Economic Development Revitalization Act of 2011

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, the one thing that all Members of Congress agree we need more of is jobs.

Illinois recently published its most recent statewide unemployment numbers and there is no question that the numbers are disappointing. Following 15 straight months of declining unemployment, unemployment rates rose for the first time to 8.9 percent. The only way to decrease the unemployment rate is to ensure robust job growth in all parts of the country. And while Members from different parties often disagree on how to help create jobs, the Economic Development Administration, EDA, reauthorization before us today is a great example of bipartisan legislation that can help.

On May 1, 1961, President Kennedy signed into law a bill creating the precursor of the Economic Development Agency, the Area Redevelopment Administration, ARA. The ARA was championed by another Illinois Senator and the man who gave me my start as an intern in this building, Senator Paul Douglas.

ARA provided assistance to distressed areas through loans and grants for public facilities; technology and market information; and research grants in order to spur economic growth. Sound familiar? Paul Douglas believed then, as I believe now, there is a proper role for government to play in assisting distressed communities and regions.

Now for 50 years, the ARA and then the EDA have helped communities identify the best strategies for creating economic growth and leveraging private investment to help create jobs. EDA remains focused on assisting distressed communities and communities recovering from disasters.

And it has been very effective. Every Federal dollar invested in EDA projects attracts $7 additional dollars in private investments in these distressed communities. And even in the midst of this last recession and sparse private investments, EDA-funded public/private projects created an estimated 161,500 jobs in the last 2 1/2 years.

In Illinois in 2009 and 2010 alone, EDA funded 52 projects that resulted in nearly $70 million in new investments in the State. But beyond just the numbers, I want to give you some real life examples of EDA's impact in Illinois communities

Under the 2010 EDA Community Trade Adjustment Assistance Program, the city of Galesburg and Knox County identified themselves as significantly impacted by trade. EDA funded a project that allowed for the creation of the Entrepreneurs Innovate & Go Global Initiative to help develop entrepreneurs at every level. The grantees are putting together workshops and training that focuses on entrepreneurship, innovation and globalization. EDA assistance also includes technical assistance in commercialization that will ultimately help small businesses and new entrepreneurs streamline business plans and create new jobs.

Under the Recovery Act, EDA helped fund the creation of a micro revolving loan fund for Accion Chicago, a spinoff of an international nonprofit organization dedicated to microfinance. ACCION is using the project funds to expand its existing microlending activities in Cook County and to promote entrepreneurship by providing loan capital and financial literacy counseling to clients who don't have access to traditional bank credit. The $1,200,000 revolving loan fund is projected to make 120 loans in the initial round of lending--creating or saving about 400 jobs.

After terrible flooding in 2008 and the subsequent disaster declaration, EDA was able to award $677,000 in disaster supplemental funding to the city of Princeton. The city of Princeton used these funds to build infrastructure for a 137-acre industrial site, including rehabilitation of existing roadway, construction of new roadway, water-main, sewer lines, and city-owned electric and fiber optic cable. This project not only will improve the long-term economic options for the community, but is expected to create 500 jobs and induce $50,000,000 in private investment in the region.

The bill on the floor right now would reauthorize EDA to continue making these necessary investments for an additional 5 years. And it would also improve flexibility and efficiency at the agency. For example, the bill would allow EDA to do more in the most distressed communities by increasing the cap on the Federal share of projects in areas that have very high unemployment rates and very low per capita income. And it would allow communities using EDA's revolving loan fund to more easily shift those dollars to the economic development project with the greatest potential to help the region.

When Senator Douglas led the effort to create ADA he faced opposition from none other than Senator Goldwater. Senator Goldwater argued that distressed regions are, and I quote, ``perfectly normal to the economic cycle of American enterprise, and not in need of government intervention.''

While history has proven he is wrong, at least this is a debatable argument. At least he was grappling with policy issues actually being considered. The reality is, if Congress wants to help create jobs and bring down the unemployment rate, we need to be able to pass simple pieces of legislation that will help create jobs with little to no costs. Instead for the second time in 2 months, we find a jobs bills fillibustered by amendment.

If we can't find a way to work together on bills like EDA reauthorization or SBIR/STTR reauthorization, the American public is justified in believing that we will do nothing to help create jobs. And to borrow a quote from Paul Douglas during his work on ADA, ``The lives of too many human beings are at stake to sit by and do nothing .....''

I urge my colleagues to support the legislation and move quickly to final passage.

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