[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 28 (Tuesday, March 14, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E309-E310]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       CONGRESSIONAL RURAL CAUCUS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JO ANN EMERSON

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 14, 2000

  Mrs. EMERSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to speak out for our 
rural American communities and to join my colleagues, Mrs. Clayton from 
North Carolina, Mr. Moran from Kansas, Mr. Pomeroy from North Dakota to 
celebrate the formation of the new Congressional Rural Caucus.
  This morning we held a press conference to formally announce the 
formation of our new Congressional Rural Caucus. We were joined by 
several Members of the Rural Caucus, the Speaker of the House Dennis 
Hastert, former Representative Glenn English from Oklahoma who was 
representing the National Rural Network, and many Americans who live 
and work in our rural communities across our great nation.
  Those attending the press conference expressed such strong support 
for our initiative to review the Congressional Rural Caucus. It really 
says to me that there is a great deal of support for our rural American 
communities. That there's a real recognition of just how important 
rural America is to our nation. It tells me that we're on the right 
track here with our Rural Caucus. And there is absolutely no doubt in 
my mind that our Rural Caucus can and will help communities achieve 
real results.
  Since last August my colleagues, Mrs. Clayton from North Carolina, 
and Misters Moran from Kansas, and Pomeroy from North Dakota, have been 
hard at work laying the ground work for the Rural Caucus. And we've 
been hard at work recruiting Members to join and take an active part in 
the Rural Caucus. We set a goal of 100 Members by our kick-off date. We 
not only met our goal, we surpassed it. To date, there are well over 
110 bipartisan Members of the Rural Caucus. And more Members are 
joining every day. We've all joined together to raise a loud voice for 
rural America on Capitol Hill. Think about it. With nearly a fourth of 
the House on board, that's one heck of a loud voice. And the list just 
keeps growing.
  To my Rural Caucus colleagues I want to say ``thank you.'' Thank you 
for standing up and speaking out for your rural communities. Together 
we can make a real difference for all of rural America, and I look 
forward to the work that lies ahead of us.
  Now to be honest, we couldn't have done this alone. It took a lot of 
work and assistance and support from the many, many organizations of 
the National Rural Network. To all of the groups who have supported our 
efforts for the Rural Caucus, thank you. Because of your experience, 
your knowledge, and your living connections with rural America, you all 
are an integral part of the success of the Rural Caucus. And I look 
forward to working with you on all that lies ahead.
  Now I want to briefly talk about why I think the Rural Caucus is so 
important and why I think it's needed here on Capitol Hill. You may 
know that about one in every four Americans--that's 62 million people--
live in rural America. That's also about the same number of people who 
live in inner cities. And an additional 15 million people live in small 
cities and towns.

[[Page E310]]

  These 77 million Americans share many of the same problems of big 
city residents--such as poverty, high unemployment, and chronic 
underemployment. But rural Americans face unique challenges because 
they are dispersed over hundreds and thousands of miles. And despite 
the similarity of some of the issues faced in urban and rural America, 
rural communities consistently get the short end of the stick when it 
comes to federal funding. And this is across the board in all agencies 
and all sectors--from economic development, to health care, to 
education and everything in between and beyond.
  Now I represent a very rural district in Southern Missouri. And if 
you visited my district, I think many of you'd be amazed to see that 
white the American economy has been booming, communities in my 
district--like so many of our agricultural and rural communities across 
the nation--are being left behind.
  The past several years have been very hard on American producers. And 
the hard times on the farm and ranch don't stop at the gate. These hard 
times impact rural main street, from the local shops, to the 
communities, schools and homes. The fact is, our rural communities are 
faced with a Catch-22 situation. They don't have the infrastructure 
needed to attract new and high-tech businesses. At the same time, they 
don't have the resources needed to invest in the infrastructure that 
can attract new and high-tech businesses.
  The bottom line is that we simply must do all we can to ensure that 
rural communities have the tools they need to turn their challenges 
into real opportunities for growth and prosperity in the 21st century. 
Rural America is just too important to our nation to not do all we can. 
The Congressional Rural Caucus can play an important part in seeing 
this goal become a reality. After all, our rural American communities 
are our past, our present, and our future.

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