[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 42 (Thursday, April 10, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H1396]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 ARC ROAD PROGRAM BENEFITS OUR ECONOMY

  (Mr. STRICKLAND asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. STRICKLAND. Mr. Speaker, I was dismayed by a letter I received 
yesterday from the chairman of the House Committee on the Budget. It 
seems that he considers the Appalachian Regional Commission's road-
building program corporate welfare, saying that it is used to, quote, 
``link well-to-do urban centers with other well-to-do urban centers''.
  Now, perhaps that is the case with road-building programs in 
Columbus, OH, but I can assure my colleagues that, in my part of Ohio, 
ARC road funds are used to bring economic development and jobs to 
remote communities.
  Other regions take good roads for granted while the Appalachian 
people do without. The ARC road program was a promise the Federal 
Government made to the American people of Appalachia in 1965. It is now 
77 percent complete. It is not corporate welfare, it is basic 
infrastructure.
  I am hopeful that the good chairman will reconsider his assertions 
about the worth of this essential program. We need to finish the job 
and to keep our commitment to the people. The taxpayers in my district 
want concrete results. We need pavement, not broken promises.

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