Letter to Byron Dorgan and Pete Domenici, Chairman and Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, Re: Fully Fund Appalachian Regional Commission
Clinton Calls on Senate Subcommittee to Fully Fund Appalachian Regional Commission
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today joined a group of Senators in calling on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development to fully fund the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) at $85 million for Fiscal Year 2009. In a letter to Chairman Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Ranking Member Pete Domenici (R-NM), Senator Clinton urged her colleagues to provide the maximum level of funding to assist 410 qualifying counties. The ARC seeks to improve the Appalachian Region's economic competitiveness by strengthening basic infrastructure, improving employability of individuals, and helping to diversify the economy across a 13-state region. The funding will benefit the following New York counties: Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Schuyler, Steuben, Broome, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Otsego, Schoharie, Tioga and Tompkins Counties.
"The ARC provides important assistance to New York's Southern Tier, and fully funding this program will help the region continue its economic development and job creation. I urge my colleagues to give the commission the resources it needs to continue this crucial work," said Senator Clinton.
Senator Clinton has worked to support the ARC. Last year, along with Senator George Voinovich (R-OH), she introduced legislation to reauthorize the ARC through 2011. Additionally, she has worked with Senator Voinovich and Senator John D. Rockefeller (D-WV) to write President Bush urging him to retain vital funding for this Commission. In 2006, Senator Clinton was awarded the Development District Association of Appalachia (DDAA) Congressional Award for her leadership and for her support for the ARC. Senator Clinton also worked to pass amendments to the Appalachian Regional Development Act.
Text of the letter is below:
March 21, 2008
The Honorable Byron Dorgan
Chairman
Subcommittee on Energy and
Water Development
Committee on Appropriations
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Pete Domenici
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Energy and
Water Development
Committee on Appropriations
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Chairman Dorgan and Ranking Member Domenici:
We respectfully request that you include funding in the amount of $85 million for the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) in the Fiscal Year 2009 Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill.
ARC seeks to improve Appalachia's economic competitiveness by overcoming the region's challenges and building on its assets. ARC accomplishes this by strengthening basic infrastructure, improving the employability of individuals living in Appalachia, and helping diversify the regional economy. ARC also administers programs that focus on reducing Appalachia's isolation by constructing the Appalachian Development Highway System and expanding the region's telecommunications capacity.
There are currently 410 counties in the 13-state region that makes up ARC, including 78 counties that currently qualify as distressed on the basis of low per capita income and high poverty and unemployment rates. ARC's reauthorization legislation requires states to spend at least half of their ARC funding on projects benefiting economically distressed counties and areas. ARC has also identified counties that are only marginally outside of the distress designation and recognizes them as "at-risk". There are 78 "at risk" counties this year and ARC allows a 70 percent match to help move them forward.
Since ARC's creation, the poverty rate has been cut in half (from 31 percent to 13 percent), the infant mortality rate has been reduced by two-thirds, and the percentage of adults with at least a high school education has increased by over 70 percent.
ARC-funded health clinics have improved access to health care across the region, and ARC-funded projects have provided more than 800,000 Appalachians access to clean water and sanitation facilities. Moreover, approximately 1.7 million jobs have been retained or created in Appalachia as a result of ARC activities in the region.
In fiscal year 2007, ARC invested $63.6 million in 493 non-highway economic and community development projects and leveraged $216 million in other public funds and $769 million in private investment throughout the region. Overall, ARC leveraged $11 of public sector investment for every $1 of ARC funds. ARC provides vital gap financing to help communities leverage their limited local resources and tap into the array of federal infrastructure programs, including the Economic Development Administration Public Works program and U.S. Department of Agricultural Rural Development programs.
In 2007, ARC-funded projects created or retained 29,000 jobs. Infrastructure projects provided over 23,000 Appalachian households and 1,500 businesses with water and sewer services, many for the first time.
We are requesting an increase to help ARC address even more aggressively the region's infrastructure deficiencies, and persistence of human capital and leadership deficits, which continue to result in concentrated areas of poverty and unemployment. Funding for ARC has been level at around $65 million for the last ten years, and the region continues to receive less federal assistance per capita than the rest of the country.
Congress appropriated $73,032,000 for ARC for fiscal year 2008. The President's fiscal year 2009 budget requests $65 million for ARC. Fully funding the ARC at the $85 million level would allow the agency to continue its important work to improve the quality of life in Appalachia, especially in the region's poorest and most underdeveloped counties.
Despite the impressive accomplishments of ARC, the 410-county region still faces a complex set of economic and social challenges. ARC continues to be an important partner in fostering economic development and improving the quality of life for the 23 million people who live and work in Appalachia. Full funding of $85 million for ARC in fiscal year 2009 would be leveraged with additional federal, state, and local money and would go a long way in making a real difference in the region.
Thank you for your consideration of our request.
Sincerely,