Lincoln Chafee: “the amendment that I have submitted would assist seven States--Arizona, Indiana, Michigan, Oklahoma, South Carolina…”

“the amendment that I have submitted would assist seven States--Arizona, Indiana, Michigan, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin. This assistance would be in addition to the increases already provided to these States in the Chafee amendment that the Senate adopted last week. The Chafee amendment provided allocations to the States in three categories--the Appalachian Regional Commission program, the density program, and the bonus program for donor States--to bring their minimum up to 91 cents on the dollar. Six of the seven States to be assisted by this proposal did not qualify for either the Appalachian Regional Commission program or the density program in the Chafee amendment. The other State--South Carolina--that would receive assistance under this proposal received only $1.4 million per year from the ARC program in the Chafee amendment. Thus, the proposal is to provide an additional amount to donor States that received no, or very little, money from the ARC and density programs in the Chafee amendment. The proposal is to take $70 million per year for 5 years--1999 through 2003--from the Federal research program and distribute that amount among the seven States. Thirty percent of the new funds would be distributed equally among the States--$3 million per State--and 70 percent would be distributed according to the share of payments to the trust fund in 1996.”