Marilyn Musgrave: “without question, as we have heard here today, there is need in this country for affordable housing, particularly for…”

“without question, as we have heard here today, there is need in this country for affordable housing, particularly for the elderly and the disabled. But when government-financed, low-income housing is occupied by able-bodied adults who have chosen not to work, they are displacing these very people who are the most needy; the elderly, the disabled. In 1996, Congress and President Clinton agreed that able-bodied adults ought to be required to work if they are going to receive government welfare. Today the proposal that I am putting forward to amend this bill is to extend this same commonsense requirement to the new housing financed by this bill. I just want to make it very clear, Madam Speaker, this proposal does not apply to the elderly or the disabled or single parents of children under 6 years of age who are unable to find appropriate and affordable child care, in addition to many others. But I think we can realize, if you are able-bodied, capable of working or even applying for a job, then American taxpayers expect that in exchange for this taxpayer-financed housing, you will commit to at least 20 hours of work activities per month.”