Rick Lazio: “I just wanted to make some points in reflection with respect to the comments of the gentleman from California, my…”

“I just wanted to make some points in reflection with respect to the comments of the gentleman from California, my friend, Mr. Lewis. It is in fact true that it takes some time to develop these projects. As Mr. Lewis said, it takes 18 months, sometimes as long as 36 months to spend. That time is very long, as much as 10 percent of the spending in any one year. This is a bricks and mortar provision. Also with respect to the area that we are taking this out of, it is not contract renewals, it is an amendment provision where we will still leave enough money in this area that it is over the 1996 appropriated level. I also would like to note within this contract renewal portion, last year HUD received $4.4 billion. In the end, they rescinded, because it was unspent, $477 million, meaning that their guess was off by over 10 percent. We are asking for $140 million to help our most vulnerable citizens, our seniors, the elderly and the disabled. It seems entirely appropriate, given the fact that these numbers have been off by this extent, that this modest amendment is supported.”