[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 106 (Friday, July 31, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1497-E1498]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




DEPARTMENTS OF VETERANS AFFAIRS AND HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND 
             INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1999

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. KAREN McCARTHY

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 29, 1998

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 4194) making 
     appropriations for the Departments of Veterans Affairs and 
     Housing and Urban Development, and for sundry independent 
     agencies, boards, commissions, corporations, and offices for 
     the fiscal year ending September 30, 1999, and for other 
     purposes:


  Ms. McCARTHY. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to commend my colleagues for 
joining me in passing significant changes to the H.R. 4194, The 
Veterans Administration (VA)--Housing and Urban Development (HUD)--
Independent Agencies Appropriations bill to remove restrictive language 
regarding the Brownfields initiative. Continued federal support and 
funding for this initiative is critical to the revitalization of our 
nation's urban core. In my district, Kansas City, Missouri, and our 
friends across the state line in Kansas City, Kansas, have joined to 
form a unique and innovative Brownfields partnership. This bi-state 
junction has not only received an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 
Brownfields grant in 1996, but recently was designated one of only 16 
cities in the nation to become a Showcase Community.

[[Page E1498]]

  Redevelopment already has begun to revitalize our area. The Westside 
Business Park has been fighting for many years to hurdle the 
environmental constraints that had stunted its economic growth. Through 
the Brownfields Initiative the shackles have been broken and today more 
than $14 million dollars in HUD Economic Development Initiative Money 
has been secured for assistance. Union Station built in 1914 is one of 
the city's greatest historical assets in need of rejuvenation for reuse 
as a transit, cultural, and commercial center. Yet $4 million dollars 
in asbestos abatement must occur before the dream of restoration and 
reuse can become a reality. Without the Kansas City Brownfields 
Initiative this would not be possible.
  These stories only mark the beginning. The resources needed to 
accomplish these tremendous tasks throughout the country can only be 
accessed if all the government agencies continue as a team to help the 
blighted abandoned warehouses, gas stations, and parking lots that face 
environmental hardships in order to turn into the schools, businesses, 
and recreational areas that our neighborhoods need and deserve.
  I again applaud my colleagues for realizing it is necessary to assist 
the Brownfields Initiative for the sake of our nation's economic 
growth.

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