Steny Hoyer: “today we consider the conference report on the Treasury, Transportation, HUD bill. That in and of itself is a remarkable…”

“today we consider the conference report on the Treasury, Transportation, HUD bill. That in and of itself is a remarkable achievement, given that in recent years the tendency has been to circumvent the established appropriation process. I want to commend Chairman Knollenberg and Ranking Democrat Olver for working diligently and cooperatively on a bill that is profoundly important to every American. We have seen much conflict over the last few days, and it is, I think, a happy event that we can come to the floor and be supportive of a bill that was worked on in a bipartisan, cooperative way; and I think that is a testament to Mr. Knollenberg and to Mr. Olver, and thanks to them as well. Now, they would agree, and we all agree, this is not a perfect conference report, hardly any conference report is, and there are limited resources. Critical social programs are hurt. Public housing, Hope VI, people with AIDS, rural housing and economic development, Community Development Block Grants, brownfields, and the HOME program all face, frankly, fewer resources than I would hope they would have. But that is the reality of the dollars that were given to Mr. Knollenberg and Mr. Olver to deal with. I am pleased that the transportation bill report includes an adjustment for our Federal civilian employees in their cost of living consistent with the pay adjustment proposed for the military personnel.…”