Additional Statements

Floor Speech

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Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, this week marks the 50th anniversary of the signing of legislation to create the Appalachian Regional Commission, ARC.

In the decade of the 1960s, intense poverty and economic struggle characterized the existence for many people and towns running down the spine of the Appalachian Mountains. At the time, more than 19 million Americans were living in the Appalachian region and struggling to achieve the American dream.

The magnitude and vastness of the challenges in Appalachia, which spread across many States, led the region's Governors in 1960 to form the Conference of Appalachian Governors to develop a regional approach for resolving these complex issues.

In 1961, they took their case to newly elected President John F. Kennedy, who had been deeply moved by the poverty he saw during campaign trips to West Virginia. Their efforts led to the creation of the Appalachian Regional Commission and a broad bipartisan coalition in Congress passed the Appalachian Regional Development Act, ARDA, early in 1965. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed it into law on March 9, 1965. It is a unique agency to this day, made up of one Federal co-chair and 13 Governors who serve as State co-chairs. It also receives local input on allocation of resources from the local development districts.

Over the last 50 years, it has been able to inject Federal funds and leverage State and private resources to address the deep needs of this region. Much success has been achieved, but yet much remains to be done.

Poverty has been cut in half in Appalachia from nearly 31 percent of the region's people in 1960 to about 16 percent today.

In 1960, only 32 percent of the Appalachian population completed high school and 5 percent had a college degree. Since then, the number of college graduates had increased four-fold to 21 percent.

One of the most critical challenges facing the Appalachian region in 1964 was its relative isolation. With the aid of the Appalachian Regional Commission, nearly 2,700 miles of highway development routes have been built.

Since 1965, ARC has financed nearly 25,000 separate strategic investments in non-highway activities in the region, which includes $3.8 billion in Federal funds. The positive result has been that nearly three times that amount, $9 billion has been forthcoming in matching funds from other Federal, State and local funding sources. Better yet, ARC-financed investments in Appalachia have also leveraged nearly $16 billion in added private investment.

I want to congratulate the Appalachian Regional Commission on its 50th Anniversary. I look forward to working with and supporting the future efforts of ARC and the local development districts as they continue to work with the States, localities and the private sector to build the economy of the Appalachian region.

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