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Chairman Scott's remarks as delivered:
Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you to the Ranking Member for her kind comments, and thank you for your hard work on behalf of the American people.
People often ask the question, "Is there anything that's not broken in the nation's capital?"
And I'll tell you, as a great member of the Banking Committee yourself, Madam President, the answer is that there are some things in the nation's capital that are not so broken they cannot be fixed.
One of those things is our ability to think not in terms of left or right, blue or red, Black or white, rich or poor, but instead to focus on the journey many of us have taken to become United States Senators.
The fact of the matter is, I grew up in the Deep South, in South Carolina, in a little place called North Charleston. Without any question, growing up in a single-parent household mired in poverty, the issue of housing is particularly important to me.
I remember when my parents divorced, my brother, my mother, and I shared a bedroom, and a bed, for years in a little 700-square-foot rented unit near my grandparents.
And I will tell you that the American Dream seemed out of reach for so many in my neighborhood, certainly for those of us living on Meeting Street Road, a dirt road at the time.
Later, my mother was able to afford a small apartment, 600 square feet or so, where my brother and I had the pleasure of having our own room, separate from my mother's.
That was what I called a blessing from God, the King of Kings Himself, without any question.
But my mother and my grandparents taught me something very powerful and necessary. They taught me faith in the Lord, perseverance through hard times, and opportunity.
Those three together can transform the hardest of circumstances.
That belief has guided my work on this very important issue of housing.
Young people today are feeling much the same way I did then.
They are delaying marriage.
They are delaying having kids.
They are delaying putting down roots.
Madam President, not because they lack ambition, but because housing prices are too darn high and housing supply is too low.
Rent is too high. Starter homes are too hard to find. And the American Dream slips further and further away for far too many.
Even the gentleman from Pennsylvania is so excited that he had to recognize you, Madam President.
I'll simply say that the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act even gets the junior Senator from Pennsylvania's vote as well.
You may ask yourself: Why is that the case?
I have four important reasons.
First, it cuts red tape. And when you cut red tape, you reduce the cost of housing.
Second, it unlocks housing supply.
When you put more housing supply on the market, more people have a chance to become first-time homebuyers.
Today, the average first-time homebuyer is 40 years old. That is just too old.
And our bill protects taxpayers.
Some have asked the question: How does this make housing more affordable?
I want to highlight two provisions.
The first is one the Ranking Member discussed, and it is what President Trump said during his State of the Union: Houses should be for people, not corporations.
We make it easier for people to have access to housing because of the provision President Trump included in this legislation.
Now, why are there Republicans who disagree with the President on this one? I don't know.
Madam President, you'll have to ask those Republicans.
Senator John Kennedy and the Ranking Member have a piece of legislation embedded in this bill that says something remarkable for Congress, remarkable for the Senate, and, frankly, common sense to everybody outside Washington, D.C.
If you build more housing, you should get more incentives.
If you don't build more housing, you should lose those incentives, and they should go to the places that are building more housing.
Yes, I recognize this is common sense everywhere but here.
Finally, I'll say that the House of Representatives did a fine job embedding in this housing legislation important priorities that I believe will make housing more affordable and more accessible, and will help banks, especially community banks, which are the primary places people go for mortgages, become more engaged in this process.
Once again, this was a bipartisan, bicameral effort to do the work of the people.
I'll close with this, because I know that my five minutes are nearly up.
If we would just focus on the American people and listen when they speak, we will remember two things.
Number one: They hire us; we work for them.
And number two: Like E.F. Hutton, and you're too young to know who that is, Madam President, when E.F. Hutton speaks, we ought to listen.
Our E.F. Hutton is called the American people.
And when we listen, we bring this nation closer together.
Public service should not be about those of us in public service. It should be about the journey we took to get here.
For me, that journey was as a kid born in poverty to a great mother who believed in faith, perseverance, and opportunity.
If we do our part, more kids today being raised in situations and circumstances similar to mine might have hope in the American Dream.
Somewhere, you can read: "Faith, hope, and love."
Hope is not a bad second place, though.
Let's provide more hope and more results for more Americans by simply doing the right thing.
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