mr. chairman , when this bill left the financial services committee on a 65 to 5 vote , i felt we were on the way to a great accomplishment .  i was truly impressed with the hard work that chairman oxley , ranking member frank , congressman baker , and others had done to bring the gses into this century .  it is no less than tragic that the majority leadership and the administration have deep sixed this bipartisan legislation .  the bill creates the sort of regulator that the gses have long lacked and that they demonstrably need , without destroying their housing mission .  i was particularly excited by the affordable housing fund provided by this bill .  the fund is a critical and long-overdue step toward addressing the very real housing crisis that confronts low-income families .  it would be the first concrete step the congress has taken in support of housing in this administration .  we know that without federal assistance , housing for low-income families does not get built or made available .  yet each year this administration has cut its support for housing .  in this bill , we found a bipartisan way to support housing using a new funding source .  the gses were chartered by the federal government for the purpose of providing housing to more americans , and they enjoy a benefit as a result of their federal charter .  thus , it is uniquely appropriate that they plow a percentage of their profits -- up to 5 percent -- back into the low-income end of the housing market .  this would be $ 500 million or more annually .  that is serious money .  we built on success : the fund is modelled after the successful affordable housing program of the federal home loan bank program .  we wanted all players involved .  funds would be awarded through a competitive process to for profit builders , state housing organizations , and non-profits .  we put in place safeguards to prevent abuse .  the funds must be used for low-income housing .  they may not be used to lobby or to conduct partisan political activities .  recipients who misuse funds will not be allowed to participate again .  this bill is the best thing that has come along for housing in a very long time .  therefore it is particularly tragic that the majority has injected a poison pill into the bipartisan bill that left our committee : the provision that prevents any nonprofit recipient of a housing grant from conducting nonpartisan voter registration or get-out-the-vote activities .  this is an outrageously bad provision that imposes unconstitutional restrictions on promoting the most fundamental of our civil liberties : the right to vote .  it is profoundly disturbing that the majority and the administration are willing to use any tool available to kill this bill and prevent the housing fund from becoming a reality .  i urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to repudiate these provisions that strike at faith based organizations and the fundamental right to vote .  i can not in good conscience vote for this bill with this provision in it .  even the promise of housing money comes at too high a price when we must compromise the principles on which this nation is built .  