Roland Gutierrez: “this amendment restores Brownfields appropriations to the current $25 million level by transferring $5 million from…”

“this amendment restores Brownfields appropriations to the current $25 million level by transferring $5 million from NASA's Human Space Flight account into HUD's Brownfields Redevelopment account. In fiscal year 2000, the very least we should do is maintain this year's spending levels for programs that generate jobs and help neighborhoods in other important ways. Instead, H.R. 2684 gouges appropriations, including over half a billion dollars for public housing funds in order to meet Congress's self-imposed budget caps and to fund an enormous tax cut. My amendment seeks to reprioritize our budget by putting people first. In other words, we should cut the least from programs that directly help people. This initiative is one that will deliver the kinds of jobs and development needed desperately by these distressed towns and urban neighborhoods; and it is called the Brownfields Redevelopment, a small, modest, cost-effective program that should not be made smaller. Brownfields' goal is to return contaminated sites to productive, employment-generating uses.”