Kendrick Meek: “I graciously support the amendment of my colleague, the gentlewoman from New York [Ms. Velazquez]. Like many of my…”

“I graciously support the amendment of my colleague, the gentlewoman from New York [Ms. Velazquez]. Like many of my colleagues in this body, I know from whence my colleague is coming. I know what the background is and the need for this amendment. First of all, there are some false assumptions that I need to talk about quickly. One false assumption is that people are going to have jobs. That is a false assumption. My colleague wants to take care of these people who have tried very hard to get a job but who will not have a job. If they get one, it will last only 2 or 3 months or more. The second thing the gentlewoman is trying to do is to be sure that the welfare reform bill works so that people can maintain housing and keep their quality of life going, as poor as it is. I do not want to see my colleagues put too much emphasis on the housing authorities on this bill. I have worked with them over the years. They are good people. But many times there is too much discretion in the way they make their decisions that something that you would like to see done in terms of an exemption, two-thirds of the families that we have been talking about are affected by this. I think the amendment is a good one, and I think that we cannot dictate according to circumstances all over this country how much a person should pay.”