The Delta Grassroots Caucus (DGC) is a broad coalition of grassroots leaders in the eight-state Delta region. DGC is also a founding partner of the Economic Equality Caucus,
which advocates for economic equality across the USA.

Urgent Budget Issues for the Delta Regional Authority

Posted on February 15, 2011 at 06:08 PM

There are a series of pressing budget issues regarding the Delta Regional Authority that we are monitoring, and we address each of them below. On the merits, the DRA deserves at least a small budget increase for their meritorious work in creating jobs and promoting economic growth, but we understand that there will likely not be an increase for the DRA budget this year due to the massive budget deficits, even though this fine agency has been drastically under-funded for years. There are pluses and minuses in this situation:

1) First, it was constructive that the Obama administration’s budget request for FY 2012 was $13 million, meaning that the agency will escape the budget cut ax if this request passes, in the context of the FY 2012 budget. This action indicates that the DRA officials and their many partners are leveraging their small funding and using it very wisely to aid economic growth. A cut in such a tiny budget would not accomplish anything meaningful regarding the deficits, and this is an indication that DRA Federal Cochairman Chris Masingill, Alternate Federal Cochairman Mike Marshall and the rest of the DRA staff are doing an excellent job as stewards of their budget and in aiding the Delta’s economic development.

Caucus director Lee Powell said “We have been consulting with many Congressional offices and grassroots leaders from all eight states of the region, and we can see a clear consensus that the DRA leadership and partners are doing an excellent job and should not have severe cuts to their budget, and preferably no cuts at all since they use their small budget to create jobs and help economic recovery in America’s most economically distressed region.”

Desha County Judge Mark McElroy summed up the viewpoints well in saying, “They should not be cutting funds from the poorest of the poor in the Delta in the middle of a recession from an agency that creates jobs and creates more taxpayers, and in that way helps attack both the recession and the budget deficits.”

2) The DRA deserves a budget increase, but we understand there is little or no chance of an increase in the DRA budget any time soon, given the massive deficits problem, even though the DRA has always been drastically under-funded. As a long term goal, at some point when the deficits are under control the DRA should be funded equally with the ARC and other commissions and its budget should increase to a fair, equitable level. But we don’t expect an increase this year.

3) We were tremendously relieved that the continuing resolution as passed by the US House of Representatives Appropriations Committee that funds the government for the remainder of this fiscal year did NOT accept the national deficit commission’s unwise recommendation that the DRA and the other regional economic development commissions be abolished. “We urge all Members of Congress to make sure that this unwise notion of abolishing the DRA does not re-surface. Abolition of the DRA would be an outrage after all the good work it has done,” said Martha Ellen Black, Delta Caucus board member and director of the Susannah Wesley Family Center in the southeast Missouri Delta.

As expected, there is at least one demagogical effort to abolish the DRA and the other regional commissions. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, Democrat of Colorado, submitted an amendment to abolish the DRA today. “It’s awfully courageous for a Member of Congress from Colorado to stick his ill-informed, demagogical nose into the affairs of the eight states of the Delta, the 13 states of Appalachia, and Alaska and try to shaft their dedicated efforts to bring about economic development in the poorest communities of America. Economic recovery in these most hard-hit regions is an important component of national economic recovery,” Powell said. “We have no desire to cut needed funding to help economically distressed working people in Colorado and Rep. Perlmutter should have a similar respect for our region.”

4) The House of Representatives continuing resolution contained a 10% budget cut for the DRA and the other regional commissions for the rest of this fiscal year, and while we disagree with this decision, we know that many in the House will argue that all agencies have to feel the pain equally. “The DRA clearly helps the budget situation by using its funds wisely and putting people back to work and adding taxpayers, so their budget ought to at least remain the same,” said Barrett Harrison, director of the Blytheville-Gosnell Regional Airport Authority.

5) Powell summed up the most glaring flaw in the budget situation by saying, “While a 10% budget cut in the spirit that everybody needs to feel some pain is a position on which reasonable people could differ in the case of the DRA, on the other hand there is another part of the continuing resolution that is unfair and indefensible: the continuing resolution takes away the unobligated balances for the remainder of the fiscal year in the case of the DRA and the regional Denali Commission in Alaska, while the Appalachian Regional Commission is allowed to keep their unobligated balances for the rest of the fiscal year. To be fair, the DRA’s balance of $6 million should NOT be rescinded and the DRA should be treated equally and fairly, the same way that ARC is being treated.”

“The discrepancy between the DRA and ARC in which one agency keeps its unobligated balances for the rest of this fiscal year and another–the DRA–is denied their unobligated balances thereby violates the principle that everyone and all organizations have to be treated equally as we try to get our budget back iin shape,” said Larry Williams, CEO of the Delta Citizens Alliance based in Greenville, Mississippi, active in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Powell said, “This would be a $7.3 million budget cut for the remainder of the fiscal year, which given how small the DRA budget is would be quite a severe cut–well over half. This is just not fair and contradicts the principle of treating everybody equally and fairly.”

In the House, they are not accepting any amendments to the continuing resolution unless it cuts the budget even further, so this budget loss from the unobligated balances could only be offset in the current House of Representatives actions by a limited reduction elsewhere in the budget, and this may be very difficult in the current budget situation.

Therefore, this discrepancy regarding the unobligated balances for the remainder of the fiscal year may need to be resolved by action in the Senate, and finally resolved in conference between the two legislative bodies. The position of treating both the DRA and the ARC equally on the issue of the unobligated balance for the rest of this fiscal year is so obviously fair and reasonable that many Senators’ and Representatives’ offices have indicated that it is only fair to allow both the DRA and the ARC to keep their unobligated balances. To take away the DRA’s unobligated balances would be relatively speaking a huge and unfair cut in this fine agency’s work of job creation and economic growth in the Delta. We would hope everyone concerned would agree with this eminently reasonable position. Thanks very much. Lee Powell, executive director, Delta Grassroots Caucus (202) 360-6347

Powell said, “This would be a $7.3 million budget cut for the remainder of the fiscal year, which given how small the DRA budget is would be quite a severe cut–well over half. This is just not fair and contradicts the principle of treating everybody equally and fairly.”

In the House, they are not accepting any amendments to the continuing resolution unless it cuts the budget even further, so this budget loss from the unobligated balances could only be offset in the current House of Representatives actions by a limited reduction elsewhere in the budget, and this may be very difficult in the current budget situation.

Therefore, this discrepancy regarding the unobligated balances for the remainder of the fiscal year may need to be resolved by action in the Senate, and finally resolved in conference between the two legislative bodies. The position of treating both the DRA and the ARC equally on the issue of the unobligated balance for the rest of this fiscal year is so obviously fair and reasonable that many Senators’ and Representatives’ offices have indicated that it is only fair to allow both the DRA and the ARC to keep their unobligated balances. To take away the DRA’s unobligated balances would be relatively speaking a huge and unfair cut in this fine agency’s work of job creation and economic growth in the Delta. We would hope everyone concerned would agree with this eminently reasonable position. Thanks very much. Lee Powell, executive director, Delta Grassroots Caucus (202) 360-6347