Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this critical legislation. I want to start by thanking my partner, Ranking Member Mario Diaz-Balart, for his collaboration and his cooperation, which have made this a better bill reflecting many bipartisan priorities which we can proudly support. Division G, the T-HUD section, represents a renewed commitment to the upgrading of our aging transportation infrastructure, addressing our Nation's affordable housing and homelessness crises, bolstering our resiliency to natural disasters and climate change, remedying inequities and disparities in our housing and transportation systems, and promoting safety--whether it be preventing carbon monoxide poisoning in public housing or improving the certification of complicated aircraft to improve aviation safety. Overall, the bill includes $84.1 billion in discretionary funding. That is an increase of nearly $8.7 billion over the fiscal year 2021 enacted level. The bill also includes major increases in contract authority for formula grant programs that draw on the highway trust fund rather than discretionary funding, and in that respect, of course, we are mirroring the INVEST in America Act recently passed by this body. On the housing side of the ledger, we are preventing the evictions of more than 4.8 million households by fully renewing all housing choice vouchers and meeting the renewal needs of several other programs.…”