David Price: “I claim the time in opposition with considerable enthusiasm. It is as though what I said 5 minutes ago about the…”

“I claim the time in opposition with considerable enthusiasm. It is as though what I said 5 minutes ago about the deficiencies of this bill--this whole budget strategy that has left us so unable to address our needs--it is as though the gentleman took that and went in exactly the opposite direction. His amendment reduced an allocation that is already far too low, and it takes these rental assistance programs and reduces them further. Not only does it not meet the need that we are seeing but actually reduces what we are already doing. This means evictions. I promise you, it means large-scale evictions. It means a cutting back in communities across this country of the housing alternatives that people have. I have always thought, Mr. Chairman, that rental assistance--Section 8--should be a housing program that conservatives should love because it is market-based. It is not, contrary to what the gentleman says, a total free ride. As a matter of fact, people pay a third of their income in rent. What Section 8 provides is a modest boost so that these housing developments and these apartment buildings can work. People can live there. They put their own money in, and they get a boost. They are able to move toward self-sufficiency. So it is not public housing. It is housing for people who are able to do more for themselves and who are receiving support as they do that. This would be unconscionable to cut this program further.…”