Melvin Watt

Under my amendment, Mr. Chairman, these people would pay taxes just like everybody else because they would be receiving at least the minimum wage, so I am where the gentleman is on this. If we can get people to pay taxes, let us do it…

If we are trying to build self-esteem, give the people the money. Even if we turn around and say we are going to take the money back from them as rent, which gets them to exactly the same place that the gentleman has just articulated he…

many of the arguments that I have heard, the bartering argument, the whole range of arguments, are very, very similar to the arguments that were used to justify a system that existed in our country years ago that many of us would like to…

let me just say to the chairman of our Committee on Banking and Financial Services and for whom I have the utmost respect that every single one of the programs that he described has compensation associated with it, every single one of…

There is nothing in the self-sufficiency program at Earl Village in Charlotte, NC, that requires people to work without pay.

the gentleman is aware that under the provisions of section 105 as currently written, under section 2 on page 26 which deals with employment status and liability, the last section of that contemplates that some of the volunteer work might…

I do not want to get emotional about this. But there are some concepts in this country that we cannot wrap in the flag and hold up the flag and defend them and say, we are doing something that is uniquely American. This is not uniquely…

Mr. Chairman, I am having a little trouble following this debate because it sounds like everybody is saying the same thing, which is that we need more money. At least every once in a while I hear somebody on the other side acknowledge that…

I just want the gentleman to know I am well aware of the self-sufficiency program at Earl Village. I know it personally. Let me assure the gentleman that there is not a mandatory requirement for work without being paid. Let me assure the…

Mr. Chairman, this is not, I repeat, this is not the amendment that was printed in the Record. The amendment that was printed in the Record would have tried to amend the bill by striking out in its entirety the mandatory volunteer…

The volunteer mandate requirement is a bad idea which was wasteful. This is a wasteful idea and therefore is bad. If we are going to require local governments to do something wasteful, at least we ought to be paying for it, and that is the…

And there is no place for them to go but either public housing or to the street; what is the answer? There is nothing in this bill that is addressing that.

let me just take a minute and commend the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Davis] for the powerful words that he has spoken and for the manner in which he has spoken them. A lot of us have been involved in this debate for 2 or 3 days now, and…

So I mean what are we arguing about here? The question is are we going to give working poor people a little more help and let some people go out on the street and increase homelessness, and that is what this bill does, or are we going to…

We are all interested in finding a better solution. I think one of the things we have been hearing over and over again is this bill is so perfect we cannot do anything to it to amend it and make it better. That is a bad, bad attitude about…

my colleagues, especially those on the Republican side, have made a significant point that many of us agree on a bipartisan basis is a valid point; that we should not continuously pass along to State and local governments and entities of…

I hope the gentleman was here when we debated the mandate, the unfunded mandate amendment, and understands that to implement the plan that is in the bill, it is going to cost $65 million a year. The gentleman is aware of that.

one of the concerns I expressed, and the gentleman should know this, I understand that what the gentleman is suggesting is that they should take the children to work with them when they are doing this volunteer work. One of the serious…

Then they will come back and cite the local housing authorities for not complying with the law, because they will say, oh no, we wrote a perfect bill, and how dare they tell the Federal Government that they will not comply with the spirit…

my point is that it will vary from housing community to housing community. It is not going to be 20 percent all across the Nation.

what is magic about exempting 20 percent? Suppose it happens to be 30 or 40 percent in a particular housing project? Is there something magic or special about 20 percent?

I have made it clear from day one that I do not support this volunteer requirement. I do not know how you can require somebody to volunteer without compensation. This is not about whether I support or do not support that concept. This is…

This is not whether this is a Republican bill or a Democratic bill or a Republican amendment. The unfunded mandates requirement applies to both parties. It applies to this Congress. This is the integrity of our House that is at stake. No…

I want to make it clear what this debate tomorrow will not be about, because it really has surprised me what the general debate has tried to posture as an issue. We worked very hard in the Committee on Banking and Financial Services to try…

I do not think my colleague, the gentleman from California [Mr. Rohrabacher], could have set the table any better for my comments, because I, too, am here today to speak on behalf of the American people, and some of the principles for…