Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to rise in opposition to this amendment for a variety of reasons. I think that we should remember the fact that the Appalachian Regional Commission is one of only two Federal agencies that exist whose mission is to try to do something about job generation at the local level and at the rural level. The two programs I am speaking of are ARC and EDA, and these are the only two programs that really have a focus on the economic problems, the distress problems that are peculiar to rural areas. The focus of the programs has always been in those distressed areas of rural America. I think that is an important thing to bear in mind on my side of the aisle, because so many of us represent those kinds of areas that do have problems that have existed over the years. It is true, Mr. Chairman, that the Appalachian region has enjoyed some measure of improvement over the period of time, but it is also true that because of the fact that the economy of that region was largely built on extractive industries, now because of the disappearance of those industries we are having a transition problem to new forms of an economy, and the program is still vital, I think, for that region.”