mr. chairman , i thank the gentleman from south carolina ( mr. spratt )  for yielding me this time .  mr. chairman , i would ask the members on the republican side of the aisle this evening to find one republican mayor in america , one , who favors what they are about to do to the community development block grant program .  the community development block grant program has been extraordinarily successful .  it has had broad bipartisan support for as long as i can remember .  and we ask , how did that come about ?  it came about because there was a republican president named richard nixon who created what he believed to be the new federalism , and there were overwhelming majorities of democrats in the congress who accepted that leadership with this simple idea , that , yes , washington , because from time to time they exacerbate problems at the local level , and if that was to be the case , how would we funnel some resources to the local government but allow , and listen to this because it is a critical aspect of the community development block grant program , local decision-making , meaning that the so what does this congress decide to do with this extraordinarily popular and successful initiative ?  they are going to cut it .  they are going to cut it back .  i do not think we can find a republican governor in america who supports what they are about to do with the community development block grant program .  and what is it used for ?  overwhelmingly , it is used for housing .  the number of substandard units of housing in america that have been brought back to life because of cdbg allocations is most impressive .  and then let us throw in the next part of what cdbg does .  it provides ample opportunity for economic development .  they might expedite the paving of a roadway to an industrial park so that there can be new business growth and new job opportunities in cities and towns across america .  and what else might they do with it ?  there are all kinds of public parks across this country that have succeeded because of community development block grant programs .  some of them in the lowest income neighborhoods of america .  and do my colleagues know what else ?  some of them in great middle-income neighborhoods across this nation as well .  as a member of the alumni association that is exceedingly small in this congress , called former mayors , i might point out that if we assembled mayors across america , the united states conference of mayors , we would be hard pressed to go into that room and find one mayor who supports what they are about to do to the most popular domestic urban program called community development block grant money .  