Barney Frank: “I thank the gentleman from Washington. I urge Members to vote for this bill, although my enthusiasm is tempered. As I…”

“I thank the gentleman from Washington. I urge Members to vote for this bill, although my enthusiasm is tempered. As I contemplate this bill, I think of the words of a former great Member of this body, a former Speaker of the House from my home State, the late John McCormack, who, not wanting to offend House rules, referred to one of his colleagues as someone whom he held in ``minimum high regard.'' That's essentially what I think about this bill. I thank my colleague from Massachusetts (Mr. Olver) for the good work he did on an important provision that means a lot to public housing in Massachusetts involving federalization. I appreciate the increase in the FHA being maintained so the people who live in the areas I represent and in California and elsewhere are not discriminated against. So, for that, I am grateful. But there is a serious flaw in the bill in two areas, or there are two serious flaws in one area each. The HUD budget is good in that federalization but severely lacking. I regret the fact that we will be spending more on community development and building important institutions in Afghanistan than we are in America. And even more important is the issue that the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr) mentioned. It is incredible to me that my Republican colleagues brought out of their subcommittee a bill that would give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission less money this year in the coming year than it got this year.…”