| The Senate is expected to consider a bill tomorrow that includes funding for the Appalachian Regional Commission. The
outcome is unclear.
The House slashed the agency's budget for next year roughly by half to 33 million dollars.
Senators on a spending committee more than doubled that amount, increasing the budget to 71 million dollars.
The ARC since the days of LBJ was directed to help the poorest counties of Appalachian, but those counties were
increased to over 400 in 13 states.
Over the past 35 years, most of the ARC money went to already developed counties with larger populations, focusing on
"areas of potential." The poorest counties with small populations and few voters received very little money. ARC says they
are trying to correct that.
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