We are here today because the Nation faces an affordable housing crisis.

One of the issues that's come up persistently is most of these programs, if not all of them, require interagency coordination.

And you're confident that you can get the grants out under the existing $33 million in such a way that they're ready to accommodate additional grants under your proposal this year?

We avoided that through great leadership, and particularly, Senator Collins and others.

I would like to see more oversight, though, at the local level.

We have not been keeping up with the demand. We have not made the necessary investment to keep pace with this demand.

These units are very scarce and intended for people who otherwise would be literally homeless.

That's something we could sort of find in probably every Federal agency, and that is a real, real problem.

This gap is not unique to Rhode Island. It spans the entire Nation.

But this discussion is touching upon public housing.

Thank you very much, Madam Chairman.

It amounts to what I call partial disarmament on the part of the safety regulator. That is most disturbing.

I am pleased that both houses unanimously passed the Housing Opportunity through Modernization Act. That bill made important changes to HUD programs, even created savings that allow us to either house more families or reduce the cost of…

We have been very aggressive in pushing family self-sufficiency programs, job plus programs.

I think HUD is on the right track. We're certainly anxious to see them do a little bit more.

What this country does need is investment in our airports, bridges, roads, transit systems.

In Rhode Island, nearly 42,000 households spend more than 50 percent of their income on rent.

Just last year, we were faced with another threat of cuts due to sequester in the level of defense and non-defense budget caps, and with Senator Collins' leadership particularly, we were able to push back on that and able to raise the caps…