Nick Rahall: “I would submit those conditions from whatever report the gentleman is quoting are based on other conditions, other than…”

“I would submit those conditions from whatever report the gentleman is quoting are based on other conditions, other than what ARC has done for our region, because the Appalachian Regional Commission has dramatically improved life in Appalachia, and it has helped us get back on our feet in many depressed areas of this country. It is a program that works, it works from the grassroots up, not from the top down. So I would submit to the gentleman that the ARC is still vitally needed in many Appalachian poor rural parts of this Nation. My home State of West Virginia happens to be the only State that is totally within the 13-state ARC region, and we strongly support the program. Madam Chairman, I rise to protest the amendment to gut the Appalachian Regional Commission ARC, just as we prepare to cut the ribbon on a new wastewater treatment system for Baghdad paid for by the American people. The ARC provides vital infrastructure investments throughout Appalachia, a historically distressed area of the country that spans 13 states including all of West Virginia, my home state.”