Rick Lazio: “We judge, we make the judgments, but we do not live with the consequences of those judgments. We can send out a press…”

“We judge, we make the judgments, but we do not live with the consequences of those judgments. We can send out a press release and think we have done something very important. We can take care of a political constituency. But who is watching out for the people in public housing? Obviously, nobody, for the people living in 200,000 units that are supervised by some of the most dysfunctional corrupt housing authorities in America. For 17 years people have tolerated the failure, have tolerated the fact that these buildings are poorly maintained, they are infested in many cases with drugs and crime. Who cares about them? We are debating pets right now. I want to ask, where were some of these voices in outrage when people were trapped in poverty, when families could not transition back to the marketplace, where halls are sealed off so drug dealers can make their deals in the hallways, and people cannot move through? Mr. Chairman, we are talking about putting pets back in the hands of people where we have mixed populations.”