Barney Frank: “The gentleman is probably trying to figure out what the amendment says, and that is a hard job. I will then repeat what…”

“The gentleman is probably trying to figure out what the amendment says, and that is a hard job. I will then repeat what he said to me, which is, and read this, this I do know, "it is for New Orleans only." Now, we could not amend it for the whole area. What about Mississippi? I mean, was the gentleman afraid that if he included Mississippi, the gentleman, Mr. Taylor, would challenge him to come to Mississippi? I think the gentleman from Louisiana has already been to Mississippi. He wouldn't have to change his travel plans the way the gentleman from Georgia would have. Why should only people who have suffered this enormous trauma, who live in New Orleans, be subjected to a special set of rules? By the way, we will send the Members long lists of rules already on the books, statutory and regulatory, that prevent public housing authorities from allowing people with criminal records to come in. You have the "one strike" situation where they can be easily evicted. So this does not add, as nearly as we can tell, to the restriction on letting people in. To the extent that it imposes a greater work requirement, we are talking about people whose homes were destroyed, whose jobs may have been washed away, who may be trying to find additional housing.”