[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 87 (Tuesday, June 22, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1208-E1209]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      LET'S MAKE AMERICA'S INFRASTRUCTURE A PRIORITY BEFORE IRAQ'S

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. NICK J. RAHALL II

                            of west virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 22, 2004

  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, clean water is again flowing into the Tigris 
River thanks to the U.S. Taxpayer and the good people from my home 
State of West Virginia. How grand, how good, how generous the Cheney-
Bush bunch can be, until it comes to investing between America's 
shores.
  Yes, health and welfare is on the mend from Baghdad to Kirkuk, but 
for our communities in Southern West Virginia, this Administration has 
no money.
  I recommend to my colleagues a story on the front page of the New 
York Times this past Saturday by James Glanz. According to the article 
this project has been cloaked in secret for security reasons. I agree, 
it's for security alright, to secure the Cheney-Bush reelection. They 
don't want the American people to know that they build in Baghdad while 
we weep in Appalachia for clean streams, a healthy environment, and a 
safe harbor for our children.
  Last week, another decision was made to deny the people of West 
Virginia, and of Appalachia, clean water, better health and education, 
as the House Appropriations Committee voted to cut the Appalachian 
Regional Commission's (ARC) funding by 40 percent following on the 
heels of an effort by the Cheney-Bush boys last year to cut it by 50 
percent.
  Apparently the Cheney-Bush bunch, including their cronies in 
Congress, don't think twice about sending $4 billion to Iraq for their 
water infrastructure needs, but are unwilling to provide the ARC less 
than 1/100th of that amount for services that do the same and more for 
West Virginia.
  I can name a few better places to spend our taxpayers money.
  In Raleigh County, just one of our wastewater projects is going to 
cost $22.5 million to serve 1200 new customers in the Glen Daniel/
Fairdale area. This is a matter of public health, of bringing in new 
jobs, fueling the economy. Where is the money for that program?

[[Page E1209]]

  Greenbrier Valley Airport in Lewisburg is 35 years old, and in need 
of a new terminal. The upgrade is expected to cost $15 million. Where 
is the money for Lewisburg?
  Greenbrier Valley Airport's parking apron used for housing aircrafts, 
also needs a $10 million upgrade. Due to lack of funding availability, 
this project has already been broken into six phases in the hope of 
completing it. But where are funds for these phases?
  In Wyoming County, $1 million is needed for a water project to serve 
200 customers in the Crouch Farm area who presently have no water 
service at all. Where is their money?
  The Cheney-Bush bunch wants to rebuild the oilfields of Iraq and 
expect the coalfields of West Virginia to pay for it. West Virginians 
are told by this Administration and this Congress that we can't afford 
to meet our wastewater needs, not when we're investing in other 
countries rather than our own.
  What in the dickens is going on here, Mr. Speaker? I recall our not 
too distant history, when this Nation was able to fight and win a world 
war, rebuild the western European continent, and Japan to boot, and 
college educate a generation of Americans who fueled the greatest 
economic boon to which the world had never laid witness.
  Now the Cheney-Bush bunch and the House leadership tell us again and 
again, there is no room for investment in America, and that the 
American people must take a back seat to the citizens of Baghdad.
  I say no more. This Administration continues to show indifference to 
our Nation's infrastructure needs, including threatening to veto a 
highway bill that will bring over $2 billion to my home State of West 
Virginia, money we need to build roads in a mountainous terrain.
  Mr. Speaker, I recall--shortly after the bombs fell in Baghdad and 
the President pledging that America would rebuild Iraq--on a trip back 
home, folks in an economically hard hit county in West Virginia, in all 
seriousness, asked me to tell the President to send the bombers to 
them, so then they could apply for help from America.
  It was a sad moment for me, Mr. Speaker, even sadder for America.

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