00:00Senator Warren and congratulations to you and Senator Scott for putting together this important bipartisan package which makes important investments and policy changes to increase housing supply, to improve affordability and mobility, to help communities recover from disasters, and to ensure that the appraisal process is fair for both buyers and sellers.
00:24As others have said, I see this as a first step, as a modest step, but an important step.
00:33It does include two bills that I advanced with Senators Bozeman and Sheehy to ensure that veterans receive complete information about their home loan benefits and are able to select the most affordable option.
00:47Currently, only about 10 to 15 percent of eligible veterans use VA loans and the simple fixes in this bill will make sure that they know what their options are upfront in the home buying process.
01:00So that and these other provisions I do believe are important step forward.
01:04I do have to say that I'm disappointed that while we take some steps to increase supply, we need to do more.
01:14I'm also disappointed that it does not include the expansion of vouchers.
01:21Senator Young and I have a bipartisan bill that would help families with young children move to greater areas of greater opportunity.
01:31As we know, only one in four families right now that qualifies for rental assistance receives it.
01:37So that's a huge gap.
01:38And our bill actually targeted resources on families with kids because it's been a proven way, empirically proven in the real world, to help families break out of the cycle of poverty.
01:51So I'd hoped we would be able to include that provision.
01:55I understand that there was a decision by our colleagues on the other side of the aisle not to include any provisions regarding vouchers.
02:02I hope we'll revisit that because that was a bipartisan and is a bipartisan initiative.
02:07But let me just again close where I started by congratulating you and Senator Scott on putting together this package.
02:16Thank you, Senator.
02:17Thank you, Senator.
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