Native American Housing Enhancement Act of 2005

Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 631 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only.

This resolution provides that certain specified measures may be considered under suspension of the rules at any time on the legislative day of Sunday, December 18, 2005.

Mr. Speaker, we are gathered here on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Washington, D.C., December 18, 2005. We have had our priest to open up this beautiful House today, asking that America and Americans understand our responsibilities. We are here today because we still have work yet to be done, but there are people that we need to give thanks to.

Mr. Speaker, our families expected us home weeks ago, but we are here because we have an obligation and a duty.

Mr. Speaker, we are here today under protection of members of the Capitol

Hill Police Department, members of the United States military who protect our great country, our staffs, as well as the people who work for the United States House of Representatives who serve with honor and distinction. We deserve to give them thanks for all that they have done on what surely will be the last day of this first session of Congress. But there is still much work left to be done, and we recognize that we are here to do that.

The Republican leadership of this House has set forth yet again a positive legislative agenda for the remainder of this week and the balance of this first session of the 109th Congress. The goal of this plan is to address a number of outstanding issues that still remain on Congress' calendar before we adjourn, and we must utilize this schedule to make sure we maintain our commitment to improving America's economic and national security.

One of the things, Mr. Speaker, that sets America apart from other nations is that we do not expect others to do the work for us. We take part and get it done ourselves, and that is what this Congress is doing.

Over the past year, we have passed a number of important new education, health care, trade, tax and national security bills that will keep America safer and healthier, create new jobs and improve our economy. This rule will allow the House to consider a number of additional bills today under suspension of the rules that will ensure that Congress can complete more additional work necessary before we go home for the holidays.

This rule makes in order the consideration of eight bills under suspension of the rules. These bills will accomplish important domestic goals such as reforming the Federal deposit insurance system and reauthorizing the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant program through March 31, 2006.

The suspension authority allows us to consider necessary and noncontroversial items such as H.R. 4501, which amends the Passport Act in order to comply with the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004; a bill to authorize the transfer of items in the War Reserves Stockpile; and H.R. 2329, to allow an officer of a foreign government to receive an award under the Department of State Rewards Program under certain circumstances.

This rule also recognizes the importance of democracy throughout the world. H. Con. Res. 284 expresses the sense of Congress with respect to the 2005 presidential and parliamentary elections in Egypt. Another resolution, H. Res. 545, expresses the sense of the House of Representatives on the arrest of Sanjar Umarov in Uzbekistan.

Finally, we have a great opportunity today to honor a very dear friend of mine and a friend of this House, Helen Sewell, as part of the suspension calendar today. This resolution honors Helen for her outstanding service to the United States House of Representatives throughout her work in the Republican cloakroom. During this time, Helen has not only touched the lives of countless Members who have served in this body but also counts President Ford, former President George Herbert Walker Bush and George W. Bush as good friends. It is an honor to stand here today and to join my colleagues in recognizing Helen Sewell for her over 70 years of service in the United States Congress.

All of these bills scheduled for consideration today by the House leadership are on behalf of the American public who enjoy broad support from both Members of the majority and the minority parties.

This rule simply provides us with the tools needed to ensure that all of this important work is completed before we adjourn and leave Washington to join our families and our communities to celebrate the holidays. Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this noncontroversial and balanced bill.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, the gentleman from Massachusetts, who has very well articulated some of the differences that exist in this body. Our ability to work through those differences is why we come to work.

We recognize and know that we began this year with a presentation of the State of the Union by the President of the United States who clearly outlined those things which would be important goals for the year, not only for Congress but for the American people and certainly those things that deal with the war in Iraq.

My party, the Republican Party, has been very conscientious about those things which we believe we told the American people that we would do last November. We reiterated we would not raise taxes, as the Democrat Party wanted to do. We indicated that we would not cut and run from the war, which is what many people in the Democrat Party want to do. We recognize that those things that are ahead of us are very difficult choices that have to be made.

We have concentrated our activities on an attempt to streamline the budget process and make ourselves available to working with government for more efficiency. We accomplished for the first time this year a chance for all of our appropriations bills to be done by the July 4 break. Given the world as it was, that was a great idea. But we then were struck with a number of the largest hurricanes that have ever hit the United States of America, the largest storms in the history of the world.

We have worked through adversity. It has not been easy. It has caused great consternation throughout the United States. But I am pleased to tell you that this Congress has still come to work, we have debated the ideas, and it is the Republican Party that has the responsibility as a result of our being the majority party to come up with a plan of how to lead.

We have attempted to work as much as possible with the President of the United States and with our colleagues on the other side of the Capitol in the United States Senate on those things that would empower America. One of those things which we think we have done a very good job on is to say that we disagree with the rhetoric that says we have to raise taxes; that we have to increase spending; that we have to have government to be the answer.

We still reject those ideas here on what we think will be the last day of the first session of the 109th Congress; I still reject that in the face of adversity from the Democrat Party and those elements today who bring their case forward. We respect those thoughts and ideas. I respect very much the disagreement that we have in the Rules Committee on a regular basis. The articulation not only by the gentleman from Massachusetts but by others is very measured and very well said. However, we simply disagree with that; and that is why we will proceed the way in which we do. I respect our colleagues who bring adversity and their thoughts to the floor, and we will continue to do that today.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, we have had an opportunity again today to hear wonderful debate on the floor of the House of Representatives, the gentleman from Cleveland, speaking about some of those things which he deeply believes in. I also have a deep belief that we should be drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The American way of life, our ability to have energy independence, the opportunity for us to be able to explore for and find energy will determine, in my opinion, the success or failure of the economy of the United States. I do understand that many people who talk about this new way of life simply want us to ride bicycles and to destroy our economy to where we are no better or no worse than a Third World nation.

America, I believe, has set itself on a course where we believe that there is no problem bigger than a solution, and that we will find those avenues through research and development that can lead us on. An example of this would be we have utilized technology in our past for some 25 years. We have used about 21 million barrels of oil a day. It has been about constant what our utilization has been in the United States, and yet we continue to grow our economy. We continue to utilize these things with an increased population through efficiency.

The gentleman from Ohio had a chance to vote for a comprehensive energy bill just this year, a comprehensive energy bill that would put the Federal Government at the apex, at the forefront of making sure that we would lead the way through the government of finding and utilizing new technologies. The government will create a critical mass as a result of the spending which we will do to change government buildings and the way we do business to the most efficient forms that are available to us now and to create the future.

But I would say that this body, Mr. Speaker, needs to be mindful of a future that we are not afraid of, that the past which some of our Members would want us to go to find this opportunity for a new world with tribes and with global people who have been incapable of solving their own problems and addressing change is not the direction we should go.

We need to support an economy. We need to move forward to make sure we are solving the world's problems. Poverty and hunger are still problems in this world. We have opportunity today, as we handle bills, to solve some of the most basic problems through research and development, through medicine, and the opportunity for us to go to world leaders like Johns Hopkins University Medical Center, a leading edge in technologists and research and development people, people out at Stanford University Medical Center, like Dr. Bill Mobley, who are looking at genes and gene therapy and the opportunity through research and development to solve problems.

These problems, Mr. Speaker, are what America develops and spends their precious resources on to help the people of the world.

Yes, we know that there are people who want to go back and who want us to ride bicycles everywhere we go and to have an economy that is far different and do not do trade with the world, and isolate America, and cut and run from the war, and do not accept the responsibilities of the world leadership.

Mr. Speaker, I reject that thought process. I believe it will be done through the constant prodding and leadership of this House of Representatives, through our Speaker, Dennis Hastert, and through committee chairman like David Dreier from the Rules Committee, who give of themselves some 27 years of service as Mr. Dreier has given. Yes, we will even talk about years of service for Helen Sewell, who for over 70 years came to work almost every day for the benefit of America's future.

This is simply an experiment that we are engaged in, Mr. Speaker. There is no blueprint. There is no direction to say how we will handle things in the future, for we know not, any of us, what lies ahead of us.

But I have the confidence that the Republican Party and the things which we have done and will do will lead this great Nation, and the people will understand a vision, and we shall not perish. In God we trust.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for the opportunity for us to be here today and his collegial support of this rule. The gentleman very clearly understands as a result of his career that he has spent not only serving as a member of professional staff but also as a Member of Congress that Congress does engage in a lot of issues and ideas.

I would submit to him two things: Number one, that the process that we are going through is not perfect. It has existed this way because we have chosen the form of government that we have whereby two bodies get together on pieces of legislation that are of importance. This is something that we have lived through for a long period of time.

I would say to the gentleman that I respect his disagreement about how we should do everything in the day, and in the light of day and hold everything for days and let everybody know. In fact, almost every single piece of any bill has been debated and voted on. There are positions that Senators and Members of this House have taken that I hope are included. I hope that even though they may not be something that was completely understood by one body or another, they were well thought through thoughts and ideas that would be contained.

I believe that the idea of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one that has been debated in this country for over 10 or 12 years. It is time for resolution. For someone that does not understand that putting this on the DOD bill would be appropriate, I wonder who uses more energy than anyone, and it would probably be the Department of Defense. I think there is an intrinsic interest in us making sure that our own security of this country is participated in by and as a result of this being on the bill.

Mr. Speaker, lastly, I disagree with those who say that we need a change of leadership.

I do recognize that the other side, the Democrat Party, has different ideas about how to do things. But I am proud of my leadership, and I believe that the service of Dennis Hastert and those that are committee chairmen and those that are part of our leadership have stood the test of time to make sure that we are open and ready to do business, that we have the leading-edge thought process of this great Nation, that we are open to hearing from those who can help lead us to the greater pathways, and lastly, that we work with those constitutionally elected officials in a process to make sure that our Constitution is alive and well and a model to the world.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud of Dennis Hastert and his leadership of this House of Representatives and those Members, whether they be from Iowa, Texas, California or Massachusetts, who come to this great body for service to this great Nation. Once again, I am proud of that which we do.

Amendment Offered by Mr. Sessions

Mr. Speaker, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Speaker, again I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this rule to provide that suspensions will be in order at any time on the legislative day of December 18, 2005.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the amendment and on the resolution.

The previous question was ordered.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions) for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

(Mr. McGOVERN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I do not object to this rule that will allow for the consideration of a number of suspension bills, and I expect that these bills, all of them, will be approved if not unanimously certainly overwhelmingly by this House.

As we gather here today, the Sunday before Christmas and Chanukah, it is the process and the way the Republican leadership are running this House that I strongly object to. These last few days, in fact the entire year, I think is a great example of how not to run a government.

Sometime today we expect to consider and vote on the Defense appropriations bill. No one will have time to read and examine the final product. We will not know what last-minute goodies are tucked into the bill. Mr. Speaker, we read news reports that drilling in the Arctic will be in the bill, but we do not know if ANWR is included because we have not yet seen it. And what drilling in Alaska's wilderness has to do with the Pentagon is beyond my comprehension, but there are some in the Republican leadership who do not care about the regular process and want to tuck this in the Defense bill because they know it cannot be enacted on its own.

We also do not know exactly what else is attached to the Defense appropriations bill. Is there funding for Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma? And if so, what are the details? Will there be funding for the prevention of a possible avian flu pandemic? Are there campaign finance reform provisions included in any of these bills? And if so, who approved them?

And then there is the Defense authorization bill, which has been held up for much time because the White House did not want language in it that banned torture. This is the United States of America, Mr. Speaker. If we stand for anything, it is out loud and foursquare for human rights. And torture is something that we, as a civilized society and as a decent people, should reject.

Now, the President, from news reports, has apparently now accepted the language by Senator McCain which would ban torture, which is a good thing. But some suspect that it is only because the Justice Department has assured him that he can get around the language banning torture, and that is a bad thing. But despite the apparent capitulation of the White House on the issue of torture, we still do not have a Defense authorization bill, and nobody can tell us why.

We are also told a budget reconciliation bill will come up today. Does anyone have a clue what will be in that bill? This is a bill that will impact all of our citizens and could potentially have an adverse impact on the most vulnerable of our citizens.

Mr. Speaker, whether you are a liberal, a conservative, or whether you want more government or less, I think most of us would agree that whatever government we have must be competent and responsive to the people. Now, the Republicans control all of government. They control the House of Representatives, they control the Senate, and they control the White House. It is clear that they are unable to be effective stewards of our government.

Now, putting aside the corruption scandals that hang like a dark cloud over the Congress and the White House, what we see is an inability to govern. When Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast, the Federal Government responded miserably. The President put a political appointee in charge of FEMA who was incompetent. The President took responsibility, but ultimately the incompetence and cronyism of his administration led to a disaster that included the loss of many lives.

On the war in Iraq: no weapons of mass destruction, no ties between the Iraqi government and al Qaeda, and no imminent threat to the security of the United States of America; yet we rushed into war. Whether the intelligence was manipulated or not, clearly this government did not do its job. It failed, and over 2,100 Americans are now dead.

But now we are in Iraq, Mr. Speaker. We were there with no post- invasion plan, we are there with no-bid contracts that have led to massive corruption and fraud, our soldiers lack the most basic protective equipment, and

with a chain of command that resulted in grave abuses of human rights by some of our own uniformed men and women and some of our Iraqi allies. Ultimately, the President again took responsibility. But, Mr. Speaker, with all due respect, I am tired of the speeches. I, like so many others, want genuine reform and change. I want accountability.

This all brings me to this Congress. There is a reason why this Congress has only a 25 percent approval rating. It is because you are doing a lousy job. You are trashing the rules and regular order. The selling of legislation to the highest bidder, the hard-ball tactics against your own Members to win votes, your lack of oversight and demand for accountability from this administration, all that and more is catching up to you. People are watching. People do care. They believe that you cannot competently run this government, and they want the government back.

The mess that we have before us cannot be blamed on Democrats. After all, as I have said, Republicans control everything. You cannot blame this on Bill Clinton, even though some of you try, because he has been gone now for a full 5 years. This is your fault. The battles going on behind closed doors are between your right wing and your far right wing. For those of us in the minority, and many on your side who want good government, this is a frustrating period.

Mr. Speaker, nobody denies that leadership of Congress is a hard task, but either you live up to the responsibilities or you acknowledge it is time for a change. After this sorry year, it is time for a change.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, before I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich), I just want to say a couple of things.

First of all, we are here 3 weeks after the Republican majority said we were to adjourn, in part because they have not done a very good job of getting our business done.

Secondly, we can argue about priorities and we can argue about policies, and that is all fine and good; but one of the issues that I raised is the issue of competence. When we have disasters in this country, like Hurricane Katrina, the response of the Federal Government was miserable. It demonstrated a stunning incompetence that I am not sure has been fixed yet. People are still not getting response from the Federal Government in the Gulf States that they, quite frankly, deserve.

Thirdly, in terms of debate and how legislation is brought to the floor, I think that is another failure of this Congress. We do have debates in the Rules Committee, sometimes at weird hours, where not a lot of people get to hear them. But routinely, on major pieces of legislation, they are brought to the floor with very little advanced notice. Oftentimes, people do not have a chance to review what is in the legislation.

That is going to happen today with the Defense appropriations bill. No one will have an opportunity to review it. We will find out in a week or 2 weeks from now, because some Washington Post reporter or New York Times reporter or L.A. Times reporter will dig into it and find all these little goodies that none of us have a chance to know about in advance. That is not the way things should be done.

The Rules Committee, for example, routinely shuts us out of offering amendments to important pieces of legislation. We had a controversial resolution on Iraq that was on the floor the other day, and yet an alternative that was proposed by the ranking member of the International Relations Committee was deemed out of order. We had a pension reform bill that some of us had issues with, and we were denied a substitute.

On major bills that matter, we are shut out; and we are oftentimes not allowed the opportunity to try to get our points of view across on the House floor. And I would say that I think the American people are starting to catch on to that, and they do not like that form of government. This is supposed to be a deliberative body where important issues get debated.

Again, I have no problem with the suspensions that are being brought up here today. But in comparison to some of the issues that are facing this country, from poverty to the war in Iraq, to health insurance and the high price of gas, what we are talking about now is killing time with some relatively trivial matters. There are more important issues before us.

The deficit. You have accumulated the biggest deficit in the history of the United States of America as a result of your policies. That is not a success story, in my opinion. Again, we can differ on policies, but let us approach this legislation in a responsible way, and that means giving all sides, including people on your side, who have differences of opinion the opportunity to be able to debate these things fully on the House floor.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 6 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich).

Mr. Speaker, let me end as I began here with a plea that we strive for a better process. This is not the way we should be running our government, bringing bills to the floor at the last minute without having given people the opportunity to read what is in them. We should have learned last year. When the Republican majority brought a bill to the floor, we had to meet again and fix it because someone snuck a provision in there that would allow certain Members of the Congress and their staffs to be able to review people's IRS records. We went back and quickly fixed that after it became public that it was in the bill.

We can do so much better than what we see going on right here at this present time. I think this more than anything else is one of the reasons why I think we need a change of leadership in the Congress. I think there needs to be checks and balances. There aren't checks and balances right now. There needs to be oversight, there needs to be accountability.

We need to do the people's business in a more deliberative way. We have to move away from this pattern of locking people out of opportunities to be able to participate in debates and offer their amendments.

Mr. Speaker, having said all of that, we have no objection to this rule that will allow for filler between now and the time that some of these important conference reports come to the floor.

I will close with this. I think every one of our colleagues needs to know that you are not going to know what is in any of these bills that are coming to the floor. You will find out in the newspapers. That is not the way this government should run.

Having said that, we have no problem with the rule.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 797) to amend the Native American Housing Assistance and Self- Determination Act of 1996 and other Acts to improve housing programs for Indians.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have on the floor today H.R. 797, the Native American Housing Enhancement Act of 2005, which I introduced this year with the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Matheson).

While visiting with my Navaho and Apache constituents, I have learned

that there is a need for a real focus on long-term housing planning. If we can help tribes be flexible with their grant money, we can see great projects such as Apache Dawn, a multiphased construction development by the White Mountain Apaches that was built because they were able to be flexible and creative with their funding.

This bill makes three changes that will help Native American communities in rural Arizona and other Native American communities throughout America better address their housing needs. The first section of this bill will clarify that tribes are allowed unrestricted access to new NAHASDA funds even if they still retain program income from previous years. Currently the tribe's grant money may be restricted if that tribe is receiving program income in excess of their operating costs. This clarification is critical to ensure that we are not creating a disincentive for tribes to create housing plans for their future developments.

Second, this bill also brings USDA housing programs in line with HUD programs in allowing Indian preference which lets tribes abide by the Indian Civil Rights Act. Currently tribal governments may not exercise Indian preference for USDA programs because it would be considered a civil rights violation for giving preference based upon racial designation. Indian preference is something tribal governments value greatly in addressing the needs of their citizens. It is not a race issue. Indian preference recognizes the political designation of tribes as sovereign entities with whom we have entered into a government-to- government relationship. This amendment will help ensure greater tribal usage of USDA rural development programs.

Because another program that tribes use for their youth program existed when NAHASDA was enacted, Youthbuild, accessibility was taken away. Not only are tribes prohibited from applying for Youthbuild funds, but organizations serving Native youths are prohibited as well; yet the statistics are overwhelming. Mr. Speaker, the suicide rate for Native American youth is three times the national average. Alcohol- related deaths among Native Americans ages 15 to 24 are 17 times higher than the national average. American Native youth ages 12 to 20 are 58 percent more likely to become crime victims than any other race of the same age span. And as of February 2001, 74 percent of youth in custody in the Federal Bureau of Prisons System were Native American youths, an increase of 50 percent since 1994. Native American youth represent 1 percent of the U.S. population, yet constitute as much as 3 percent of the youth arrests for larceny, thefts and liquor law violations. These grim statistics speak to the importance of programs that teach life skills and give a sense of community to children in Indian Country.

Current tragic events make clear the need to allow our children, our Native American children, to participate in a program that builds stronger neighborhoods, safe homes, more self-esteem, and make a difference for their future. I ask support for this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole), who is a member of the Chickawa Tribe. The gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole) is a true fighter and advocate for those in Indian Country across our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to thank the gentleman from Utah for his advocacy and particularly for the leadership he showed during the hearing out in Navajo Country.

In closing, I want to thank the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman Ney), who has been a tireless advocate on Native American housing issues, who represents a tough district with a lot of rural needs, and who understands and has articulated the message that is now getting out across the country, the need to help so many of our first citizens, the Native Americans of our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have on the House floor today H.R. 797, the Native American Housing Enhancement Act which I introduced earlier this year with my colleague Mr. Matheson of Utah.

While visiting with my Navajo and Apache constituents, I have learned that there is a need for a focus on long term housing planning. If we can help tribes be flexible with their grant money we will see great projects such as Apache Dawn, a multi-phase construction development by the White Mountain Apache that was built because they were able to be flexible and creative with their funding.

This bill makes three changes to help Native American communities in rural Arizona, and across the nation, better address their housing needs.

The first section of this bill will clarify that tribes are allowed unrestricted access to new NAHASDA funds even if they still retain program income from previous years.

Currently a tribes' grant money may be restricted if that tribe is receiving program income in excess of their operating costs.

This clarification is crucial to ensure that we are not creating a disincentive for tribes to create income or plan for their future developments.

This bill also brings USDA housing programs into line with HUD programs in allowing Indian preference which lets tribes abide by the Indian Civil Rights Act.

Currently, tribal governments may not exercise Indian preference for USDA programs because it would be considered a Civil Rights violation for giving preference based on a racial designation.

Indian preference is something tribal governments value greatly in addressing the needs of their citizens--it is not a race issue. Indian preference recognizes the political designation of tribes as sovereign entities with whom we have entered into a government to government relationship.

This amendment will help to ensure greater tribal usage of USDA Rural Development programs.

Because another program that tribes used for their youth programs existed when NAHASDA was enacted, YouthBuild accessibility was taken away.

Not only are tribes prohibited from applying for Youthbuild funds, but organizations serving Native youth are prohibited as well, yet the statistics are overwhelming:

The suicide rate for Native youth is three times the national average . Alcohol related deaths among Native Americans ages 15-24 are 17 times higher than the national average.

Native youth ages 12-20 are 58 percent more likely to become crime victims than any other race of the same ages.

As of February 2001, 74 percent of youth in custody in the Federal Bureau of Prisons system were Native American youth, an increase of 50 percent since 1994.

Native American youth represent 1 percent of the U.S. population, yet they constitute 2 percent to 3 percent of the youth arrested for offenses such as larceny-theft and liquor law violations.

These grim statistics speak to the importance of programs that teach life skills and give a sense of community to children in Indian Country. Current tragic events make clear the need to allow these children to participate in a program that will build stronger neighborhoods, more selfesteem and make a difference for their future.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak on this matter and I urge your support of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendments to the bill (H.R. 797) to amend the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-determination Act of 1996 and other Acts to improve housing programs for Indians.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity today to speak on a bill I introduced earlier this year and that passed the House in April, the Native American Housing Enhancement Act. Subsequent changes to this bill by the other body were merely stylistic in nature, and they do not change the substance of this important legislation.

While visiting with my Navajo and Apache constituents, I have learned that there is a need for a focus on long-term housing planning. This legislation will give tribes needed flexibility in spending grant money to enable vital housing projects to be completed more quickly. This bill makes three changes to help Native American communities in rural Arizona and across the Nation better address their housing needs.

The first section of this bill clarifies that tribes are allowed unrestricted access to new Native American housing funds from HUD even if tribes retain program income from previous years.

Currently, a tribe's grant money may be restricted if the tribe is receiving program income in excess of their operating costs. This clarification is critical to ensuring that we are not creating a disincentive for tribes to create income or plan for their future developments.

This bill also brings USDA housing programs into alignment with HUD programs in allowing for Indian preference, which allows tribes to abide by the Indian Civil Rights Act.

Currently, tribal governments may not exercise Indian preference for USDA programs because it would be considered a civil rights violation by giving preference based on racial designation. Indian preference is something tribal governments value greatly in addressing the needs of their citizens. This is not a race issue. Indian preference recognizes the political designations of tribes as sovereign entities that have entered into a government-to-government relationship with the United States. This legislation will help to ensure greater tribal use of USDA rural development grants and programs.

Additionally, because another program that tribes used for their youth programs existed when the Native American Housing Assistance Act was enacted, accessibility to Youth Build funds was taken away. The Youth Build program assists communities by building new housing for needy families.

Not only are tribes now prohibited from applying for Youth Build funds, but other organizations serving Native youth are prohibited as well; yet the statistics are overwhelming:

The suicide rate for Native youth is three times the national average. Alcohol-related deaths among Native American ages 15 to 24 are 17 times higher than the national average. Native youth ages 12 to 20 are 58 percent more likely to become crime victims than any other race in this category.

As of February, 2001, the latest statistics available, 74 percent of youth in custody in the Federal Bureau of Prisons systems were Native American youth, an increase of 50 percent since 1994.

Native American youth represent only 1 percent of the American population and yet constitute as much as 3 percent of the prison population.

These grim statistics speak to the importance of programs that teach life skills and give a sense of community to children in Indian Country. It is clear that these children should be able to participate in the Youth Build program that will help build better neighborhoods, more self-esteem, and make a difference for their future. The Native American Housing Enhancement Act will help Native Americans build strong homes, strong communities, and help many to achieve the American Dream of homeownership.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank our subcommittee chairman, Mr. Ney of Ohio, for helping me push this legislation through. Also, without the assistance and partnership of Mr. Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Mr. Dennis Kucinich, we could not have gotten this pushed through. It has really been a bipartisan piece of legislation. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I look forward to its passage.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Massachusetts. I am grateful for the partnership. This problem is much, much bigger than party, and he has been a true friend and companion on this issue.

I also want to put the administration on notice that when it comes to this new piece of miracle software that is supposed to be able to fix this title search issue, we are going to follow up here in less than 6 months to find out the results of that implementation and the results of how many clear titles they have been able to procure and to process within a timely fashion.

Home ownership on the Native American reservations around this country is below 30 percent. It is the smallest amount of anywhere in the country of any minority group. Yet home ownership is the way to be able to break the cycle of poverty.

One of the best leaders that we have had, along with the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank), is the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney), who helped, with Mr. Frank, in the historic hearing that we had on the Navajo Nation, the first hearing since the 1800s

where Indian housing has had a chance to even be heard of or had a field hearing.

I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney).

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Massachusetts mentioned the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Matheson). Without the gentleman from Utah who actually attended the hearing, we could not have gotten this done.

The Navajo Reservation is 18 million acres, larger than the State of West Virginia. It spans the State of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. I also want to thank the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney), everyone pulling together on this.

The new housing land map that just came out shows that that portion of America is the largest poverty-ridden land mass in the State. I know these gentlemen have a history, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank), of working hard on poverty issues. I thank you so much for stepping up, particularly in this time, when finally it is becoming aware that the remaining poverty in this country, one of the largest land masses of poverty in the Nation, is up there in that Four Corners area.

Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from South Dakota (Ms. Herseth), who is a true leader on all Native American issues, and I know she has great concern on housing issues as well.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, it is important that we are considering this bill today on the House floor. I do commend the leadership of the Committee on Financial Services, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr.

Oxley) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank), and the leadership of the subcommittee, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney) and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters). They exhibit bipartisanship in an effort to get legislation done that is important, and that is why we are here today.

I certainly thank my colleague, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Renzi). The gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Renzi) and I share the privilege and honor of representing the Navajo Nation. I can tell you the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Renzi) has been a tireless advocate for Navajo issues and Native American issues in general, and I value the relationship I have had with him working on those issues.

This bill, H.R. 797, the Native American Housing Enhancement Act, is an important bill in making a few simple changes to current law that will improve Native American access to housing.

Last year, and quite frankly, this was at the instigation of the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Renzi), there was a field hearing that took place on the Navajo Reservation; and the Committee on Financial Services sponsored this field hearing, which I believe is the first housing field hearing ever to take place on the reservation.

The gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Renzi), along with the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney) and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters), and I toured parts of the reservation before the hearing, heard from many witnesses from a number of tribes, and we learned a lot during that hearing. We saw some startling things, and we learned a lot that needs to be addressed.

We learned the poverty rate for Native Americans is twice that of the rest of the U.S. population; that many Native Americans continued to live in appalling housing conditions, even as those in much of the Nation have improved, and we saw some of those conditions when we toured the reservation.

American Indians and Alaskan native populations live in housing that is often and justifiably compared to third-world nations. One out of every five Indian homes lacks complete plumbing facilities. Over 90,000 American Indians and Alaska Natives are homeless or underhoused. So I am so pleased that as a result of the subcommittee hearing out on the reservation and the testimony we heard that the bipartisan work of the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Renzi) and of others that we are bringing to the floor today can help address at least some of these issues.

This bill will not address all of the challenges associated with Native American housing, but it will provide progress on the issue. It takes a positive step by stretching existing resources and creating flexibility in the delivery of housing for Native Americans.

Specifically, the bill will amend the current law to explicitly direct the Department of Housing and Urban Development to allow tribes unrestricted access to new Native American Housing Assistance and Self- Determination Act funds, even if they still retain program income funds from previous years. You have heard that described by a couple of speakers before me.

This is so important, because sometimes when investments get made in new housing, there is a rental stream or income that comes off of that housing; and if the law is interpreted in a way we do not want to have happen, it prevents new funds from coming in to move ahead with additional housing programs. This act today addresses that problem so we can continue to make progress.

The bill will also amend the Housing Act of 1949 and will bring USDA housing programs into line with HUD Indian housing programs in allowing Indian preference.

Finally, of course, the bill will reinstate Indian access to YouthBuild grants. The grants are part of a Housing and Urban Development Department program that provides job training and academic assistance to low-income young people. Ensuring that tribes are eligible to create for YouthBuild grants will fill a void in access to funding for youth programs in Indian Country.

So as I said, this bill does take some important steps forward in addressing the housing needs of Native Americans. Beyond that, there are two other lessons I think we can learn from this bill, and I think a lot of people in Congress might want to pay attention to this.

The first is, I think, we worked the way we are supposed to work. We heard from constituents, we went and conducted a field hearing, we listened to a lot of tribes from around this country. We took that information back through the leadership of the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Renzi).

We have now formed legislation to address some of the problems that were appropriately brought to our attention during the hearing process, and this legislation is before us today. If it passes, as I am confident it will, hopefully it will move in the other body as we will and we will make some progress on an issue. That is why we are elected in this body, is to make progress on issues.

The second lesson is the relationship that the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Renzi) has exhibited in working with folks on the other side of the aisle. It is a valuable bipartisan relationship. It is the way you get things done around here.

So I commend the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Renzi) on his leadership on this issue, and I thank my colleagues for bringing the bill to the floor. I certainly encourage this bill's adoption.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.