mr. speaker , i thank the gentleman for yielding me time , and i rise in support today of this rule . 
i have been listening with great interest to some of the debate , which i must admit is a little bit confusing to me . 
i hear some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle argue that essentially this is a closed rule ; yet i look at the fact that we will be voting on a number of amendments later today , a number of which were offered by democratic members . 
i understand there is an accusation that somehow language dealing with the affordable housing fund , that members do not have an ability to weigh in on that . 
as i look at the manager 's amendment , substantially all of it has to do with the affordable housing fund issue . 
so if for some reason you do not like this language , you have an opportunity to vote on it . 
so it seems to me that the process and procedures dealing with this very important issue are quite open . 
if you do not like it , vote against the manager 's amendment . 
vote for the underlying bill . 
now , let us move to the substance of the arguments as far as the creation of the so-called affordable housing fund . 
i for one am not convinced of the need for yet another government so-called affordable housing program . 
already we have over 80 different government programs ostensibly aimed at affordable housing . 
we have got community development block grant for insular areas ; shelter plus care , s plus c emergency shelter grant . 
we have housing opportunities , the hopwa program , one- to four-family mortgage insurance , section 203 ( b ) . 
we have got counseling for home buyers , supporting housing for the elderly , and the list goes on and on and on . 
mr. speaker , the truth is there is no greater housing program than the american free enterprise system , which is created by the creation of jobs , which , under the economic policies of this administration and this republican congress , are working . 
over 4 million new jobs have been created . 
and guess what , mr. speaker ? 
we now have achieved the highest rate of homeownership in the entire history of the united states of america . 
that is astounding . 
we have the highest rate of homeownership in the entire history of america . 
the question or the debate is not how much money we are going to spend on housing ; the question is who is going to do the spending ? 
is it going to be american families , or is it going to be government bureaucracies ? 
now , i know this fund is included in the bill , and so be it , i support the legislation . 
but the question is , going forward , if we are going to have yet another housing fund , should not it be used for housing ? 
why open up the opportunity for it to be subverted into things like political activities ? 
i do not understand if those who have advocated on behalf of the funds truly want to help the low-income , then why do we not simply increase the section 8 voucher program ? 
why do we not cut out the middleman ? 
that is what we need to do . 
