
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 23, 1995                   TAG: 9505230091
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

BOUCHER: GOP BUDGET STANDS IN WAY OF PROGRESS

Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, vowed Monday to "spare no effort" to thwart Republicans' plans to abolish three agencies whose financial assistance has helped Southwest Virginia develop industrial parks and infrastructure in the past decade.

At a news conference in Virginia Tech's Corporate Research Center, Boucher said the budget resolution the GOP-controlled House of Representatives passed Thursday would eliminate the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Economic Development Administration and the community development budget of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

"The enactment of these proposals would devastate Southwest Virginia's progress," Boucher said.

He said federal funding from the three agencies and others whose funds would be cut by the proposed budget have contributed mightily to the creation of tens of thousands of jobs, the building of water and sewer systems and the establishment of industrial parks in almost all of the 23 counties in the 9th District.

The regional commission has contributed more than $46 million in economic development funding to the region in the past three years, money that has gone toward projects such as a waste incinerator in Galax, the Scott County nursing program and Boucher's effort to link district schools via fiber optics, he said.

If the regional commission is abolished, if a proposed $1 billion cut in community development block grants is enacted, and if other cuts take place in Rural Economic and Community Development (formerly the Farmers Home Administration), local communities would be hard-pressed to build or improve many facilities.

"The blunt fact is that in Southwest Virginia we have no other means of building the industrial parks, water and sewer facilities and shell buildings necessary to grow," Boucher said. "Our localities simply do not have the funds necessary to make these investments. The federal government is the only source to which we can turn for this vital assistance."

Boucher has been in this fight before. A decade ago, he fought to protect the regional commission from President Reagan's cuts. In 1990, he resisted President Bush's plan to slash the budgets of the regional commission, the Farmers Home Administration and the Economic Development Administration.

In those battles, however, Boucher had the power of the majority party on his side; now the Republicans are in control.

The House passed its budget resolution 238-193, with only one Republican voting against it. The Senate will approve its own version - probably this week - and then the process of amendments, cutting and rewriting will proceed.

Boucher said Thursday that he is working with a bipartisan group of about 40 legislators from neighboring states, whose efforts at economic development mirror Southwest Virginia's, to make sure the federal funding sources remain available.

"I think we're going to be successful ... but it's by no means assured," he said. "It's a tough fight."

by CNB