An Apple for Appalachia

In sending his fully packed legislative program to Congress this year, President Johnson asked that his aid-toAppalachia program receive top priority. That is certainly what it is getting. Last week, only three days after the bill reached the floor, the Senate passed it by a vote of 62 to 22.

As sent to the House, where speedy approval is expected, the bill provides $1.1 billion in federal aid over the next five years. Of this, $840 million would be used to help build some 3,350 miles of new highways and access roads. Not that Appalachia has a traffic jam; rather, the area would like to create one, with a road system that would bring in new industry and attract more tourists to its thousands of acres of lakes and forests. West Virginia, for example, estimates that 360 miles of new parkway in the state might bring in 7,000,000 more tourists each year, generate new annual income of $70 million.

All but Bobby. Beyond that, the program includes $36.5 million to help reclaim millions of acres of land that have been abandoned after being gouged and torn by strip mining. It also provides $41 million for hospital construction, $28 million for hospital maintenance, $16 million to construct vocational schools, $5,000,000 for water-resources studies, $5,000,000 to help develop timber resources, $6,000,000 for sewage-treatment systems, and $2,400,000 for administration.

When the Appalachia bill reached the Senate floor, it included 355 counties in eleven states.* Predictably, many a Senator wanted to get into the act by amending the bill to include regional aid programs in his own home territory. Massachusetts Democrat Ted Kennedy had a plan for New England, Arkansas Democrat John McClellan one for the Ozarks, and Michigan Democrat Patrick McNamara one for the Upper Great Lakes area. Arguing that such additions would smother the original Appalachia plan and promising that President Johnson would soon send other regional programs to Congress, Majority Leader Mike Mansfield managed to dissuade the Senators from offering their amendments. All, that is, except Robert Kennedy.

Fancy Footwork. Delivering his maiden speech in the Senate, Bobby recalled that Republican Governor Rockefeller had been notably lukewarm toward the idea of having his state included in the aid-to-Appalachia program. This, Bobby said, was "a grievous error." He offered an amendment to the effect that the Appalachian Regional Commission, also to be set up under the Johnson bill, be directed to consider the inclusion of 13 southern New York counties under the program.

At that point, New York Republican Jacob Javits showed young Bobby a bit of fancy footwork. He noted that Bobby had not bothered to name the 13 counties. Bobby agreed that this might be a good idea, amended his amendment. Javits also pointed out that, as in all Appalachian-aid states, any program in New York would require consultation with and the approval of the Governor. Again Bobby agreed, sent up another amendment to his amendment. With that, it passed by a voice vote. Bobby made a round of the chamber, accepting handshakes and congratulations. But, thanks to Javits, it was abundantly clear that Rockefeller would have the last word in New York.

-All of West Virginia and parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.

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