[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 2 (Thursday, January 4, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E13]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            INTRODUCTION OF THE ECONOMIC REVITALIZATION ACT

                                 ______


                         HON. WILLIAM J. COYNE

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 4, 1996

  Mr. COYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce an important piece 
of legislation. This bill, the Economic Revitalization Act, would 
expand the Federal Government's role in encouraging local economic 
development efforts across the country.
  Many communities across the country have experienced unprecedented 
job loss and economic dislocation in recent years. These communities 
are in desperate need of economic development activities that will 
provide new jobs and tax revenues.
  Prior to my election to Congress, I served for a number of years as a 
member of the Pittsburgh City Council. My service on the city council 
provided me with substantial first-hand knowledge about the many 
difficult challenges facing State and local governments.
  Since I left the city council to become a Member of Congress, the 
demands on State and local governments have increased substantially 
while the resources at their disposal have declined. In the last 15 
years, the Federal Government has eliminated General Revenue Sharing 
and Urban Development Action Grants. It has also limited funding for 
programs like the Economic Development Administration and Community 
Development Block Grants.
  At the same time, the Federal Government has imposed a number of 
unfunded mandates on State and local governments that require expensive 
new investments in infrastructure like water and sewage treatment 
facilities. Such investments have clearly improved many Americans' 
quality of life, but they have also consumed large portions of State 
and local governments' scarce capital budgets, which might otherwise 
have been used to foster economic development.
  Something needs to be done to target Federal economic development 
assistance at our most troubled communities. The empowerment zone/
enterprise community legislation enacted in 1993 was landmark 
legislation, but the law only authorized empowerment zones and 
enterprise communities in 104 areas around the country. There are many 
more communities in this country that need this kind of help. Moreover, 
while the EZ/EC program will provide much-needed Federal assistance to 
the designated EZ/EC communities, the program does not provide adequate 
resources even for these communities to successfully address the 
difficult social problems that they face.
  Consequently, I introduced a bill in 1993--shortly after the 
enactment of the EZ/EC legislation--that would provide economic 
development assistance to all of the local governments across the 
country that qualified as distressed communities.
  This legislation would establish a new type of tax-exempt private 
activity bond, the distressed community economic development bond. The 
distressed community economic development bond would be targeted at 
communities that have been hard hit by population loss, job loss, slow 
growth, or military base closings. Communities which meet the bill's 
criteria for designation as distressed communities could issue tax-
exempt bonds to promote a wide range of economic development projects 
within their jurisdictions.
  This legislation was not adopted in the 103d Congress, so I am 
introducing it again today. I believe that this legislation would 
provide economically hard-hit communities with the necessary means to 
foster economic growth and create new jobs.
  I do not pretend that this initiative would solve all of the problems 
of our most troubled communities. It could, however, constitute part of 
the solution. In light of the sharp decline in Federal support for 
State and local governments in recent years--and the concurrent growth 
in federally imposed mandates on those same governments--congressional 
action to encourage economic development is long overdue.
  I invite my colleagues to join me as cosponsors of this much-needed 
legislation.

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