekend away from touching the flesh or visiting with your constituency. All of us do that. My area of Texas is suffering tremendous unemployment. in some counties 50 to 60 percent. We are endowed by nature. It is a very bountiful area. it is a very beautiful area of Texas. But the availability of income. of inflow of money. is very difficult. especially for those who are in the lower echelons of income. The distinguished gentlewoman who spoke before me mentioned the American dream. And if I might continue on that theme and borrow from her. we find ourselves in a situationand I am not blaming anyone or saying this administrationbut somehow in America we have deteriorated into a situation where receiving assistance has been made into a dirty word. The fraud and abuse in food stamps. my colleagues. has sort of taken the forefront of those who would demean anyone who. because of no reason but the unfortunate situation of not having adequate employment. is subjected to having to receive assistance. And so we. the Government. the people. I say unworthy of a nation of the stature of this one. have made it appear or have allowed people to have the perception that to be poor or to have no. money is somehow unAmerican. is somehow unworthy. that someone has failed to assist each other. Well. let me tell the Members something. There is one thing I disagree with. I think that this country is powerful enough. And we worry about billions and billions of dollars. of whether you are going to run the MX down the track or put in in a hole or put it in the Rayburn Garageprobably that would be the place where it would be the most difficult to findbut when we are doing that. somehow we are chastising the poor person. the family that is subjected to receive a few dollars in food stamps. Well. what I would like to tell the Members is that in my area of Texas. no one is going to go hungry. The culture and the custom and the tradition is that you move in with your next relative. with your next relative. Somehow you can pick upno one is going to shoot you for getting a head of cabbage or some carrots. you go to the packing shed. you go to the farmer. We will eat. Where it strikes the American dream is. the inflow of money. I will give you one concrete example. and if I speak for anyone. I guess I speak for this couple. The lady works diligently 8. 10. 12 hours a day in a beauty parlor. in a beauty shop. The man worked for a railroad. and they were getting along with a couple of children. and they bought a house. they bought a house because this is the American dream. they bought a modest house. one that they could afford the payment on. He was laid off by the railroad. The man now does a little yard work here. he works by the day. But there is no way they can pick up the balance to pay on that house. It is no fault of his own. He had a good job with the railroad. Those are highpaying jobs. union protected. Nonetheless. he was laid off. When his unemployment goes. that is it. They had to turn the house back. they had to give it back to the savings and loan. And so will people have to do outside of this legislation. Of course. you have to do that with a car. with a television set. With the amenities of the poor. with the dream that is America to everyone who wants to come. therefore. if we. under what I perceive to be a legitimate function of government. if we sa.y we will give you a helping hand. we will be investing. we will be investing in the American dream for all of those who came through the years and through the years. so that this one thing that is America to them. that which differentiates us from most of the civilized world. and I think that regardless of the associations. or whoever says that things could - be well handled under this matter or that matter. the fact is that it has not been done. And this couple had no other solution except to give this house back. When they give that house backand I do not want to sound poetic or get overly sentimentalthey are burying a little bit of America that is in their hearts and that is in their souls. And if we can do one thing to save one couple from bearing the brunt of that hurt that they will no longer have a house they can call their own for themselves and for their children. we are not losing a part of the American dream. as was so eloquently stated by the gentlewoman before us. I think it is worthy of this House to give the necessary assistance to save that dream. to save America and to save that which is the last bastion of freedom in the world where one can aspire to own his own house.