The Infrastructure Investment And Jobs Act Doubles Funding For Appalachia's Recovery

     Appalachia is a beautiful region spanning 13 states with some of the most industrious people in the nation: 25 million of them. However, as America's economy continues its transition away from coal, among other factors, Appalachia has been left behind.

     The Appalachian Regional Commission is a government body founded in 1965 tasked with changing that, and it has seen tremendous success over the years. It has reduced the number of counties below the poverty line from 295 to 91, cut the infant mortality rate by nearly 70 percent, doubled the percentage of high school graduates, and created hundreds of thousands of jobs by leveraging private funding to bolster its annual budget. In recent years, it has increasingly focused on the drug and alcohol overdose crisis.

     The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, better known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, makes the largest single investment in Appalachia in U.S. history. It includes tens of billions of dollars in new funding for infrastructure projects that will create hundreds of thousands of jobs across the region. Most notably, it includes $1.25 billion for the Appalachian Development Highway System, a major project that will jumpstart the region's economy.

     It also includes funding for the Appalachian Regional Commission. In April, President Biden appointed Gayle Manchin, a West Virginian and the wife of the U.S. senator, as perhaps its most well-qualified director in history. She will oversee $400 million a year through 2026, or double what the commission's budget was prior to this bill, which represents an additional $1 billion in funding. Tens of millions of dollars has already gone to fighting substance abuse this year, and, with IIJA's signing, tens of millions more will go toward these critical efforts from this bill alone.

     Earlier this year, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act, which provided tens of billions of dollars to state and local governments in Appalachia as well as $1,400 stimulus checks to residents. Now, President Biden has proposed the Build Back Better Act, which would provides tens of billions of dollars more in funding to Appalachia by cutting child poverty in half, offering universal pre-k and affordable childcare, expanding healthcare for hundreds of thousands of residents, and creating hundreds of thousands of clean energy jobs in the region. If the Build Back Better Act becomes law, President Biden will build on his prior two successes and be able to justifiably claim that he has done more in a year for the region than any president has done in almost a century.