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Thursday, March 17, 2011

This Week

• Continuing Resolution – On Tuesday, the House approved a Continuing Resolution (CR) to provide funding for
discretionary government programs beyond March 18, 2011, when the current CR expires. H.J.Res 48 was
approved by a vote of 271-158. The CR will provide discretionary funding through April 8th and cut approximately
$6 billion from the current spending levels. If signed into law, House Republicans will have led the way to enact
$10 billion in cuts from current spending since March 4, 2011.

• Ending Wasteful Housing Programs – On Wednesday, the House approved H.R. 861 by a vote of 242-182.
The bill would end the Neighborhood Stabilization Program and prevent $1 billion obligated by the Dodd-Frank law
from being spent on a program for which the Inspector General for the Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) has identified multiple cases of misused funds, and the GAO has detailed HUD’s inadequate
tracking of the program’s funds.

• War Powers Resolution – On Thursday, the House voted 93-321 disapproving a resolution offered by Rep.
Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), under the requirements of expedited procedures, to withdraw U.S. forces from
Afghanistan. Section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution provides that any time U.S. Armed Forces are engaged in
hostilities outside the U.S. without a declaration of war or specific statutory authorization, the President must
remove those forces if Congress adopts a concurrent resolution directing the President to do so. While the
constitutionality of such a resolution is in question in light of the INS v. Chada decision (prohibiting “legislative
vetoes”), it has been used several times in the past to force a debate on a particular conflict.

• De-funding National Public Radio – Also on Thursday, the House approved H.R. 1076 by a vote of 228-192.
The bill would prohibit direct federal funding of NPR. The bill would prohibit public radio stations from using federal
funds to pay their NPR dues and would also prohibit public radio stations from using federal funds for acquiring or
producing programming.

Next Week

• Constituent Work Week – Next week the House will not be in session in order for Members to spend the week
working in their respective districts. Member offices will receive resource kits today for use during next week’s
constituent engagements.

Official Floor Statement on Motion to Recommit H.J.Res. 48


Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky. “Madam Speaker, this provision doesn't do anything. Nothing in the CR would cut Social
Security or Medicare benefits, nor would it privatize Social Security. We are totally committed in this bill to saving Social
Security.
“Let me be honest. This is a procedural motion that is simply a fog screen, trying to hide us from our real task at hand,
but I don't think we'll be fooled at that. The debate should not be about procedure or fog screens or things unrelated to the
bill. It should be about doing our job.

“We are here this afternoon to provide the necessary resources to keep the government's doors open while we lock in
important budget savings totaling $6 billion. That is $2 billion in spending reductions, or savings, to the taxpayer, $2 billion
a week, the path this body has set with the passage of H.R. 1 a couple of weeks ago.

“I would also like to remind my colleagues that, with the passage of this CR today, we will have cut over $10 billion in the
span of 2 weeks. That sets a record. That has never been done before in this body. The closest was 1995 at $9 billion. This
is more than double the $4.7 billion that Senator Reid and the Senate Democrats proposed in their CR last week to fund the
government for the remaining 6 months. We do in 2 weeks what they would take 6 months to do.

“The American people sent us here with a clear message last November. They want us to end the partisan bickering and
get our work done. Instead of picking political fights, they want us united in cutting the budget. This motion moves us
further away from that goal. It would send us backwards, not forwards. It's a smokescreen, a procedural motion.

“Let's get on with it. Vote ‘no,’ and then vote ‘yes’ on final.”

Official Floor Statement on Motion to Recommit H.R. 861


Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California. “That was a very nice picture of a storefront. It was not a picture of a home. Now, why
would you impose a terrible program on rural America that you don't want on urban America?

“You have to say we have given away $6 billion of taxpayer monies and it will never come back to the Federal
Government. We are saying let's preserve the last billion dollars.

“There is a huge lack of accountability in this program. The inspector general of HUD has already identified multiple
misuses of NSP money at the State level. The GAO has questioned the information system that places HUD at risk using the
tracking system.

“How many of you want to use your money to buy this house that Chairman Bachus has pointed out? Nobody. But,
taxpayers, guess what? We are using your money. The biggest problem with this program is unfair allocation.

“Now, rural America, you probably got ripped off in this whole process like everybody else did because, let's see, where
did the money go? In the NSP 1, we spent $4 billion. In the NSP 2, $1.93 billion. We are saying the last billion dollars, let's
at least save that for the taxpayers and use it for some beneficial purpose.

“Where did the money go? Let's see if it was fairly distributed. Let's look at my area. L.A. County got $26.3 million. San
Bernardino County, one of the hardest hit, got $33.2 million. Orange County got $4.3 million. San Diego County, $5.1
million. A total of $68.9 million on hard-hit counties.

“Now, let's see. What did nongovernment agency groups get out there that are incorporated? Neighborhood Lending
Partners, Incorporated got $50 million; the Community Builders, Incorporated got $78.6 million; Los Angeles Neighborhood
Housing Service, Incorporated got $60 million; Neighborhood Lending Partners of West Florida, Incorporated got $50
million; and Chicanos por la Causa, Inc. got $137 million.

“Now, all of my counties got $68.9 million; the Community Builders got $78.6 million; Chicanos por la Causa got $137
million. Is that considered nonequitable qualification? It is nonequitable, period. It does not make sense. And we say $1.3
billion went to nongovernment agencies.

“Now, somebody said I was racist because I said Chicanos por la Causa got $137 million. They got 10 percent of all the
funds given to nongovernment agencies. If it was Germans for Affordable Housing that got $137 million, I would oppose it
just like I oppose this one.

“Now, taxpayers understand, clearly, it did not prevent one foreclosure in this entire country. Not one person got to keep
their home because we spent $6 billion. In fact, imagine the family who owned the home. Maybe the ma or pa got in
trouble with their job. They couldn't quite make the payments. For the last 3 years, they have been unable to repair the
plumbing. They couldn't replace the oven that wasn't working. A couple windows were broken out.

“The house needed painting. And they had to sit there and let their house go back to the lender, to watch some entity, a
nonprofit or government agency, buy that home, fix it up, and sell it to somebody else. How would you feel when nobody
came to your aid when you were losing your home, but yet your tax dollars were used to buy that home to give it to
somebody else?

“Now, understand clearly, the argument they have made is look at all the money we gave to bail out the banks. Well, I
got an update from Treasury today. Ninety-nine percent of the money that we lent to banks has been paid back. And,
guess what? We made $20 billion on it. But we gave $7 billion away to this program. So, yes, we made 20, and we ended
up with a net 13, by lending the money that you say bailed out the banks. It was a loan.

“This program does nothing but say we are going to send you a check, and you never send us a dime back. And the
sweet part is you can pay any amount of money you want for the house. It is almost impossible to violate the terms of this
deal, because there are no conditions. You can pay $800,000 for a house and sell it for $50. The requirement is whatever
you pay for the house, plus whatever you pay to rehabilitate the house, you have to sell it for less.

“And it doesn't say who you have to sell it to. A nonprofit, I am not saying they would, could have a cousin who wanted
to buy the house that they paid $180,000 for and they could sell it legitimately for $20,000, and, guess what? You have not
violated the terms of NSP 1, 2 or 3, and you have not broken the law. And when you sell the house, if you sell it, you can
take the money and recycle it again. You could even take this money and do a private venture with a private group,
splitting profits, and, falling under the conditions of how you buy the house and sell the house, money gets split. There are
very few restrictions in this bill.

“This is a terrible bill. I would encourage a ‘no’ vote on the motion to recommit.”

Unofficial Floor Statement on Motion to Recommit H.R. 1076


Ms. BLACKBURN of Tennessee. “Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that we all agree that this nation’s children, our
children and our grandchildren, are an incredibly important part of our lives. And protecting those children, protecting their
future … we all agree that it is important that we put this nation on a firm fiscal footing.

“Now, while we all support, heartily support, the Amber Alert program, we also know there is nothing in H.R. 1076 that
would prohibit the Amber Alert program. What we also know is that this is a procedural move by the minority to try to
derail the funding to NPR.

“As I said as we talked about the bill, it is imperative that we be good stewards of the taxpayer money, that we get this
fiscal house in order. It is time to get NPR out of the taxpayer’s pocket. The underlying bill does that. I encourage a no
vote on the motion to recommit. I encourage an ‘aye’ vote on 1076 and I yield back the balance of my time.”
Highlights of the Three-Week Continuing Resolution (H.J.Res. 48)
• To help create jobs and save our children from national bankruptcy, we must stop spending money we don’t have.
House Republicans will continue our work to keep the government running while cutting the Democrats’ job-
destroying spending.

• The three week continuing resolution is the second short-term proposal offered by House Republicans to cut
spending while keeping the government running.

• This resolution includes $6 billion in spending cuts – $2 billion for each week of funding – that meets our
commitment to cut spending in order to foster job creation and economic growth.

• House Republicans passed $61 billion in cuts in H.R. 1, which funds the government through the end of September.
In contrast, Senate Democrats offered less than $6 billion in cuts in their proposal to fund the government through
the rest of the fiscal year, meeting us only 1/10th of the way.

• Just like the previous bills, cuts in H.J. Res 48 include funding reductions, program terminations, and the elimination
of earmark slush fund accounts.

• All of these spending cuts were also included in H.R.1 – the House-passed legislation that returns spending to pre-
stimulus, pre-bailout levels. H.R. 1 received 44 votes in the Senate – more than the Democrat alternative to only
cut $6 billion in spending, but not enough for passage.

On Defunding Obamacare
• House Republicans have tackled Obamacare on all fronts and share the same end goal: full repeal.

• Republicans agree that Obamacare will cost hundreds of billions that our country can't afford for a health system
that Americans don't want.

• That is why one of the very first bills passed by the new House Republican majority was to repeal Obamacare in its
entirety.

• Then in February, Republicans passed funding restrictions to severely limit the President's ability to implement
Obamacare.

• Furthermore, the House has been working on legislation that we will pass in the coming weeks that will eliminate
Obamacare "mandatory" slush funds that are part of the $105 billion being discussed.

• Republicans won't stop there; we will continue to pursue strategic opportunities to get these and other de-funding
and repeal bills to President Obama's desk.

• If there is any disagreement among Republican on Obamacare, it involves tactics, not substance and principle.

• Both before and after passage of Obamacare last year, Members in both the House and the Senate railed against
many of the programs included in the $105 billion of “mandatory spending.” The bill’s turning of hundreds of
billions of dollars in discretionary spending into mandatory spending was horrendous and one of the reasons many
of us voted against the bill and will continue to seek its repeal.

On Cutting Spending to Foster Job Growth


• Republicans pledged to cut spending to help foster job creation, and that is what Republicans have done
every single week that we have been in session. We passed H.R. 1 to ensure that the government is funded
through the rest of the fiscal year while at the same time meeting our pledge to the American people to cut
job-killing spending so we can begin to get our nation’s fiscal crisis under control.

On Ending Taxpayer Funding of Abortions


• H.R. 1, the House Republican bill that would fund the government for the remainder of the fiscal year, was
openly debated, allowing every members voice to be heard and hundreds of amendments to be offered.
Each member who voted for H.R. 1 voted to prohibit funding of abortion in the District of Columbia, restore
the Mexico City Policy and prohibit federal funding for foreign organizations that promote or perform elective
abortion, and prohibit funding to Planned Parenthood of America. We followed the will of the people not only on
spending cuts, but on spending limitations in areas of concern to people sitting at their kitchen table – issues like
taxpayer funding of abortion and the funding of Obamacare. By ignoring those spending decisions the House has
already passed, the Senator Reid is ignoring the will of the people.

The House Republican Conference • GOP.gov

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