To amend the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to treat certain communities as metropolitan cities for purposes of the community development block grant program.

Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman of the Financial Services Committee not only for yielding time to me, but for handling this bill in a very quick fashion and getting it to the floor today.

I think everything that needs to be said about this legislation has been said by the chairman and my colleague from Collinsville, Illinois.

I urge passage of this legislation.

H.R. 1515 would allow the cities of Alton and Granite City in Illinois to maintain principal city designation for entitlement purposes under the Community Development Block Grant program.

Alton and Granite City have been a part of the Madison County CDBG program since its inception in 1975 for purposes of receiving grants as entitlement communities under the CDBG program.

In 1999, Alton and Granite City deferred their entitlement status so Madison County would not lose entitlement status as a county.

This agreement proved to be satisfactory until the OMB changed definitions. OMB no longer recognizes the ``central city'' status. The new ``principal city'' designation requires a minimum population of 50,000, which neither community meets.

As a result, both communities lost entitlement status for purposes of the CDBG program, while all other ``central city'' communities were grandfathered into the program.

HUD has determined that Alton & Grantie City are the only communities to have lost CDBG entitlement status in the Nation as a result of the recent OMB changes in how counties are defined.

As a result, Granite City and Alton are no longer part of an entitlement community.

At no time did the cities or the county believe that, by deferring their status in previous years, they would be jeopardizing future funding.

Madam Speaker, I again thank Chairman Barney Frank, Ranking Member Bachus, and Congressman Shimkus, for working together in a bipartisan manner to address this unique situation.

Other information:

Both communities are older industrial cities that have suffered from job losses and have higher than local, State and national unemployment levels. Both have had large employers, including steel mills in both cities, close. Both have an older housing stock and lower income residents. Additionally, both have a disproportionate share of public housing, in comparison to the balance of the region.

Alton population: 30,500; Granite City population: 31, 301.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1515) to amend the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to treat certain communities as metropolitan cities for purposes of the community development block grant program.

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

Madam Speaker, this is a bipartisan bill that passed our committee unanimously. It addresses a series of glitches which have resulted in the communities of Alton and Granite City, Illinois, losing their status as entitlement communities under the community development block grant program.

These are both cities that have done a very good job of using these funds. There is no reason why they should not continue to be allowed to enjoy this. The events which led to this having happened are complicated, and even more relevant, quite boring, so it does not seem to me that the House would much care about them.

The relevant point is that there is a unanimous view on the part of our committee, and this has been urged on us by the gentlemen from Illinois, Mr. Shimkus and Mr. Costello, that we

should restore Alton and Granite City to their rightful places as entitlement cities, and I hope the House will do that.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the prime author of this bill, who is a very vigorous advocate for one of the communities he represents, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Costello).

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

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

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of this resolution that would restore the entitlement status to Alton and Granite City for consideration in the community development block grant program.

I want to thank my colleague and friend, Congressman Costello, who will be following me, for his leadership on this. This is a snafu that happens in government, and we are glad to come together, united, to attempt to fix this.

The bottom line geographical issues are that I am from Collinsville, Illinois, in Madison County. I represent half that county. Granite City and Alton are actually in Madison County. Congressman Costello represents those communities ably and well. So we come together to try to fix this.

I want to thank the chairman of the committee, who heard our concerns and moved this expeditiously, along with the ranking member, Mr. Bachus, and my good friend, Judy Biggert, who helped in the process.

We look forward to a time when Alton and Granite City can get involved in the process and make applications through the CDBG for the needed infrastructure developments that are available through that Federal program.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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