Porter Goss: “we hear over and over on this floor the importance of deficit reduction and responsible congressional oversight. Yet…”

“we hear over and over on this floor the importance of deficit reduction and responsible congressional oversight. Yet time and again this Congress is quick to create massive new spending programs, and glacially slow to terminate wasteful or obsolete ones. During consideration of this year's budget resolution, I put forth a list of 76 specific spending cuts to save $285 billion over 5 years-- termination of the ARC and the EDA were 2 of these cuts. Since the majority leadership seems determined to prevent any comprehensive spending cut package from reaching the floor this year, I am happy to come here to argue the merits of each specific spending cut on an individual basis. The Appalachian Regional Commission [ARC] was created in 1965 to address the issue of poverty and economic deterioration in a broad swath of the Eastern United States known as Appalachia. The region includes all of West Virginia and parts of 12 other States, encompassing 195,000 square miles and a population of about 21 million. The ARC is a joint Federal-State effort, with the majority of the funding coming from the Federal Government. Cumulative through 1993, the Federal Government has spent $6.4 billion on ARC development programs. Most experts agree that it is impossible to say for certain whether the ARC has had a real impact.”