Regional Economic and Infrastructure Development Act of 2007

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I echo the comments of our chairman, especially as regards our ranking member, Mr. Graves, who worked closely with me on this bill to ensure its profoundly bipartisan nature as counties, regardless of part of the country, regardless of who represents them, were selected based on very objective and competitive criteria. I appreciate the bipartisan support that he helped round up and the bipartisan support of so many Members of Congress.

I'm going to ask that my full statement be in the Record, and say only a few words, first about the chairman. It needs to be mentioned where this all started. It started with the extraordinary chairman of the full committee decades ago, when he created the notion of a bill to address the most impoverished sections of the country, beginning with, of course, the classic one that everyone knows, Appalachia. All we're doing here is expanding on Mr. Oberstar's work.

I must say, so much that has happened in our committee is emblematic of his career. It will be hard to say what his signature bill is; but knowing him, I think he would probably want this bill to rise up among them because of who benefits, those who have least benefited from the most prosperous economy the world has ever known.

This bill is back here by popular demand, and I use that in the technical sense of the word. The subcommittee
was besieged by Members saying, We want commissions, How come we don't have a commission, and then coming forward with statistics to show that, under the definition of persistent poverty, they now qualified. It wasn't easy to get a commission or to get in this bill, with one of the counties included in this bill. We held hearings, and we used very objective criteria that you had to fit in order for us, after the hearings, after full study to say, yes, that county, among many in the United States that are suffering today, should have the special attention of a regional commission.

And we think, Mr. Speaker, that as the global economy has expanded throughout our country because of all the pressures, the natural pressures that come from that and from international trade, many came forward and wanted to be included as part of these commissions. But we held to the criteria set when the Oberstar bill was first passed: there had to be systemic poverty. And the region or the county, in order to be included, had to be clearly underdeveloped relative to what was possible. And so you had only two commissions, and then you have three added now.

When it comes to poverty, there is always controversy about what works. And this time we really know what works because this bill is patterned on the very successful, indeed the acclaimed, Appalachian Regional Commission. And the bill itself simply wants to make sure that administrative procedures and methods for distributing the economic development funds are uniform. When you consider that most of the funds that will flow to these regions far and away are private funds, one has to really look at this bill as a small public investment for enormous returns in private attraction and investment.

Mr. Speaker, I want to say just a word to extricate ourselves from the stereotypes about certain regions, like the northern border region which stretches from Maine to New York. We're talking about a region that some might consider in light of large cities in the region; but if you look as the commission methodology looks at counties in the region, you will understand why the northern border qualifies: few basic industries, overdependence in today's economy on agriculture, and 12.5 percent of the population living in poverty.

Or take the southeastern region of the United States, the Sunbelt, which everyone associates with economic growth, and well you might. But these are also the States which have historically most lagged behind the national economy.

And so we have regions in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. And the reason we have them, of course, is that on top of industrial and technological underdevelopment, this is the region in the United States that has natural disasters at a rate of two or three times the rest of the country.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, I want to say that, of all of the aspects of this bill, I think that which has been embraced most by our committee is the record of private investment in the region once we designate a commission and once it begins to operate.

It really does tell us much about the ``blessing of the Federal Government'' and the methodology used by this commission. It tells us much about the reputation of what these commissions have done.

I have been in Congress 16 years. I have seldom sat in hearings where people came forward not with criticisms but with glowing examples of how a specific approach to poverty in our country works. I therefore strongly recommend the bill. I commend all of those, of whom there are dozens, who had a hand in its design.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3246 amends title 40, United States Code, to provide a comprehensive regional approach to economic and infrastructure development in the most severly economically distressed regions in the Nation.

H.R. 3246 the Regional Economic and Infrastructure Development Act of 2007, authorizes two existing comissions and three new regional economic development commissions under a common framework of administration and management, and further provides a framework for good decision making and planning. These Commissions are designed to address problems of systemic poverty and underdevelopment in their respective regions. The five commissions are: the Delta Regional Commission, the Northern Great Plains Regional Commission, the Southeast Crescent Regional Commission, the Southwest Border Regional Commission, and the Northern Border Regional Commission.

This bill models the administrative and management procedures for these five Comissions after the highly successful Appalachian Regional Commission. The bill provides for a voting structure, provisions regarding staffing, conflicts of interest, local development districts, and other matters designed to produce a standard administrative framework. By providing a uniform set of procedures, this bill provides a consistent method for distributing economic development funds throughout the regions most in need of such assistance and ensures a comprehensive regional approach to economic and infrastructure development in the most severely distressed regions in the country.

The Northern Border Regional Commission, the Southeast Crescent Regional Commission, and the Southwest Border Regional Commission have been proposed in legislation introduced in this and previous Congresses and are designed to address problems of systemic poverty and underdevelopment in those regions. Additional, the Delta Regional Commission and the Northern Great Plains Commission would be reauthorized through this legislation.

H.R. 3246 authorizes funds for each commission to provide vital assistance for the development of our Nation's most chronically poor and distressed regions.

I would like to say of few words about the uniqueness of each of the new commissions being authorized by this bill. The Southwest border region includes all counties within 150 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. This region contains 11 counties in New Mexico, 65 counties in Texas, 10 counties in Arizona, and 7 counties in California for a combined population of approximately 29 million. According to research compiled by the Interagency Task Force on the Economic Development of the Southwest Border: 20 percent of the residents in this region of the nation live below the poverty level, unemployment rates often reach as high as five times the national unemployment rate, and a lack of adequate access to capital has created economic disparities and made it difficult for businesses to start up in the region.

The Northern border region stretching from Maine to New York, while abundant in natural resources and rich in potential, lags behind much of the Nation in its economic growth, and its people have not shared properly in the Nation's prosperity. The region's historic reliance on a few basic industries and agriculture has failed to provide a diverse enough economic base for vigorous, self-sustaining growth. In the belt of counties along the Northern border from Maine through New York, 12.5 percent of the population lives in poverty, median household income is more than $6,500 below the national average, unemployment through layoffs in traditional manufacturing industries is persistent, and the population only grew by 0.6 percent between 1990 and 2000, while the U.S. population rose by 13.2 percent, showing significant out migration and loss of young people.

The southeastern portion of the United States, encompassing the states of Virgina, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida, is an area which has seen poverty rates well above the national average coupled with record unemployment. The region has also experienced natural disasters at a rate of two to three times greater than any other region of the U.S. The SouthEast Crescent Authority (SECA) authorizes a local-state-federal partnership to lift citizens in this geographic area out of poverty and create jobs. With the federal allocation of funding, SECA seeks to funnel monies to programs which address one or more of the following criteria for community betterment: (1) infrastructure, (2) education and job training, (3) health care, (4) entrepreneurship, and (5) leadership development. Those communities with the greatest need will be targeted, and grants will be made according to the degree of distress.

This bill has broad bi-partisan support, and the Committee has held a series of hearings regarding the need for these economic development commissions.

I support the bill and urge the passage of H.R. 3246.

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