{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.capito.senate.gov/news/press-releases/ranking-member-capito-participates-in-hearing-with-regional-commission-federal-co-chairs-on-best-practices-economic-development", "Ranking Member Capito Participates in Hearing with Regional Commission Federal Co-Chairs on Best Practices, Economic Development", "2024-09-18", "2024", "2024-09", "Republican", "Senate", "WV", "Shelley Moore Capito", "C001047", "www.capito.senate.gov", "capito", "https://www.capito.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "Click here or the image above to watch Ranking Member Capito\u2019s opening remarks from the committee hearing.\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, participated in a hearing titled \u201cAmerica\u2019s Regional Commissions: Sharing Best Practices in Regional and Economic Development.\u201d The hearing highlighted success stories from Regional Commissions and examined the collaboration between the Commissions, the states they serve, and the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA).\n\nThe hearing featured testimony from five Regional Commission federal co-chairs: Jennifer Clyburn Reed, Ed.D., Southeast Crescent Regional Commission; Jocelyn Fenton, Denali Commission (Interim); Juan Sanchez, Southwest Border Regional Commission; Chris Saunders, Northern Border Regional Commission; and Corey Wiggins, Ph.D., Delta Regional Authority.\n\nBelow is the opening statement of Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) as delivered.\n\n\u201cThank you, Chairman Carper, and thank you all for being here today, and thanks for this hearing.\n\n\u201cAgain, I want to welcome our witnesses, the federal co-chairs from the Delta Regional Authority, Denali Commission, Northern Border Regional Commission, Southeast Crescent Regional Commission, and the Southwest Border Regional Commission, and thank all of you for what we're going to hear.\n\n\u201cThe strength of our Regional Commissions lies in their partnerships and coordination between the federal government and the states that are in their region.\n\n\u201cOften, the governor of each state that is within the geographic target of the Regional Commission serves on that Commission.\n\n\u201cTypically, a Regional Commission is co-chaired by a federal political appointee that is confirmed with the advice and consent of the Senate and one governor that is selected from the states covered by the Commission.\n\n\u201cThese entities utilize federal funding to carry out state and local economic development priorities, and the Chairman has lined out a few of those for us today.\n\n\u201cThe Regional Commissions\u2019 intergovernmental coordination is key to the success of their economic development efforts.\n\n\u201cWorking with the appropriate states, these entities often make investments in various areas \u2013 such as basic infrastructure and workforce training, development \u2013 that are critical to ensuring long-term economic growth and opportunity in their communities.\n\n\u201cFurther, Regional Commissions must work in tandem with the EDA, the Economic Development Administration.\n\n\u201cSince EDA and the Regional Commissions have similar missions, they must strategically coordinate in order to avoid duplicative efforts and investments.\n\n\u201cWe are here today to talk about best practices and success stories from some of our Regional Commissions that will help us to strike this balance and ensure our federal investment is implemented efficiently to achieve the maximum benefit for the states and communities that they serve.\n\n\u201cI look forward to hearing the ways to strengthen your partnerships with your states and your coordination with the EDA.\n\n\u201cWorking with the Appalachian Regional Commissions in my home state of West Virginia, I know how beneficial Regional Commissions can be and the positive impacts that they can have on communities.\n\n\u201cOur colleague\u2019s wife, Gayle Manchin, is the federal co-chair of the ARC, and I see Guy Land in the back there, who I have worked with for many, many years on the ARC. They\u2019re not on the panel today because the legislation that we have, we\u2019ve already authorized the ARC. Today, we want to make sure that we give you all the due attention.\n\n\u201cBut anyway, they\u2019ve invested $63 million, just last year, from federal and matched funding in 66 projects just across [West Virginia]. These projects served over three-thousand households and businesses, and trained and educated over two-thousand students and workers.\n\n\u201cI know each of the Regional Commission federal co-chairs before us is working in their areas to make the same type of impactful investments.\n\n\u201cTo further these efforts back in March, Chairman Carper and I brought forward our bipartisan Economic Development Reauthorization Act before this Committee and the bill was reported favorably to the Senate by a unanimous voice vote.\n\n\u201cTitle II of that legislation reauthorizes a number of the Regional Commissions from the fiscal years 2025 through 2029.\n\n\u201cThe will bill expands the types of activities that those Regional Commissions can carry out and provides flexibility to tailor those activities to the most pressing needs of their own communities.\n\n\u201cThe bill also modernizes Regional Commissions\u2019 administration requirements to ensure more efficient operations.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s important that Congress regularly reauthorize the Regional Commissions and examine what works best within their authorities and programs in order to ensure that they can continue to carry out their missions effectively.\n\n\u201cWe look forward to working with our congressional colleagues so that the EDA reauthorization bill can become law.\n\n\u201cSo with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back to you.\u201d\n\nClick HERE to watch Ranking Member Capito\u2019s questions.\n\n# # #", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:43:57Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.capito.senate.gov/news/press-releases/ranking-member-capito-participates-in-hearing-with-regional-commission-federal-co-chairs-on-best-practices-economic-development"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6110902652144432, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}