Mario Diaz-Balart

Mr. DIAZ-BALART

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chairman, I am prepared to accept this amendment. If the gentlewoman is willing to yield back the balance of her time, I am more than willing to accept her amendment. I want to thank the gentlewoman for bringing it up.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chairman, we have taken a responsible and thorough approach to HUD's funding. We have actually reduced HUD's budget by $487 million below last year. We have done so while keeping as a priority, for example, housing assistance to the most needy among us: the elderly, the disabled, our veterans. This amendment would potentially hurt some of these vulnerable citizens. Again, the across-the-board approach goes against, frankly, what I think we have to be doing in government, which is do the tough work and go line by line and identify lower priority or functioning programs for reductions so that we can then target resources to where they are actually most needed. Let me just give you a few examples, Mr. Chairman, of where we have targeted resources: CDBG, veterans' voucher renewals, vouchers for the disabled. I cannot agree to an amendment that would, again, cut those programs across the board. Also, another issue, which I know is not the Honorable Member's intent, but I understand CBO has scored this amendment at zero savings. If we had a lot of time, we could talk about why. So, again, it is actually not even achieving what the gentleman is trying to achieve. I do thank him for his passion in looking out for the taxpayers. I think that is a very needed thing here in Congress. But I respectfully urge a ``no'' vote on this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. If the gentleman would be all right with that, I would be willing to agree to his amendment. As long as we can move the process quickly, I would agree to the amendment.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chairman, the bill restores a number of programs that Members, frankly, from both sides of the aisle made sure that we were aware of. The bill restores a number of community development programs that were proposed for elimination in the budget request, including CDBG and HOME. Again, we listened to Members from both sides of the aisle, and we made sure that that was a priority in this bill. These programs, again, support decisionmaking at the local level where it should be. Before I close, I want to thank the hardworking and talented staff who helped put this together, the subcommittee staff. I was going to read their names, and again, I know I am running out of time, but I think this is the best staff anywhere in Congress. I also want to thank my personal staff, my chief of staff, Miguel Mendoza, who is the deputy chief of staff as well, and from the minority staff, Joe Carlile and Angela, and so many others who have worked hand-in-hand with my committee staff. And I would be remiss if I did not, in particular, thank Mr. Price, the ranking member. He has been great to work with, work cooperatively. I ask for your favorable support of this bill.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chairman, as the designee of Chairman Frelinghuysen, pursuant to section 3 of House Resolution 500, I move to strike the last word for the purpose of debate.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chair, I yield as much time as he would consume to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price).

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chairman, let me first reassure the gentlewoman that I support the mission of Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation. As a matter of fact, this bill that we are on provides $140 million, the same amount that was provided in 2017. We are not rolling that back at all. The reduction from FY16, however, reflects the elimination of the National Foreclosure and Mitigation Counseling program. Now, this program was to be a 1-year program when it began in 2007 in response to, obviously, the foreclosure crisis at the time. Again, this 1-year program then continued on for 9 years. Now, recognizing that the economy improved, obviously, significantly, and foreclosure numbers continued to decline, Congress discontinued the NFMC program, again, in fiscal year 2017. In fact, the prior administration proposed elimination of the NFMC in its budget request for the very same reason. So in 2016--let's put this in perspective. Foreclosure filings were at a 10-year low and declined to 14 percent below the 2015 level. The foreclosure rate has stayed within a historically normal range for 3 years. So, further, the NRC has integrated foreclosure mitigation counseling into its other counseling programs, eliminating the need for a separate program. So, again, you know, we scrubbed these accounts. For those reasons, I respectfully would urge a ``no'' vote on this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Will the gentlewoman yield?

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chairman, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price).

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. I want to thank the gentleman for bringing this issue up and just let him know that we are ready to accept his amendment. So if he would just yield back, I will accept this amendment. I want to thank the gentleman for bringing it up.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. King).

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chairman, again, I think we know this issue. I strongly oppose the amendment, and I would urge a ``no'' vote. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentleman's concern, and I look forward to working with him and also with HUD to address this issue, and I want to thank him for bringing this up. Mr. Chair, I accept the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the gentleman for bringing this up. This is something that I have got to give a lot of credit to the ranking member as well. This is a program that we are very familiar with. I look forward to working with the Member from Michigan on a program that I think a lot of us support, clearly I support, and the ranking member supports. I want to thank him for bringing it up.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to the amendment.

Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for bringing this up. This is something he has done a lot of work on and he knows this issue very, very well. I think this is a well-done amendment. I welcome the amendment, and I wholeheartedly support it.