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Guest Commentary July 12, 2002
A Mission in Rural America
The Honorable Jo Ann Emerson
"All I can do is pray. Pray, and hope for some kind of miracle."
These are the words of a father in rural America. As he struggles to make ends meet, he wonders aloud about the opportunities for his son and two daughters. Working for $5.37 for the last three years he lives in poverty, making roughly $214.60 a week to support his family.
The number of those living in poverty in rural America is shocking. Recent numbers released by the U.S. Census Bureau note that in Southern Missouri, nearly 14 percent or more than 23,000 families with children live in poverty. There are many factors that contribute to poverty. From lack of a stable infrastructure, to ill-equipped educational facilities, to limited health care and the lack of high-wage jobs, each of these factors affect the prosperity and progress of a region. In rural America, where many of these challenges exist, the weight of what needs to be done to improve the future for our children can be overwhelming.
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Two years ago, in an effort to educate others about life in rural America and how it differs from life in suburban and urban America, my colleagues and I resurrected the Congressional Rural Caucus (the Rural Caucus). As its Co-Chair, we determined that two of our most immediate goals were to raise awareness about the opportunities lacking in rural America and to promote social and economic policies that support and grow our rural communities for the future.
With those goals in mind, members of the Congressional Rural Caucus took our mission for Rural America to the White House. The Caucus wrote to the President suggesting four steps that the Administration could take to speed the development of a comprehensive rural strategy. The Rural Caucus' recommendations included proposals to hold a White House Conference on Rural America, to establish a Special Assistant to the President for Rural Affairs, to appoint a designated rural policy liaison within each federal department, and to create an Interdepartmental Working Group for Rural Affairs.
The Rural Caucus deeply believes that putting together a comprehensive plan for rural America is essential because, contrary to what many of our urban and suburban counterparts once thought, rural issues involve much more than agriculture. In reality, the future success of our nation's family farms is critically linked to the economies of rural communities. Only 6.3 percent of rural Americans live on farms, and 50 percent of these farm families have significant off-farm income.
While nearly every member of the Rural Caucus understands the importance of agriculture, and supports efforts to strengthen the farm economy by expanding value-added endeavors, we also understand that other factors are critical to the success of rural America. With this comprehensive approach in mind, we outlined a wide array of issues that must be addressed in rural America. Those issues include building a transportation infrastructure to bring economic development and job opportunities to smaller communities, improving access to quality affordable health care, increasing funding for our rural schools, and ensuring we have access to telephone service and other infrastructure needs such as water and sewer construction.
These issues form our core mission for a revitalized rural America. I am pleased to report that the Farm Bill approved by Congress and signed into law by the President in May contains many of the provisions that are consistent with the Rural Caucus' recommendations, including $2 million for a White House Conference on Rural America. Following up on our previous letter, the Rural Caucus recently contacted the President again to let him know of our continued interest in working with the Administration to develop a national rural development strategy. But more remains to be done and by working together, we can give hope to all of those fathers and mothers who want more for their sons and daughters. With the progress made in the Farm Bill, I am optimistic that Congress and the Administration will move forward on this effort to benefit rural America.
Jo Ann Emerson, a Republican, represents the 8th Congressional District of Missouri in the U.S. House of Representatives. The above commentary has been adapted from a weekly column Rep. Emerson issued, July 5, 2002. To contact her, Click Here.
The above column has been distributed by PoliticsOL.com.
