Maurice Hinchey: “first I want to express my appreciation to the chairman of the subcommittee for the very diligent and effective work…”

“first I want to express my appreciation to the chairman of the subcommittee for the very diligent and effective work that he has done in putting this bill together and bringing it to the floor. And I am sure the vast majority of the Members of the House very much appreciate the effort and energy and wisdom that has gone into putting this bill together. I have a very modest change that I would like to make in the bill. This change would take $49.5 million out of prison construction and transfer it to the Economic Development Administration. I know that the chairman and other Members of the House have a keen appreciation for the very valuable work that is done by EDA. EDA, in many regards, is one of the most effective economic engines that we have in the Federal Government. Not only has it provided over the years a substantial number of loans and other economic incentives for communities around the country, but all of that money that EDA has put in, the public money, has generated enormous amounts of private investment that have far and away by orders of magnitude surpassed the amount of funds that were provided from public sources. Many jobs have been created, much wealth has been created, and economic growth has been experienced in communities all across the country as a result of the work of EDA.”