Mr. NADLER. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment.

The text of the amendment is as follows:

Amendment offered by Mr. Nadler:

Page 80, line 24, after the dollar amount, insert the following: ``(increased by $70,000,000)''.

Page 80, line 25, after the dollar amount, insert the following: ``(increased by $70,000,000)''.

Page 81, line 3, after the dollar amount, insert the following: ``(increased by $70,000,000)''.

Page 113, line 16, after the dollar amount, insert the following: ``(reduced by $100,000,000)''.

The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to the order of the House of today, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler) and a Member opposed each will control 5 minutes.

The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York.

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, this amendment would increase funding for Section 8 housing vouchers by $70 million to enable an additional 10,000 low-income families to afford safe, decent housing.

To offset this increase, the amendment cuts the Working Capital Fund for a poorly managed computer upgrade program. Even with the reduction, the bill would still provide $94 million in working capital funds for IT projects in eight accounts scattered around the bill other than the Working Capital Fund itself.

We have a choice, Mr. Chairman. Do we want to help thousands of families obtain affordable housing, or do we think it is more important to have a somewhat faster computer upgrade in HUD? If we support American families, we should support this amendment.

We all understand the budget is extremely tight and that many programs are facing cuts. Our amendment, therefore, does not seek to restore the amount to the amount that the President recommended, which is $144 million more than the committee recommends, it seeks merely to restore $70 million, or about half of what the difference is to what the President recommended.

This is less than the bare minimum of what is needed. We have hundreds of thousands of families on waiting lists, waiting 8, 9, 10 years for decent housing for Section 8 vouchers.

This amendment will enable us to provide vouchers to about 10,000 of those families. That is our choice. The Section 8 housing voucher program provides safe, affordable housing to approximately 2 million American families in urban and rural communities in our country.

Those vouchers are often the only resource for low-income families confronted by our Nation's affordable housing crisis.

Mr. Chairman, many Republicans support this amendment. We passed a similar amendment last year with Republican support. 141 Members have signed a letter in support of fully funding the President's request, which would be twice the size of this amendment. 225 Members, including 30 Republicans, voted for an essentially similar amendment last year.

I urge everyone on both sides of the aisle to vote for this amendment.

Finally, let me say that we may be told that the offset would leave no funds in the computer account. The fact is the committee has been very ingenious in squirreling away money in different accounts.

Mr. Chairman, I have here a list of all of the places in the bill where money is squirreled away for these computers. There is a total of $194 million. With this amendment it would still leave $94 million for this purpose.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the chairman. I urge everyone to vote for this amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I would offer this chart for the RECORD. I am pleased to announce also that the amendment has gained the support of the AARP and the National League of Cities. Once again, the choice is, will we provide 10,000 families with safe, decent housing, at the price of slightly slowing down a computerization program for the bureaucrats at HUD?

That is the choice. I hope everyone will vote yes on the Nadler-Velazquez Amendment.

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

Mr. KNOLLENBERG. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition.

The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. KNOLLENBERG. Mr. Chairman, the bill before us fully funds the renewal of Section 8 vouchers. Additional funds, especially ones at the expense of critical programs, are simply not necessary. The cost of Section 8 vouchers are remaining constant and in some markets are actually decreasing.

As such, this funding level will not only maintain the current level of vouchers, but also provide funds to restore vouchers that may have been lost in recent years.

The proposed reduction to the Working Capital Fund leaves a funding level that is not sufficient to support HUD's existing needs and will cause delays in critically needed efforts to modernize antiquated legacy systems in such areas as HUD's core financial systems and FHA mortgage program systems.

More importantly, the funds of the Working Capital Fund are the funds that ensure that HUD is able to make Section 8 payments on time. Ironically, cutting this program to boost Section 8 will have a very real and negative impact on the Section 8 program.

So therefore, I must urge a no vote on this amendment.

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

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Chairman, how much time do we have remaining?

The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman has 2 minutes remaining.

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, the fact is we have waiting lists in many of our cities of 8, 9, and 10 years for Section 8 vouchers.  We could do much, much more than this amendment would do and shorten these waiting lists to 5 and 6 years.

Mr. Chairman, it is wrong for low-income Americans to have to wait 8, 9 and 10 years for decent, safe housing. This amendment will go a little ways toward supplying that need.

The chairman says that the committee's proposal funds all of the Section 8 vouchers. It funds enough Section 8 vouchers to continue a waiting list of 8, 9, and 10 years.

Now, it is true the offset takes some money away from a computerization account at HUD, but it leaves $94 million for that purpose. The computerization at HUD can go a little more slowly, and 10,000 additional families will have decent housing.

That is the choice. HUD can do, and do very well, with $94 million for this computerization program squirreled away in different sections of the bill as I have here outlined.

But 10,000 families might not have to wait 9, 10 years for decent housing. Mr. Chairman, that is the choice in the amendment. That is why I urge everyone to vote for the amendment.

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

The CHAIRMAN. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler).

The question was taken; and the Chairman announced that the noes appeared to have it.

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule XVIII, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from New York will be postponed.