Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 -- Continuing

Floor Speech

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Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Chairman, this is a very important amendment, and I have called it the 10-20-30 amendment. It deals with what we call ``persistent poverty counties''--those places in America that have experienced a poverty rate of at least 20 percent for the last 30 years.

My amendment requires that at least 10 percent of the funds in certain accounts be directed to counties where 20 percent or more of their citizens have languished below the Federal poverty level for the last 30 years; hence, the 10-20-30 approach.

Mr. Chairman, approximately 15 percent of all counties in America qualify as persistent poverty counties. These counties are diverse and spread across the country, including Appalachian communities in Kentucky and West Virginia, Native American communities in South Dakota and Alaska, Latino communities in Arizona and New Mexico, African American communities in North and South Carolina. They are urban communities in Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, and St. Louis.

Democrats represent 149 of these counties, with a total population of 8.7 million. Republicans represent 311 of these counties, with a total population of 8.3 million. Fourteen of these counties, with a total population of 5.3 million, are split between Democrats and Republicans. A total of 43 Democrats and 84 Republicans represent all or a part of these counties, and 35 of our 50 States have at least one persistent poverty county. Fifteen of South Carolina's 46 counties qualify for this ignoble recognition, and I happen to represent seven of those counties.

This is not a red State or a blue State issue. That's why on this map beside me the persistent poverty counties are colored in purple. There is no political affiliation for poverty. Poverty has never been limited to race, region, or creed.

These counties do not have the resources to hire sophisticated, high-powered grant writers and lobbyists to help compete for the finite amount of dollars that should be available to them.

In today's New York Times, there is a front-page story which I would ask everybody to read. It is entitled, ``For Much of Rural America, Broadband is a Dividing Line.''

Mr. Chairman, I was particularly struck by the words of Mrs. Sharon Jones, a small logging company owner in Coffeeville, Alabama. Listen to her words. ``We are trying to pull ourselves into the 21st century.'' Mrs. Jones says, ``I don't think the rest of the world understands there is a piece of the world here that is really challenged.''

Her business, her customers, and her neighbors are the reasons we included the 10-20-30 amendment in the Recovery Act in the Rural Development section of the Agriculture title, and it is working well.

The formula allowed many persistent poverty counties to benefit from the Recovery Act, and they do not otherwise receive funds. Projects like these are crucial to meeting the basic needs of the community and laying the groundwork for future success.

This amendment builds on that success, and I hope to work with my Republican colleagues to have it included in the final version of H.R. 1.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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