Bob Menendez: “it is a sad day when I am rising in support of an amendment that would provide only $60 million for this critical…”

“it is a sad day when I am rising in support of an amendment that would provide only $60 million for this critical program. But this is the situation in which we find ourselves with this bill, when priorities of the Republic budget are focused elsewhere and we are sent a budget that puts the future of our Nation's housing programs in jeopardy. While I am relieved to see the Committee has rejected the extremely unsound proposal to rescind the funding we appropriated for this current Fiscal Year, I find it hard to comprehend that this bill still provides no funding for Hope VI. Just to provide some perspective, we should realize that HOPE VI funding for the last two fiscal years combined is only roughly half of the funding level provided in 2003. I think part of the problem my colleagues have is trying to quantify the success of this program. Mr. Chairman, I understand it is very hard to see the accomplishments of this program on paper. There are not clear numbers of statistics that make it easy to put it in a bureaucratic category that proves it is ``demonstrating results.'' But Mr. Chairman, I can tell you personally of the success this program has brought, not only to communities in my district, but across the country. HOPE VI has successfully transformed some of the nation's most dilapidated public housing into revitalized mixed income communities, providing a second chance for neighborhoods that often had little or no hope of improvement.…”