Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008

Floor Speech

TRANSPORTATION, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008 -- (House of Representatives - July 23, 2007)

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Ms. KAPTUR. I thank our fine chairman from Massachusetts for recognizing this Buckeye. And I thank Chairman Olver for doing a phenomenal job on this bill. And also Ranking Member Knollenberg of Michigan, my sister State, thank you so very much for your fine work.

To both these gentlemen, let me thank them for their outstanding leadership and for their commitment to investments in America. We see so much money going abroad, indeed billions, hundreds of billions of dollars, and these gentlemen have done something for our country, for our fundamental infrastructure, for transportation, and for housing, the most important investment any American has, their most important form of savings.

In the transportation area, I want to just focus in one area important to Ohio, and that is Amtrak. This bill is funded at a level of $1.4 billion. And the funding in this bill is providing critical capital and operating assistance to maintain our national passenger rail system in a manner that is environmentally friendly and necessary. No major industrial country in the world does not have a modern rail system. We need a ways to go in order to make ours better. This bill takes a step in that direction. Though President Bush and some of his allies in Congress were trying to kill passenger rail service in the country, they cannot succeed, because Amtrak is far too important for the Nation.

In 2006, more than 24 million passengers traveled on Amtrak. More than 67,000 passengers ride on up to 300 Amtrak trains per day. And just in our section of Ohio, 57,000 riders make their way through Toledo, Ohio, as a part of that. I wish we could do more for our high-speed rail corridors and for alternative fuels for the large trains. That is for the future, but at least we make investments in the fundamental system.

Secondly, in the area of housing, I'm really proud of what the committee has done, particularly to meet our Nation's most essential housing community development programs. Mayors around this country will appreciate the increase of nearly $1 billion above the President's request for the Community Development Block Grant program, the most important program for over 1,180 communities to get some of their tax dollars back to do what they must to run their own communities, their own cities.

In addition to that, housing for the elderly is maintained at $735 million, $160 million above the President's request. For every single available unit of affordable housing, there are 10 seniors on the waiting list. So we don't meet the need, but we take a step in the right direction.

Housing for the disabled is funded $236.6 million above the President's request. For U.S. housing markets which are in distress, in some areas literally dead in the water, HOPE VI is funded. The program is not killed to demolish deteriorating public housing, develop mixed-income housing and otherwise help revitalize our distressed neighborhoods. And importantly, the bill provides for proper administration and maintenance of our public housing stock.

I urge all my colleagues to support this very well-balanced bill for investment in the United States of America. Isn't it time?

And again, thank you, Chairman Olver, for your fantastic work that touches every single corner of our Nation.

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