[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 89 (Tuesday, June 21, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3965-S3966]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REVITALIZATION ACT

  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, Senate Republicans, in their 
typically unanimous way, just blocked this Chamber from even voting on 
the Economic Development Revitalization Act of 2011.
  We heard Senator Boxer point out how many Republicans have supported 
the Economic Development Administration many times in what they did for 
economic development in their States. We know in Vermont, Pennsylvania, 
and Ohio, how EDA works with small Federal investments, leveraging that 
money in the private sector through incubators, in many cases, or 
accelerators or whatever the communities call them, and they do, in 
fact, create jobs. Unfortunately, every Republican in this Chamber 
decided that wasn't such a good thing--perhaps to deny a political 
victory to President Obama. What it did was take away another tool to 
get this economy back on course.
  So many people in this body seem to think it is all about reducing 
the debt. It is about reducing the debt, but it needs to be largely 
about creating jobs. There doesn't seem to be that much interest in 
that on the other side of the aisle.
  Just last week, I spoke with economic development directors and 
county commissioners from the city of Moraine, a suburb of Dayton where 
a GM plant closed, and Ashtabula County, my wife's home county in the 
northeast corner of the State. They explained the importance of EDA 
funding and how it supports economic growth in their communities.
  EDA has traditionally been a noncontroversial and bipartisan job-
creation bill. It helps broker deals between the public and private 
sectors, which is critical to economic growth and recovery. It is 
particularly important to economically distressed communities and in 
these types of economic times.
  Every $1 of EDA grant funding leverages $7 worth of private 
investment. For every $10,000--and this is one study, proven by 
evidence and fact--of EDA investment in business incubators, which 
helps entrepreneurs start companies, between 50 and 70 jobs are 
created. When we put money into the Youngstown incubator or a bit of 
Federal money into LaunchHouse in Shaker Heights--an incubator just 
launched, if you will--it creates jobs. It helps entrepreneurs and 
startup companies create jobs in our communities. Some of these 
businesses will fail. A few of them will wildly succeed. Many will hang 
on for several years, hiring 5, 10, 20 or maybe hundreds of people.
  In Ohio, since 2006, more than 40 EDA grants worth $36 million have 
leveraged a total of more than $87 million once private resources were 
matched.
  Colleges and universities from Bowling Green in the northwest to Ohio 
University in the southeast, to Miami

[[Page S3966]]

in the southwest, have received EDA funds. So too have port authorities 
in Toledo and Ashtabula--the Presiding Officer's border with Erie--in 
that part of Ohio and entrepreneurs in Cleveland and Appalachia.
  If we are going to strengthen our competitiveness, communities will 
need to equip businesses with the tools they need to survive, and 
communities will need to create higher skill, living wage jobs and 
attract private investment.
  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 
in so many cases it is EDA that does the job.
  EDA has helped redevelop the former GM plant in Moraine--several 
thousand GM jobs, Frigidaire jobs. Because of EDA, local partnerships, 
and outside private investments, we expect to see hundreds and 
hundreds, maybe a few thousand jobs in manufacturing in that Moraine 
plant. We have seen EDA help redevelop the DHL plant in Wilmington. 
Ashtabula's Plant C received EDA investments to make vital repairs. The 
bill Republicans just blocked us from even voting on would have 
strengthened a proven job-creating program.
  How many times do we hear about businesses worried about uncertainty 
created in a still recovering economy? This bill would have provided 
certainty in funding for an established job-creating problem. It would 
have reduced regulatory burdens to increase flexibility for grantees. 
It would have encouraged public-private partnerships that we have 
already seen make a difference across Ohio.
  I offered two amendments that would have further strengthened EDA. 
One would have assisted former auto communities when a plant closure or 
downsizing causes economic distress, such as Wilmington or Moraine.
  The other would have made more Ohio communities eligible to receive 
funds for business incubators. Ohio is the home of the National 
Business Incubator Association--the trade association for all 
incubators in southeast Ohio and Athens. We have a model for business 
incubators in Toledo, Youngstown, and now Shaker Heights.
  This amendment would have allowed more Ohio communities to support 
homegrown entrepreneurship.
  Republican Senators chose to bog down the EDA bill with other 
unrelated amendments. All of them were unrelated to the task at hand; 
that is, how do we create jobs? Just yesterday, I was at Cleveland 
State University, where its Veteran Student Success Program goes above 
and beyond in serving our Nation's veterans.
  Unemployment among young Americans is especially acute and 
disproportionately affects young veterans, and that is an outrage. 
Today, the unemployment rate for returning servicemembers between 20 
and 24 is 27 percent--almost 3 times the national unemployment average. 
That means more than one in four veterans can't find a job to support 
his or her family, easing the transition to civilian life. When our 
economy needs their skills, when veterans can get the job done, too 
often veterans are turned away. Cleveland State University has a 
Project SERV Program to ensure servicemembers who return home and into 
the classroom receive the educational benefits they earned and deserve. 
Imagine the difficulty for someone 25 years old, who has done two 
combat tours in Iraq, who comes back to Cleveland or to Philadelphia or 
anywhere else in this country and tries to integrate into a classroom 
of 18- and 19-year-olds who have seen nothing like the 25-year-old who 
has been in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan.
  This Project SERV at Cleveland State has been groundbreaking and is 
one of the few in the country--and now at Youngstown State University. 
What they are doing is establishing veteran support programs at 
colleges and universities. It started as an idea at a community 
roundtable I convened at Cleveland State a few years ago. It became law 
in the last Congress, and we have ensured its funding.
  Yesterday, I met with Clarence Rowe, a staff sergeant in the Marine 
Corps, who is using the veterans resources at CSU to translate his 
military skills to the needs of the civilian job market. But as much as 
CSU and other universities do to assist our veterans, high unemployment 
continues to hurt all Americans. Too often, people such as Staff 
Sergeant Rowe, who has put years into serving his country, come back 
and, even with developing their job skills in school, they simply can't 
find jobs.
  Education, workforce investment, and EDA have long been sound Federal 
investments that have helped to create jobs and strengthen our economy. 
It is a shame Republicans have yet again placed a roadblock on the 
pathway toward a strong and more prosperous middle class. We can do 
better than that.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the 
quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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