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“TRANSPORTATION, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1623-E1624 on July 26, 2007.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRANSPORTATION, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES
APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008
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speech of
HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.
of michigan
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 3074) making appropriations for the Departments of Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2008, and for other purposes:
Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of H.R. 3074, the Fiscal Year 2008 Department of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Bill. My colleagues, I think that it is incredibly appropriate that we are here talking about housing today. Forty years ago this week, whole sections of Detroit were engulfed in flames and 43 people died amid 6 days of gunfire, looting and chaos. While there were many reasons for this unrest, one of the biggest was lack of quality, affordable housing; while affordable housing continues to be one of our nation's most pressing problems, H.R. 3074 makes a number of significant strides in improving the status quo.
Despite the President's desire to cut Section 8 tenant-based vouchers and possibly force up to 80,000 families and individuals on the street, this appropriation legislation includes an increase in funding of $330 million for tenant-
based vouchers and nearly $667 million for projected-based vouchers in order to renew all current Section 8 vouchers, so no one who has a tenant-based voucher will lose it. In addition, included within this amount is $30 million for 4,000 new, targeted vouchers for homeless veterans and for non-elderly people with disabilities.
Once again this year the President's budget proposed eliminating the HOPE VI program, the highly successful program that revitalizes distressed and obsolete public housing projects. Instead, by providing
$120 million, $21 million over 2007, Congress has ensured that HOPE VI projects will continue to help transform and revitalize communities across the United States.
Finally, by allocating $64.5 billion to the Department of Transportation, H.R. 3074 will safeguard the regional needs of our Nation and invest in transit projects for urban areas to help commuters save time and money getting to work. The bill likewise rejects the President's deep cuts to AMTRAK, protecting our national passenger rail system, and it fully funds the highway and transit guarantees set in the SAFETEA-LU authorization bill.
With final passage of this bill today, we in the House of Representatives will be addressing the important challenges of keeping our Nation's transportation system safe and strong, ensuring that every American has adequate shelter, and doing so in a way that strengthens the economy.
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