Date: 1983-03-03
Speaker: ST GERMAIN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. the emergency jobs and assistance package is one small step for -the unemployed. It wi be a step toward recovery if it is followed by a fullscale effort to attack the causes of unemployment and if a major effort is launched to revitalize the economy from the grassroots up. For those of us who tried desperately to sound the alarm when the Reagan administration pushed the economy down the icy supply side slopes in 1981. it is gratifying to see. at long last. a semblance of bipartisan recognition of problems that have been all too apparent to the people for all too long. I hope that the "bipartisanship" does not fade when the tougher economic Issues come before us. Faced with a timetable designed to move assistance quickly. the Appropriations Committee is to be commended for pulling together this package. It is a start which will signal that this Congress will not sit idly by and allow the unemplolyed and the disadvantaged to sink further into the swamp of hopelessness created by this administration. It is a beginning on which we can build a true recovery. We on the Banking Committee are especially pleased to see an acceleration of funding for community development and urban development action grants and additional money for weatherization of. homes of lowincome families. The legislation provides $1.250.000.000 for community development grants. which is estimated to provide for 80.000 jobs. and to insure that jobs are created quickly the committee provided that these funds would be distributed within 30 days of enactment. The legislation also provides $150.000.000 for weatherizationso important to Rhode Island and the Northeast. Certainly. the Appropriations Committee should be commended for reordering priorities which will now allow funding for nutrition programs for women and children and money for local nonprofit agencies to provide food and shelter for jobless people. The small business community has been devastated by the administrations policiesparticularly high interest and tight moneyand the committee wisely included funds for direct loans to small businesses. I am also pleased that some additional funding is in the bill to upgrade Amtrak in the Northeast and to improve mass transit facilities. And certainly. no one can argue against the need to do more in the area of summer jobs for youths where the unemployment levels are staggering. As soon as phase 1this first stepmoves we must go back to work on programs to attack jobless problems and to set in motion actions which will move the economy forward. The Banking. Finance and Urban Affairs Committee. for example. has a number of initiatives. These include: First. housing stimulus. particularly for low- and moderateincome units. We need the units and the jobs which are produced throughout the economy when the housing industry revives. Second. emergency programs. to "work out" and limit foreclosures on homes of families who have been hit by unemployment in the current economic crisis. The Appropriations Committee bill before us today includes administrative funds for a "foreclosure forbearance" program. The Banking Committee is currently working on authorizing legislation to provide assistance to families who face the loss of their homes because of economic conditions Ieyond their control. Third.. amendments to the Defense Production Act which would provide funds to train. retain. and upgrade skills of workers and creation of a National Development Bank to provide funding for job producing industries. Fourth. efforts to push for lower interest rates and a fair flow of credit to small businesses. jobproducing industries. homebuyers. and simlar areas starved by funds in recent years. This includes a hard look at credit controls and an effort to upgrade the reporting and economic targeting by the Federal Reserve. These are a few of the areas in which the Banking Committee will move during this Congress. As I promised the House in December. we intend to explore every niche of the committees jurisdiction to discover what can be done to push the economy forward and to provide jobs. We must regard todays action as a beginning. as a start on the long road to economic sanity and stability. as a signal of hope to the millions who were forgotten in the great economic experiment of the past 2 years.e