Lowey statement at subcommittee markup of 2016 T-HUD Appropriations bill

April 29, 2015
Press Release

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I’d like to congratulate Chairman Diaz-Balart and Ranking Member Price in their new roles as chairman and ranking member of the subcommittee, and I thank them and full committee Chairman Rogers for their work. 

The Chairman has worked very hard to be attentive to the concerns of members, and I want to sincerely thank him for working with me to highlight grade crossing safety in the aftermath of the horrible Metro North crash that killed six people in February.   Through your assistance, I hope that we will be able to increase public awareness of the dangers at active grade crossings and to require States to be more proactive in addressing the most hazardous crossings. 

The programs under the jurisdiction of this subcommittee are some of the most important --  improving housing and creating infrastructure jobs for hardworking American families and ensuring safe and adequate transportation networks for goods, commuters, and travelers. As such, this bill is a prime illustration of the painful impact of indiscriminate budget cuts.

The President requested a robust increase for this bill in Fiscal Year 2016, calling on Congress to provide the critical investments necessary to accelerate and sustain economic growth. Unfortunately the bill before us takes a giant step backward in addressing our infrastructure needs.  I am confident that the Chairman would have written an entirely different bill were he not forced to live under the inadequate funding caps. 

I’d like to remind my colleagues of Secretary Foxx’s testimony from February, when he focused on the trends and challenges facing our country over the next 30 years.  Looking ahead, we will have to accommodate:

A population that grows by 70 million people – more than the combined populations of New York, Florida and Texas;
Freight volumes that will increase by 45 percent to 29 billion tons; and,
More than $163 billion in needed annual investments to improve the condition and performance of our nation’s highway and transit systems.

We cannot meet those challenges by slashing investments in TIGER, Amtrak, transit, and air traffic modernization.

Before I turn to housing, it is important to mention the plentiful legislative riders. Christmas came early for the trucking industry – longer, heavier trucks; stalled enforcement of hours-of-service rules; and inadequate insurance requirements. Controversial riders, including those on foreign policy, have no place in an already difficult appropriations process. As I said during consideration of the Energy and Water bill last week: we already have enough problems determining funding levels for these important programs; these riders just make that job harder.

With regard to housing, adequate funding to renew existing vouchers is provided, but it doesn’t provide sufficient funding to meet our country’s actual housing needs. Significantly cutting Lead Hazard Control will slow progress on eliminating household toxins.  This successful program has resulted in lower lead poisoning rates and better educational and behavioral outcomes for children.  Now is not the time to slow our progress.

While the Chairman has provided sufficient funding for HOME, I am concerned about how it is paid for. On the surface, HOME and the Housing Trust Fund appear to both be affordable housing programs, but the Housing Trust Fund targets the lowest of the low income while HOME focuses on low to moderate incomes.  We have a lack of supply of affordable housing at all income levels, but I am concerned that by taking money dedicated for the Housing Trust Fund, we will perpetuate another gap in the spectrum of affordable housing.

I look forward to working with the Chairman as we move through the process.  This bill could easily be one that we can all support and be proud of with a long-term, bipartisan budget agreement that provides relief from draconian sequester levels and the elimination of controversial riders.  I thank the Chairman for his efforts, and I yield back.

114th Congress