[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 85 (Tuesday, June 14, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S3765]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                              EDA FUNDING

  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, for over a week the Senate has been 
debating the Economic Development and Revitalization Act of 2011, which 
would reauthorize funding for existing programs of the Commerce 
Department's U.S. Economic Development Administration through 2015. EDA 
has traditionally been noncontroversial, traditionally been a 
bipartisan job-creation bill supported by Presidents of both parties, 
often supported in this body without dissent. It helps broker deals 
between the public and private sectors, which is critical to our 
economic recovery and growth. It is particularly important to 
economically distressed communities, particularly in tough economic 
times.
  Every $1 in EDA grant funding leverages nearly $7 worth of private 
investment. Every $10,000 in EDA investment in business incubators--or 
accelerators, as some call them--helps entrepreneurs start up companies 
in which nearly 70 jobs are created.
  In Ohio--and I don't think it is much different in the Presiding 
Officer's State of Colorado--we have seen since 2006 that some 40 EDA 
grants worth $36 million have leveraged a total of more than $87 
million since private resources were matched. Colleges and 
universities, from Bowling Green in northwest Ohio, to Ohio University 
in southeast Ohio, to Miami University in southwest Ohio, have received 
EDA funds. So, too, have port authorities in Toledo in the west and 
Ashtabula in the far northeast and entrepreneurs in Cleveland and 
Appalachia.
  If we are to strengthen our competitiveness, we will need to equip 
businesses with the tools they need to thrive. That is what EDA is 
designed to do. It is the front door for communities facing sudden and 
severe economic distress. When economic disaster hits, communities turn 
to the government, and it is EDA that does the job at low cost, 
leveraging all kinds of private dollars.
  EDA has helped redevelop the former GM plant in Moraine, OH, near 
Dayton, and the DHL plant in Wilmington. Ashtabula's Plant C received 
EDA investments to make vital repairs.
  The bill the Senate is considering would strengthen a proven job-
creating program. It would reduce regulatory burdens to increase 
flexibility for grantees. It would encourage public-private 
partnerships that we have already seen make a difference in my State. 
And the bill would better streamline EDA cooperation with other 
Federal, State, and local agencies to better assist communities with 
local economic development.
  I plan to offer two amendments to further strengthen EDA. One would 
assist communities when a plant closure or downsizing causes economic 
distress, such as Wilmington or Moraine. The amendment gives special 
preference to auto communities. The other amendment would make more 
Ohio communities eligible to receive funds for business incubators. 
Ohio is home to the National Business Incubator Association in Athens, 
OH, and several model business incubators, from Toledo, to Shaker 
Heights, to Youngstown. This amendment would allow more companies in 
Ohio and more communities in Ohio to support homegrown 
entrepreneurship.
  Two weeks ago, I visited--as I have in several places around the 
State--an incubator in Shaker Heights called the Launch House. It was 
an old car dealership that had been closed down several years ago. It 
was renovated with relatively little money. It is now home to about 40 
entrepreneurs, one- and two-person startup operations, with the average 
age of these young entrepreneurs being under 30. The great majority of 
these 35 or 40 entrepreneurs are themselves under 30. Some of these 
startups won't exist in 2 years. Some will have grown in 2 years. Many 
will be hiring lots of people in the years ahead. Some will fail, some 
will succeed.
  As I pointed out earlier, only $10,000 of EDA investment in a 
business incubator, on average, creates somewhere in the vicinity of 
50, 60, or 70 jobs. If we want to promote an economy fueled by 
innovation, we must better equip our entrepreneurs with the resources 
they need to turn an idea in the lab to a product in the market.
  Earlier this year, I held an innovation roundtable at Battelle with 
leading Ohio entrepreneurs and business leaders where we discussed the 
need to strengthen workforce development, promote business 
entrepreneurship, and support city planning. EDA assistance, they told 
me--as do other business leaders around the State and as entrepreneurs 
do tell--is critical to these goals.
  This is legislation on which we should move forward. I am sorry my 
friends on the other side of the aisle who have been so supportive of 
EDA in the past--as it has always been bipartisan--seem to be standing 
in the way of this. It is important to move forward, so I ask for the 
Senate's support.

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