Mel Watt

Mr. WATT of North Carolina

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from Nebraska [Mr. Bereuter] be allowed to address the House for 2 minutes.

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment currently under debate be withdrawn, and that an amendment which I have at the desk be substituted instead.

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, reserving the right to object, I am wondering if the gentleman might allow the debate to continue while we actually look at the impact of that, and it might have some possibilities if we could just allow whoever else wants to speak on this to speak, and in the meantime we will continue to work on it.

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Because this amendment acknowledges everything the gentleman has said. I do not understand why he is fighting this amendment. This amendment should have been in the manager's amendment. Surely you are not saying that setting a goal of providing decent and affordable housing to the American people should not be something that ought to be in every housing bill that we have.

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I would think that there is not a dime's worth of difference between where I think we are and where I hope the gentleman is. If it would facilitate reaching some kind of agreement about this issue, I would be happy, if we could get unanimous consent to withdraw the amendment and reoffer it. But I do not want to lose my place.

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. There is a major inconsistency between my amendment and what is in the bill. I just want to make people aware of that. The bill says the Federal Government cannot through its action provide for the housing of every American citizen or even a majority of the citizens. All I am trying to do is put the goal back in the bill that we have had as national housing policy for 50 years. So it is that language that I want taken out of the bill. I put all of the rest of the language back in of the gentleman from New York [Mr. Lazio]. So if you want to agree to this, stand up and tell us, or stand up and tell the American people that you do not support that as a goal of the Federal housing policy of this country.

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, that is correct.

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman is focusing on what I struck out of the bill, but he needs to focus on what I put back in the bill, because I put a lot of his very language back in the bill. We are encouraging the obtaining of this goal by encouragement of the Federal, State and local governments, by promoting and protecting the independent and collective actions of private citizens, organizations and the private sector, the very same things the gentleman has said. I did not take these things out and not put them back in. They are in this amendment, and I am encouraging the gentleman to read my amendment and agree to it.

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, would the gentleman yield?

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I just want to know whether the gentleman has read my amendment or not.

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I just want to make it absolutely clear that the statement of purpose, the goals for which I am substituting in this amendment contemplate partnerships, public and private. It contemplates everything that the gentleman from New York [Mr. Lazio] has said is important to him. But it makes explicit also that we are not abandoning the goal that we have had for housing in this country, not even public housing, just housing in general, decent and affordable housing. We have had that goal for 50 years, and all of a sudden these new breed come in here and they think there is something magic about their new philosophy and we ought to abandon everything, which is just extreme.

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, if the gentleman will continue to yield, I see no statement of that objective in this bill anywhere, Mr. Chairman. When the gentleman says that the Federal Government will not provide for the housing of every American citizen or even a majority of its citizens, the gentleman is abandoning the goal that we have set for 50 years in this country, and that is an extreme measure on the gentleman's part, just like the rest of his party.

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. If the gentleman will continue to yield, I would ask the gentleman, is my statement of purposes and goal as an American inconsistent with what you are saying? Why would the gentleman not incorporate my amendment into his manager's amendment as a statement of goal?

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I want the gentleman to explain to me, if this is the kind of housing that we have with a goal of providing decent and affordable housing, what kind of housing does the gentleman think we will have if we have no goal, and we do not even have a policy statement on the issue?

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I want to try to frame what this debate is about through the process of this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I was interested in the characterization that the chairman of the subcommittee, the gentleman from New York [Mr. Lazio], made about this bill being a dramatic change in housing policy in this country. I want to make sure that my colleagues understand just how dramatic that change is. I want to spend a minute or two talking about the historical housing policy of this country. Mr. Chairman, the Housing Act that we are repealing under this bill today is the Housing Act of 1937. It started with a declaration of policy which says that it will be our policy as a government to try to remedy the unsafe and unsanitary housing conditions and the acute shortage of decent, safe, and sanitary dwellings for families of lower income. That statement of Federal housing policy was changed in 1949, almost 50 years ago. In 1949, the housing policy was changed to state that it would be the policy of our Government to try to assure the realization as soon as feasible of the goal of a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family. From that goal statement has come the term that has controlled the Federal housing policy of our country to provide decent and affordable housing to every American citizen for the last 50 years. Mr. Chairman, my colleagues are going to say the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Watt], is making much ado about nothing. But I want everybody to understand what his bill says the policy of the Federal Government for housing should be. This is what the bill says in the very beginning of the bill: ``The Federal Government cannot, through its direct action or involvement, provide for the housing of every American citizen, or even a majority of its citizens;'' a dramatic departure, a dramatic departure from the goal of providing decent and affordable housing for every American citizen. When we talk about this being a dramatic change in policy, it says it from the very beginning of this bill, it is a dramatic change in policy, because we are conceding as a Nation that we no longer even have as a goal providing decent housing for our citizens. The bill itself says we do not even have that as a goal anymore. My amendment, Mr. Chairman, simply changes that policy statement. It does not do anything to the substance of the bill, but it is an abomination. We should be ashamed of ourselves as a Congress to say to the American people that we are abandoning the goal, the dream of providing decent and affordable housing to every American citizen in our country. Mr. Chairman, if my colleagues are willing to support that, what it says to me is that they are the extreme that everybody has worried about. They are defining as a policy, do anything that is okay. Mr. Chairman, this is serious, serious business, because we are about making a major reversal in the goals and objectives and desires of our Nation. Mr. Chairman, I ask my colleagues to support this simple amendment. It simply restores the objective in this bill.

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I will not take 5 minutes, because it is my understanding that the gentleman from New York [Mr. Lazio], the subcommittee chair, has agreed to the amendment. Mr. Chairman, we are simply trying to make it clear that when a local housing authority submits its housing plan, that the Secretary has the authority to review it in compliance with Federal law, as well as the underlying provisions of this bill.

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, it simply says our Nation should promote the goal of providing decent and affordable housing for all citizens through the efforts and encouragement of Federal, State, and local governments, and by promoting and protecting the independent and collective actions of private citizens, organizations, and the private sector to develop housing and strengthen their own neighborhoods, a simple goal statement. Mr. Chairman, that is what this Government should be about. Please support this simple amendment.

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Chairman, I want to express my special thanks to my friend, and in the heat of debate sometimes people get the impression that we are not friends. The gentleman from New York [Mr. Lazio] is my friend, but this is important public policy and an important goal that the Nation should have for affordable and decent housing for all Americans. Mr. Chairman, I want to express a particular thanks to the gentleman from Nebraska [Mr. Bereuter], who played the role of peacemaker and reminded us of what we are here about this evening.