Senators want more funding for Delta Regional Authority

Congress should more than double annual funding for the Delta Regional Authority instead of accepting a recommendation from President Bush to cut the agency's funding by 50 percent, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill said Thursday.

In a conference call with reporters from Missouri, McCaskill said she and eight other members of the Senate from states in the Mississippi River Delta region have asked that the Delta Regional Authority be given $30 million for the year beginning Oct. 1, up from $12 million in this year's budget. Bush asked for $6 million in the budget proposal he sent to Congress in February.

The lawmakers made the request in a letter to U.S. Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Pete Domenici, R-N.M., the chairman and ranking Republican member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, which will be the first Senate stop for the authority's budget. In the letter, the lawmakers said the authority is making strides in fulfilling its mission. "At this critical juncture in the life of the DRA, we believe this to be an opportune time to make a strong federal investment in this impoverished region," the lawmakers wrote.

The authority was created in 2000 to promote economic development and community improvements. Governed by a board that includes two presidential appointees and representatives from eight states, the authority makes grants to local projects and studies needs such as transportation and broadband access. Last week, representatives of the authority visited Cape Girardeau for a public hearing on transportation in preparation for developing a 20-year plan for road, rail, air and water transport.

In the law creating the group, Congress authorized it to spend up to $30 million annually. It has received as much as $20 million in 2001, the first year of operation, and as little as $5 million in 2004. For the past three years, Congress has given the authority about $12 million a year.

The Delta Regional Authority is an example of using federal money for maximum impact, McCaskill said. Each proposed project must meet eligibility standards and win a recommendation from the governor of the state where it is located, she said. There is no guarantee the project will be funded, allowing the authority to set priorities.

"It is the kind of project that appropriately spends federal money," McCaskill said. "It is not earmarked. It is competitive. It is focused on a region that has needs. It is focused in a way that allows state officials to look at the various programs and judge which is the best use of taxpayer dollars."

Grants from the Delta Regional Authority don't require local match, but the money is often used to match other grants or loans that do require a local effort, said Rex Nelson, one of two presidential appointees to the authority board and spokesman for the agency. He gave an example of a poor rural community working to fund a sewer system that is 85 percent funded by other agencies. The authority's money can be used to supply the remaining 15 percent.

"Our law gives us that flexibility," Nelson said.

Half the authority's money must be used for basic public infrastructure needs and has funded projects such as railroad spurs into industrial areas or port improvements, Nelson said.

The authority is beginning to view broadband Internet access as a basic infrastructure need, he said. "I think that is to this century what getting electricity to rural areas was in the last century," Nelson said.

The authority's main focus is rural improvements, McCaskill said. "We want to get the most bang for our bucks out of taxpayer dollars. This program does that. It is one of the programs that can legitimately say it addresses rural needs."

With budget deficits, eagerness for earmarked funds and the Iraq war consuming $2 billion a week, McCaskill said she is worried the amount she and others are seeking will get scant attention.

"We have incredible infrastructure needs in this country," she said. "We have a lot of people who love earmarks. I worry about programs like this, and frankly we should be putting more than $12 million in it."

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126

Claire McCaskill discusses Delta Regional Authority funding

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