Wounded Warrior and Military Survivor Housing Assistance Act of 2010

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

Mr. Speaker, I also rise today in strong support of H.R. 6058, the Wounded Warrior and Military Survivor Housing Assistance Act, and I also want to thank my freshman colleague for offering his support of this measure and cosponsorship as well.

A few weeks ago, I had the unfortunate honor of meeting the widow of a serviceman who had graduated from high school in my hometown of Eden Prairie and someone who had served in Afghanistan. And since she was in Washington, D.C. for her husband's burial at Arlington National Cemetery, she'd asked to come and meet with me so she could share some of the challenges that she was facing in the midst of her crisis. She had an exhaustive list of concerns, actually, that she was trying to juggle through in the midst of the ceremony taking place for her husband.

At the top of her list, the top priority was essentially wondering how she was going to be able to pay her mortgage now that the family was no longer receiving any income, and the monthly burden of her mortgage was something she had never really had to think about during her husband's entire military career, which had gone on for a long time.

While there are certainly many current provisions in law that try to help people remain in their homes when they come upon some difficult financial problems, I believe that these programs should take into account the special needs of survivors, of dependents, and those with service-connected injuries. That is why I introduced the legislation, the Wounded Warrior and Military Survivor Housing Act with Mr. Minnick. This legislation directs the Secretaries of HUD and the VA to make sure that their housing programs do indeed address the needs of survivors and dependents as well as those who have those service-related injuries.

Mr. Speaker, these are families that have made great sacrifices. These are families that have basically allowed the rest of us to enjoy, and all Americans to enjoy, the freedoms that we have, more freedoms that are unprecedented ever in human history. The least we can do, I think, is recognize those special needs and make sure that we are giving them tools to help them adjust to the changes now that have taken place in their lives.

Mr. Speaker, I would appreciate support for the legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the ranking member of the committee, the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus).

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I just simply want to thank both the staff of the Financial Services Committee as well as the House Veterans Affairs Committee for all their work in this legislation and putting this together. I hope we can pass this bill to help all the families of our service men and women.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6058) to ensure that the housing assistance programs of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Veterans Affairs are available to veterans and members of the Armed Forces who have service-connected injuries and to survivors and dependents of veterans and members of the Armed Forces.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, this bill directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the Veterans Administration to meet the needs of our veterans with service-related injuries and their families with their housing and mortgage programs.

As importantly, the bill asks that HUD and the VA help the survivors and families of these courageous people with respect to these matters. I compliment my colleague from Minnesota (Mr. Paulsen) for his leadership in introducing this legislation and urge my colleagues to pass this bipartisan bill.

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

I would like to thank the gentleman from Alabama for his remarks and the gentleman from Minnesota for his leadership.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Let me say this to both gentlemen offering this legislation: As the father of a marine, I want to commend you for doing this. These young men and women are our true heroes of

today, and their families face many hardships, many challenges, and this ought to be a priority. It's something that everyone in this body should embrace, and I'd like to commend you for standing up for our men and women in uniform and their families. Thank you very much.