McConnell: Federal job creation agency won’t be cut

CORBIN, Ky. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he’ll fight a proposal to eliminate a 52-year-old federal agency that seeks to create jobs.

McConnell told WYMT-TV (http://bit.ly/2mIdsId) Saturday that he’s opposed to the proposal to do away with the Appalachian Regional Commission, which is contained in President Donald Trump’s budget for Fiscal 2018.

In fact, McConnell said, “We are not going to allow any cuts” to the commission.

The commission works to create jobs in 420 counties across 13 states. Those who have benefited include unemployed workers in the struggling coalfields of West Virginia and Kentucky.

The commission began its work in 1965 as part of former Democratic President Lyndon Johnson’s “war on poverty.” In the past two years, the agency has spent $175.7 million on 662 projects that it says have created or retained more than 23,670 jobs.

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Information from: WYMT-TV, http://www.wymt.com/