Burgess Owens: “I think it has been a bad week for mothers and a bad week for families and a bad week for children. We had a Republican…”

“I think it has been a bad week for mothers and a bad week for families and a bad week for children. We had a Republican housing bill which passed, which greatly reduced the participation of the Federal Government in the provision of housing for the poorest people in America; bad for families, bad for children, bad for mothers. One of the highlights of the debate on this bill was the offering of an amendment which would have just kept the present provision in the bill which says that no family should be made to pay more than 30 percent of their income for rent in public housing. No family should be made to pay more than 30 percent. That was removed by the Republican majority, and the amendment which was attempting to put that back into the legislation was voted down by the Republican majority. It means it was telling poor families in America that you should pay more than 30 percent, be prepared. But no Member of Congress pays more than 30 percent of their income for housing, I assure you. Very few people in America pay 30 percent or more of their income for housing. Yet we are saying that poor people should pay more than 30 percent. So it was not a good action to benefit families and mothers.”