Sherwood Boehlert: “Mr. Chairman, the author of this amendment has acknowledged that every year he comes to the floor and proposes a near…”

“Mr. Chairman, the author of this amendment has acknowledged that every year he comes to the floor and proposes a near identical amendment. When is he going to get the message? Every year this House has increasing support for the Economic Development Administration. Every single year the opposition is on the decline. Why is that? One of my colleagues, a previous speaker, said the American people send us here to make tough choices. Indeed they do. But they do not want us to make dumb choices. I will tell you what the Economic Development Administration is all about. It is about my favorite four-letter word, and you can use it in polite company. That favorite four-letter word is ``jobs,'' jobs that put Americans to work. Now, if you want to tell me that EDA does not work, I will take you to community after community around this country that has been devastated by the loss of a military installation. We are told that is a peace dividend, that we do not need as many military bases, and I can understand that. But what about those communities that one day face the loss of thousands of jobs? Where do they turn to? They look to Washington, and, fortunately, we have the Economic Development Administration to help these communities try to help themselves.”