West Virginia’s Senators Fight for the ARC

By Jody Brumage
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In 1965, the 89th Congress passed the Appalachian Regional Development Act. The bill, signed by President Lyndon Johnson on March 9, 1965 formally established a track of funding from the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), which had been formed by President John F. Kennedy in 1963. The ARC encompasses 13 states: New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. The appropriations received by the ARC are administered by a commission comprised of the governors of the 13 member states and a federal co-chair who is appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

The Appalachian Regional Development Act bill from 1965. Click to view the full bill on “The Great Society Congress.”

The work of the ARC has included widespread infrastructure and employment improvements, the Appalachian Development Highway System being one of its core projects.  As a member of the ARC, West Virginia receives funds which have supported the construction of the corridor highway system that links the state’s roads to the Interstate Highway System. Many of these projects are today attributed to the leadership of Senator Robert C. Byrd who served on the Senate Appropriations Committee and worked to appropriate the maximum funds available for ARC projects.

However, the ARC has not operated for the past 50 years without opposition. As a continuing recipient of appropriated funds from Congress, the ARC is subject to reauthorization, a process which has not always been easy. From its passage in 1965 through the mid-1980s and until 2010, the successful reauthorization of the ARC was due in large part to the work of West Virginia Senators Jennings Randolph and Robert Byrd.

Senators Jennings Randolph (left) and Robert Byrd (right) were both elected to the Senate in 1959 from West Virginia.

The first major challenge the ARC’s continuation came just 4 years after its original passage. In 1969, Senator Jennings Randolph sponsored Senate Bill 1072 to increase annual funding levels and to continue the act through 1971 (the original funding levels were set to expire in 1969). On February 18, 1969, Senator Randolph delivered a speech in support of the extension, stating that “the Appalachian Regional Development Program has already proved to be a successful experiment.” The chief opposition to the funding of the ARC came through senators from other states where redevelopment authorities had been established in the model of the ARC and who were now fighting for funding for their own districts.
Two years later in 1971, Senator Byrd introduced legislation to continue the ARC’s 100% funding level through 1975. This time, he faced opposition not from fellow senators but from President Richard Nixon who wanted to defund the ARC in favor of his revenue-sharing program to aid depressed rural areas. Though the ARC faced reduction in its budgets over these years, it continued to be funded through the efforts of Senators Byrd and Randolph.
The 1980s were especially difficult the ARC. Senator Byrd’s role as Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate and his focus on national issues precluded his ability to continuously fight against the republican Reagan Administration for increased funding. By the end of the 1980s, owing to the Reagan Administration’s refusal to allow increases, ARC funding levels had decreased by over 65%.
When Senator Byrd became Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee in 1989, he shifted his attention back to the ARC. On September 13, 1990, Senator Byrd testified before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works in support of continuing the ARC. Between 1989 and 1994, Senator Byrd successfully appropriated $896 million to the ARC’s Appalachian Highway System budget. In a 1994 letter, Fred VanKirk, Commissioner of West Virginia State Highways thanked Senator Byrd for his leadership in regaining federal support for the ARC.

Senator Byrd’s leadership on the Appropriations Committee and the restoration of funds to the ARC allowed for the completion of Corridor G in the early 1990s. This highway has since been named the Robert C. Byrd Freeway.

The ARC continues to receive appropriations for the funding of projects throughout the Appalachian Region, including the highway project. In West Virginia, over 400 miles of highways linking the Interstate Highway System across the state have been completed, including Corridors D, E, G, L, and Q. The sixth planned highway, Corridor H, is still under construction. Throughout the Appalachian Regional Development Area, 3,090 miles of highways have been constructed with funding through the ARC. Senator Byrd and Senator Randolph’s legacy of support for the ARC continues to enable the improvement of infrastructure in one of the nation’s most economically-depressed regions.