David Price: “If there is an air of familiarity about this amendment and what the gentleman has just said about his amendment…”

“If there is an air of familiarity about this amendment and what the gentleman has just said about his amendment, listeners may want to tune in and remind themselves of virtually this same amendment being offered last week. I should begin by saying that tenant-based Section 8 housing--a program, by the way, that conservatives should love because it is market based and the tenants pay a substantial portion of their income in rent--tenant-based Section 8 housing in this bill is just barely held even, with more or less level funding. Of course, other things in the bill are treated much worse. The gentleman apparently thinks there is too much money in this bill, too much investment, with thousands on waiting lists across this country. This amendment would certainly increase those waiting lists. Now, last week, it was $614 million cut; this week, it is a $300 million cut--so not quite as many people would be evicted. This week, the gentleman is saying that the elderly and the disabled would not be evicted. Who does that leave? It leaves everybody else; it leaves working families. I ask anyone in this body to go to their local community house authority and ask about those waiting lists. Ask how many people are waiting for a roof over their head who are willing to work, willing to participate in financing, but need a leg up, the kind of support that tenant-based and project-based Section 8 represents.…”