Barney Frank: “I have to say to my friend with all sincerity, invoking the President is not an argument. Invoking the President, with…”

“I have to say to my friend with all sincerity, invoking the President is not an argument. Invoking the President, with whom you are free to disagree and disagree frequently, the fact that the gentleman coincide on this one, as the gentleman understands, is not an argument. It does not go to the merits. Second, I have to say I am sorry to hear the gentleman talk about, oh, it is going to be money down a rathole. In some few places, yes. Nobody here is contesting the strengthening of HUD's ability to take over housing projects. We are all for that. But I will tell the gentleman that I have been to many of the housing authorities in my district and elsewhere, and they are well run; they are not ratholes, and giving them more money is not pouring money down a rathole. The gentleman knows that.”