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More federal funding for Northeast Corridor
Topic Started: March 23 2009, 09:52 AM (46 Views)
Gandalf
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WASHINGTON -- Officials from Northeastern states, accustomed to trying and often failing to get funding for regional priorities from a federal government dominated by Sunbelt conservatives, are finding a more sympathetic benefactor in the Obama administration, which has adopted policies that are expected to pump billions of dollars into the region, The Boston Globe reports.

From mass transit and high-speed trains to energy technology and medical research, Massachusetts and nearby states are poised to receive federal grants and economic development funds that the region's largely Democratic congressional delegations found difficult to secure under the Bush administration and the former GOP-run Congress, according to area lawmakers and advocates.

The economic stimulus package approved last month contains an estimated $600 million to $700 million for Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, $8 billion for home weatherization programs that disproportionately benefit cold-weather areas, and a provision allowing billions of dollars in economic development bonds to be used for biotech industries, many of which are in the Northeast.

In addition, President Obama's budget proposal includes $1.2 billion more than President George W. Bush requested to help lower-income people obtain heating oil. The program, of intense interest in the Northeast and other cold-weather areas, was a frequent target for Republican cuts.

Lawmakers said they did not believe that the Bush administration was deliberately punishing its political foes in the Northeast by proposing cuts to Amtrak and low-income home heating assistance, rather adhering to a philosophy that preferred limited social spending.

But Obama's overall agenda and renewed focus on urban America -- including promoting public transportation and increasing scientific research -- will naturally bring federal dollars into the densely populated region, they said, while many Northeastern senators and representatives assume top positions in the Democratic-led Congress and administration.

"In general, there is a focus in the Obama administration on people, and that is translating into what I think may be some easy sledding on safety-net programs and new energy programs that are [disproportionately] in the Northeast," said Representative Paul Hodes, Democrat of New Hampshire.

"We're very encouraged," said Diane DeVaul, director of policy for the Northeast Midwest Institute, which lobbies for regional economic priorities. "There's a real excitement that's starting to happen around the fact that this president and his administration seem really interested in in-fill development" and revitalizing urban centers, which is likely to help northeastern cities, she said.

Some academic observers caution that the recent victories for the Northeast represent only a tiny fraction of the overall federal budget, and noted that regional lawmakers will have to fight hard when Congress rewrites the formulas under which hundreds of billions of dollars in transportation, housing, and community-development grants are distributed to the states.

"I don't see any of the southern and western states being magnanimous," said James W. Hughes, dean of the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. "They are going to fight to the death for whatever formulas benefit them."

But with Obama and his team in the White House -- and numerous Northeastern lawmakers in positions of power in Congress -- the region is better-positioned for such fights than it has been in well over a decade, officials said. Obama has appointed many Northeasterners to high-profile positions in energy, housing and urban affairs.

On Capitol Hill, too, regional lawmakers have assumed prestigious committee chairmanships, giving them bigger opportunities to address Northeastern needs. For example, Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Newton, has succeeded in changing federal housing loan limits to accommodate higher-priced markets such as Boston and New York.

"It's day and night," said Representative Stephen Lynch, Democrat of South Boston, describing the change in recent years.

"Things are a lot easier now, no question about it."

Some of the financial help is for programs that by nature tend to favor the Northeast. Obama's $787 billion stimulus package, for example, includes $1.3 billion in supplemental help for Amtrak, about half of which is dedicated to service between Boston and Washington.

During the Bush years, "We ended up just getting enough to run the trains, not necessarily run them on time," said Jim Brett, president of the New England Council. "This year, the pleasant surprise is not only did we get enough to run the trains on time, I think it's going to yield a significant increase in Amtrak service."

The home-heating oil assistance program is set to receive $3.2 billion -- already $1.2 billion more than Bush requested in his last budget -- and would include an automatic trigger for releasing more funds if necessary. Previously, lawmakers had to fight for supplemental funding year by year if money ran short because of cold weather or high fuel prices.

And the region stands to gain from other initiatives that are not specifically targeted to the Northeast, but help area industries.

Senators John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Olympia J. Snowe, Republican of Maine, secured a provision to extend industrial development bonds to high-tech and biotech companies, both important businesses in the region.

In medical research, too, Massachusetts stands to benefit from Obama's priorities, lawmakers said. The president's executive order lifting restrictions on government funding for stem cell research, for example, provides new opportunities for the Bay State's researchers at universities and in business. And the $10 billion increase in National Institutes of Health funding in the stimulus package could be a boon to New England's medical community.

"The minute NIH funding went up, I said, 'Hallelujah,' " said Representative Richard Neal, Democrat of Springfield, noting Massachusetts's leadership role in medicine.

Representative Edward Markey, Democrat of Malden, and Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, fought for $8 billion in funds to help weatherize homes, saving energy. While the program, part of the stimulus package, is available to people nationwide, New England, with its older housing and harsher winters, could benefit more from the plan, analysts said.

Another project -- to revamp the electricity grid with better technology to make energy use more efficient -- will also be of particular benefit to Northeastern rate-payers, since their electricity costs tend to be higher, DeVaul said.

Businesses and universities, too, stand to gain from the energy efficiency initiatives. A $2 billion program to develop hybrid battery and clean car technology is tailor-made for A123 Systems of Watertown, Markey said, since the company is a world leader in the field. Schools such as MIT are also well-placed to get research money for Obama's energy efficiency projects, he added.

New England has long been an innovator in energy efficiency programs, and with a president eager to expand such ideas, the region can become a national -- even a global -- exporter of such technologies, said Seth Kaplan, director of the Conservation Law Foundation's climate-change program.

New England has the expertise just as Congress passed what "appears to be the largest single infusion of money into energy efficiency in the history of humanity," Kaplan said.

"It's like they were going through a desert for 10 years and now they come out and there's a monsoon in progress," he said.

(The preceding article by Susan Milligan and Alan Wirzbicki was published March 23, 2009, by The Boston Globe.)
March 23, 2009
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