mr. chairman , i rise in strong support of the congressional black caucus 's budget that is being presented here today . 
this budget is more responsible certainly than the president 's budget , certainly than the republican budget , and it has taken into consideration the real needs of the people of this country . 
i want to talk a little bit about cdbg ; that is , the community development block grant . 
by formula , every city , town , state in america receives funds from this community development block grant program . 
this money is block granted to these entities in order to assist these cities with everything from infrastructure development , assistance with housing so that people can get into homes , being assisted with down payments , with rental assistance ; with 501 ( c ) ( 3 ) s , nonprofit organizations , that are providing services for at-risk youth , for seniors , for the kinds of programs that these cities and towns could never fund without this block grant . 
in many ways this money that is going to the cities is the last of the moneys to deal with poverty , to deal with the lack of resources because of the inability of these cities and towns to be able to raise the kind of revenue that could help them with the very basic needs of their cities . 
this president decided to cut this particular block grant by 35 percent . 
i think that amounts to about $ 1.9 billion . 
the good thing about what this president has done is he has brought together from both sides of the aisle representatives who know the value of this program and who are going to work together and support the kind of funding that has been put back into this budget by the cbc budget . 
the cbc funds cdbg to the 2005 level , and that is the way it should be . 
i would urge support for the congressional black caucus 's very thoughtful and well developed budget . 
mr. chairman , i rise in strong support of the cbc substitute budget . 
the cbc budget rejects the failed budget policies of the bush administration and would return us to a policy of investing in education , job training , housing , veterans and community development programs that millions of people depend on . 
it would reduce the deficit and restore fiscal responsibility to a budget process that has run amuck . 
mr. chairman , because the cbc believes that education is the greatest legacy that we can provide to our children , the cbc 's budget fully funds no child left behind . 
we also provide an additional $ 2.5 billion for school construction and an additional $ 450 million for pell grants which will help thousands more students attend college . 
we also increase funding for head start by $ 2 billion over the republican budget so that we can ensure that more low-income children are properly prepared to enter the first grade . 
the cbc budget substitute recognizes the vital role that the community development block grant ( cdbg ) program plays in improving our communities . 
the republican budget proposes to cut cdbg by at least $ 800 million and the cuts could end up as high as the $ 1.9 billion cut proposed by the president . 
these cuts to the cdbg program will leave a huge hole in the budgets of our local governments , a hole they can not and will not be able to fill with their own resources . 
the cbc budget substitute rejects these cuts , and instead provides an increase of $ 1.2 billion more than the republican budget for cdbg . 
we also reject the $ 286 million in cuts proposed for the hope vi program and instead provide $ 500 million for hope vi so that it may continue its important role in rehabilitating our nation 's public housing . 
the cbc budget also provides an additional $ 880 million for section 8 housing programs , preserving and expanding this vital safety net program for millions of people . 
mr. chairman , the cbc substitute is a strong and compassionate budget that meets the needs of the american people . 
i urge my colleagues to support it and to reject the republican budget . 
