Emanuel Cleaver: “Let me, first of all, state the obvious. I am rising to support H.R. 4258, the Family Self-Sufficiency Act. I would like…”

“Let me, first of all, state the obvious. I am rising to support H.R. 4258, the Family Self-Sufficiency Act. I would like to thank Chairman Duffy for the spirit of bipartisanship that he has demonstrated on this and on other legislation as well; and Mr. Himes, the gentleman from Connecticut, who is managing this piece of legislation. It is also appropriate to thank the chair and the ranking member of the committee for giving their support to this piece of legislation. H.R. 4258 would make important updates to the Department of Housing and Urban Development Family Self-Sufficiency program, the FSS program, which is a voluntary program that encourages residents who use housing vouchers or who live in public housing to connect with program coordinators to create self-sufficiency plans, obtain educational resources, and pursue work opportunities. This program also creates an interest-bearing escrow account for participants that can be accessed upon graduation from the program. Money from this account can be used for job-related expenses or as savings for a home. I deviate from my written comments to say that there are a number of great stories like Tanya's that Mr. Duffy shared. As a 5-year resident of public housing when I was growing up, during that time my father was working on three jobs trying to save money for a house and to buy what became his first car.…”