Political Quotes

“I rise in strong support of H.R. 2442, the Economic Development Administration authorization bill. I would like to commend our chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic Development of the Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Kanjorski] for all the work he has put into this legislation. I had the privilege of working closely with Mr. Kanjorski on this bill, and he certainly deserves a lot of credit for his thoughtful and speedy work to bring the legislation to the floor. Mr. Chairman, H.R. 2442 is long overdue. After 12 years trying to eliminate the EDA, we have leadership which finally understands the job creation, and economic development and communities revitalization potential of the EDA. It seemed the Federal Government abandoned Federal programs that could have generated jobs and caused community-based development in the 1980's, and this shortsightedness is clearly demonstrated by the continued efforts to eliminate the EDA. Fortunately, Mr. Chairman, enough Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle recognized the importance of EDA to prevent its outright abolition. However, the program underwent severe budget reductions. In real dollars, EDA is now only one-fifth of its 1980 budget. This bill begins to rebuild the EDA.”