Political Quotes

“These are two companion bills. It has been good working with her. My hope is that we not only pass both these bills today unanimously but that we actually get the Senate to act. There is nothing more shameful than a homeless, disabled American veteran, one who has lost a limb defending us and now living on the streets. There are two programs to focus on that are designed to provide housing for the unhoused. The De La Cruz bill, which I was proud to be the chief Democratic advocate of, dealt with the CDBG program. This bill deals with a joint program between HUD and the veterans administration, HUD and the VA, and that is why the bill's title spells out HUDVA. The issue, again, is how do we define income for eligibility for housing. Certainly we should change that definition when it applies to veterans' housing for veterans on veterans' land. The worst thing we could do is exclude disabled veterans. This is particularly true because perhaps the most significant parcel that this will affect is in my district, and it is the largest VA hospital in the West. What better place for disabled veterans to live when they need often hospital care than to live right there at the hospital. This bill amends the HUD definition of annual income to exclude disability payments received by a veteran for eligibility purposes for housing under the HUDVA Supportive Housing program.…”