Rick Lazio: “I want to say to this House that we have the opportunity here to do what I think America wants to see us do, to come…”

“I want to say to this House that we have the opportunity here to do what I think America wants to see us do, to come together and to find solutions to difficult problems. They call it the American dream, this idea of homeownership, that Americans have embraced from its earliest years, the sense of a yearning for self-sufficiency and independence; for a place which they could gather their family together. I would say to this House, as important as it is that we focus on education, and we do that in this bill, as important as it is that we deal with health care or a job, if at the end of the day one does not have a place to go to to have a roof over their head, to organize their life, to bring their family together, to discuss their problems and to talk about their dreams, it is very difficult to walk down that pathway of opportunity. That is what this bill is about in the end. It is about local flexibility and empowerment.”