Political Quotes

“I rise today in sharp opposition to the amendment offered by the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Klug]. I hope that my fellow Members of the freshman class are paying close attention. Several weeks ago I had occasion to hear an address by the Speaker of the House. In those remarks the Speaker talked about the need for dramatic decentralization of government where, and I quote, ``local folks are solving local problems with local strategies.'' Now, Mr. Chairman, I know of only one Federal program which is qualified to serve as a model for this approach, and that is the Appalachian Regional Commission. Mr. Chairman, dollar for dollar the ARC is one of the best bargains we get in Congress each year. Now, as the gentleman from Kentucky and the gentleman from Pennsylvania related, the ARC is a model for local, State, and Federal cooperation. Under this model, local officials suggest options and refer them to their Governor. The Governor then prioritizes a list and sends it to the national office, which works in conjunction with the Governors to select applications for approval. Most of these projects are then administered locally by local planning and development districts located in the community selected. The Federal dollars used under ARC serve to leverage many more times that amount in State and local matches. In many cases the ratio of local and State funds to Federal dollars is as much as five to one, as the gentleman from Maryland pointed out.”