'You're Not Doing God's Work': Adriano Espaillat Rips HUD Secretary Scott Turner To His Face Over Budget Cuts

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At a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) questioned HUD Sec. Scott Turner about his budget proposal.

Transcript

00:00Gentleman's time has expired. The gentleman from New York, Mr. Espaillat, is recognized for five minutes.

00:14Mr. Espaillat, your mic, I think.

00:16I think it's on now.

00:18Secretary, I want to ask you some basic questions.

00:24Do you consider that there is a homelessness crisis in America?

00:30Yes, sir.

00:33Do you think that there is a housing affordability emergency in America?

00:40I do.

00:42Mr. Secretary, is the rent too damn high in Washington, D.C.?

00:48I believe it's high in a lot of places, sir.

00:51So there is a homelessness crisis.

00:55There is an affordable housing emergency, and the rent is too damn high in many places across America.

01:06And so what does HUD do?

01:09What does this administration propose?

01:10A 51% cut on basic services for housing.

01:19Now, housing, building housing is not a cheap endeavor.

01:23It's a deep pocket challenge anywhere in America.

01:29It's not cheap to build housing.

01:31It costs money.

01:33It costs money.

01:34And so you're cutting 51% of the budget while you recognize that there is a homelessness crisis,

01:42there is an affordable housing emergency, and the rent is too damn high in America.

01:49Now, I represent the district that has probably the biggest concentration of NYCHA apartments.

01:58That's the New York City Housing Authority apartments in the city.

02:01Now, there's 570,000 people live in the city of New York under NYCHA.

02:08Now, you were born in Richardson, Texas.

02:09That town has 119,000 people.

02:15So NYCHA is five times the size of the city that you were born in.

02:20And they have a $78 billion deficit, a deep hole for capital needs.

02:29Boilers, roof work, pointing work, faulty elevators, flooding, mold in the apartments, lead paint in the apartment.

02:47These are the conditions in NYCHA, a $78 billion hole for capital needs.

02:53And you're cutting the budget 51%.

02:56Now, I know that you're familiar.

02:58Sir, can I add?

03:00Can I ask?

03:01I'll ask you a question in a minute.

03:03I know that you're familiar with some football terms.

03:07You said so in your testimony.

03:09So I'm going to just highlight some of the cuts.

03:13$27.2 billion, or 40% cut to rental and homeless assistance program.

03:19To me, that sounds like roughing the pass.

03:21A $2.2 billion, or 71%, cut to housing, construction, supply, and preservation.

03:31That sounds to me like pass interference.

03:33A $3.4 billion, or 100% cut to economic development programs.

03:41To me, that sounds very much like a delay of gain.

03:46A $254 million, or 100% cut to self-sufficiency and pathways to home ownership programs.

03:55That seems that it's a false start.

03:59Mr. Secretary, you have engaged in personal foul on the American people.

04:06These cuts are severe, and they're going to exacerbate the homeless crisis.

04:13They're going to further throw into crisis the affordable housing emergency.

04:18And the rent is going to continue to be too damn high.

04:23You're cutting 51% of the budget.

04:27Housing is an expensive endeavor.

04:30It's no longer a cheap endeavor anywhere in America, anywhere in the world.

04:35It's a deep pocket issue.

04:37And people are sleeping on the street.

04:40And you're doing these cuts so that you can give money to people that sleep in mansions.

04:44That sleep in 5th Avenue, multi-million dollar condos.

04:50That have lakeside houses and beachfront properties.

04:57That's what you're doing.

04:58You're not doing God's work.

05:01That's not God's work.

05:0451% cut.

05:07That's devastating.

05:08That's a personal foul, Madam Chair.

05:12And I yield back.

05:14I reclaim my time.

05:16The referee may have to call a timeout moving forward.

05:19Ma'am, can I answer?

05:20Can I answer this?

05:21The gentleman has yielded his time.

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