Sean Reyes: “I offer an amendment to bring much needed assistance to some of the poorest communities in our Nation. My amendment will…”

“I offer an amendment to bring much needed assistance to some of the poorest communities in our Nation. My amendment will strike the provision in the bill that prohibits funding in the bill or any other bill from being available to carry out a colonias initiative without prior approval of the Committee on Appropriations. ``Colonia'' is a Spanish term for ``community.'' Along our Southwest border, it is the name for U.S. communities that lack basic water and sewer systems, power, paved roads, safe and sanitary housing, health care, and adequate educational, recreational, and employment opportunities. There are more than 1,500 of these third-world-like communities in our Nation, with more than half a million people in California, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. These communities sprung up because of a lack of affordable housing, unscrupulous land development, and neglect of our border region. Because of a lack of basic service, poverty is extreme in our colonias. Fifty percent of the residents are below the poverty level, with average family income of about $12,675. Moreover, 40 percent of colonia residents have less than a ninth grade education and unemployment exceeds 40 percent. The health of these citizens is terrible due to contaminated wells, poorly constructed septic tanks, and the difficulty in buying water from private vendors. This situation is a tragedy that has never been properly addressed.”