James A. Leach: “with reservation I rise today in support of this conference report. Mr. Speaker, let me begin by offering my…”

“with reservation I rise today in support of this conference report. Mr. Speaker, let me begin by offering my appreciation to the gentleman from California [Mr. Lewis], my friend and colleague, as well as the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Stokes], the ranking member, for their work in completing what is clearly a strong bipartisan agreement. I would also like to thank the gentleman from New York [Mr. Lazio], chairman of the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, for his exceptional work in helping craft a solution to the problem of expiring section 8 multifamily housing contracts. The dedication of the gentleman from New York and the gentleman from California [Mr. Lewis] to sound housing and community development policy is a credit to their respective chairmanships. Mr. Speaker, so there is no misunderstanding, current section 8 programming symbolizes Congress being placed by prior Congresses in a catch-22 where good public intentions have, in too many cases, crossed wires with imperfect private sector motivations, which in turn have been exacerbated by unrealistic legislation. The deferred obligations implicit in section 8 housing present Congress with an untenable choice: Either walk away from projects that serve hundreds of thousands of needy people, many of whom are elderly, or accept funding obligations far in excess of those originally conceived.”