Thank you for your testimony today. Thank you for your partnership with this committee.

I look forward to getting a top line agreement in the next month allowing us to develop a balanced bipartisan bill that recognizes our country's serious housing challenges.

Buy American has been the law of the land since 1933, but for far too long, past Administrations have found a way to get around it. Not anymore.

But this progress will end if we enact the House Majority proposal to return to 2022 funding levels.

I know you appreciate the importance of infrastructure and housing in your home State, and we have already talked about some of these priorities.

When you get into these rural communities, just think about how many reservations and tribal lands we have that have no running water, no plumbing. That should not happen in this America.

This is not a climate policy question, right. That is not the jurisdiction of this committee.

It'd be one thing if we're having a conversation about fiscal discipline or whatever it is, but the way to exert fiscal discipline is to have a program, have accountability not just to spend the money after a bunch of suffering.

The Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program created by Vice Chair Collins has reduced the number of homeless youth by 25 percent since 2017.

The HUD VASH Program created by Chair Murray has cut veterans' homelessness by nearly 55 percent since 2009.

I think the rest of us, you know, living in the real world, when you have a disaster in your home state or your hometown, you understand we're going to spend this money anyway to provide disaster relief.

We just want your agency to work better and I know you do, too.