Scott Klug: “this amendment that we have before us now, my colleagues, is an amendment offered by myself, the gentleman from Florida…”

“this amendment that we have before us now, my colleagues, is an amendment offered by myself, the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Goss], and also the gentleman from Utah [Mr. Orton]. I would like to congratulate the chairman of the committee, the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Myers], and the hard work the committee did on making some very significant cuts already in the Appalachian Regional Commission. Established in 1965, the Appalachian Regional Commission provides additional money to 13 States, which, as you might take from the title, run along the Appalachian mountain range, stretching from New York on the north, through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Now, keep that list in mind, if you would, Mr. Chairman, because I suspect most of the speakers we will hear from on the other side of this issue, as luck would have it, happen to fall from the 13 States which are directly affected by this money. Since 1965, we have spent more than $7 billion in the Appalachian region, trying to bolster economic growth in these 13 States. And I think to ask ourselves, Mr. Chairman, what have we gotten for that $7 billion of investment and why it is 30 years later we are still trying to fund the exact same programs?”