Michaud’s Bill to Aid Economic Development
WASHINGTON, April 13 – Rep. Michael Michaud (D-2 nd ) is trying to get millions of dollars for economic development in Maine with his bill to create a Northeast Regional Development Commission.
“The Northeast Regional Development Commission will invest in economically distressed communities,” Michaud said in a statement Wednesday. “It will create and implement regional economic development plans to reduce poverty, address changing land use and improve the quality of life for residents.”
Michaud added that the commission, which would fund projects that stimulate economic development, would work with and not replace existing federal, state and local economic development programs.
“These commissions have been around since 1965 except for the Northeast,” Michaud said in an interview. “And they funnel $40 million a year on an ongoing basis for economic development purposes.”
Maine is poised to receive up to 40 percent of the commission’s funding, which would be the state’s fair share, according to a county-based funding-formula, Michaud said.
Rep. Tom Allen (D-1 st ) is a co-sponsor of Michaud’s legislation. The bill, he said, would help to foster economic development by bringing state and federal government together with business and non-profit groups.
“I am proud to be working with Mike Michaud in support of his bill to create a Northeast Regional Economic Development Commission,” Allen said in a statement. “We need to do everything we can to bring more focus, more resources and more attention to the need for economic development in Maine and throughout Northern New England.”
Sens. Olympia Snowe (R) and Susan Collins (R) plan on introducing similar legislation and are working on its wording and getting more support for the bill, according to press persons in each office.
“Communities in the Northern Forest Region share common transportation, environmental and economic development challenges,” Snowe said in a statement. “The bill I plan to introduce will recognize these unique needs and set up a commission that can work across borders to overcome problems that we all face. By combining our efforts and formulating a common strategy, we can more efficiently leverage existing resources to get the job done.”
Collins agreed, saying in a statement, “Regional commissions such as this are proven to create opportunities for self-sustaining economic development and improved quality of life in distressed areas.”
A similar commission has existed since 1965 in Appalachia, an area that stretches over 13 states, and has helped cut poverty in the region in half since it was established. The Appalachian Regional Commission has also created 26,000 jobs and cut the number of economically distressed counties in the region from 219 to 100.
Over the past decade Congress has established three other commissions and has proposed two more.
“When I came to Congress and saw other regions coming together to address their economic development in a way that was modeled after the successful ARC [Appalachian Regional Commission],” Michaud said in a statement, “I thought that it was something that Maine should have and that our region could share.”
Michaud’s bill was introduced last year and is going before committee in May or June, according to Michaud.
The legislation says that while the northeastern border region, which extends from Maine through New Hampshire and Vermont and into upstate New York, is rich in natural resources, it lags behind other parts of the country in economic development.
Losses in manufacturing jobs and people leaving the area have drained the area’s economy, according to the bill. Federal assistance in the form of grants would greatly help the region while preserving existing industries, the bill says.
The commission would be made up of a federal commissioner appointed by the president and the governors of all the states that decide to participate. The federal commissioner and a majority of the governors would need to agree on specific grants before the money could be disbursed.
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