WASHINGTON -- President Bush's plan to overhaul a popular community development program would devastate revitalization efforts by cities that are crucial to creating jobs, local officials said Tuesday.
They urged Congress to reject Bush's plan to reduce the Community Development Block Grant program, which they say provides the money and flexibility that cities and counties need to improve the poorest parts of the United States.
"The one-size-fits-all approach proposed by the administration will likely stifle the flexibility and effectiveness" in the program said James C. Hunt, a city councilman from Clarksburg, W.Va.
"The result will be that many cities and towns will still be forgotten," he told a House Government Reform subcommittee.
The program provides money to more than 1,000 municipalities for uses such as demolishing dilapidated buildings, fixing up buildings and homes for low-income residents, and installing plumbing and sewer systems.
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