[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 28 (Tuesday, March 14, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H955]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     THE CONGRESSIONAL RURAL CAUCUS: SPEAKING OUT FOR RURAL AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MORAN of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, tonight I join the gentleman from 
North Dakota (Mr. Pomeroy) and my other cochairs, the gentlewoman from 
North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton) and the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. 
Emerson), as we celebrate today the coming together of about 212 
Members of Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, to revitalize the 
Congressional Rural Caucus. Last year the four of us came together with 
this common goal: to speak out for rural America and to find ways that 
we could do that here in the United States Congress. Today, we have 
celebrated the hard work and our ability to bring us all together for a 
united voice for rural America.
  Our jobs as Members of the Congressional Rural Caucus, and we would 
enjoin any of our colleagues to continue to join us in this pursuit, is 
to promote economic and social policies that support and help the 
continued viability of our rural communities. In many instances 
throughout my home State of Kansas, our rural communities continue to 
struggle. We continue to lose population from once-thriving communities 
and elsewhere across the Great Plains region. Demographic trends show 
that young people are leaving the lands of their ancestors and that the 
population left behind is rapidly aging.
  Kansas has 105 counties. Fifty-eight of those counties are smaller 
today than they were in 1890. Eighty Kansas counties have lost 
population in the last 2 decades. Seventy counties will lose population 
in the next decade.
  So as a result, Kansas communities are confronted with serious 
challenges of prosperity and even of survival. Concerned parents wonder 
if their children will receive a public school education sufficient to 
meet the demands of tomorrow's global marketplace. I myself want to 
raise my children, I have a 9-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old 
daughter, I would like for them to have the opportunity to be raised in 
rural America and to raise their children, if they so choose, in rural 
Kansas; and we are concerned about the availability not only of 
education but of health care, especially in our smallest communities. 
Even though our unemployment rates are low, we see significant under-
employment in many areas of rural Kansas. That is the state of the job 
market in too many of our small communities.
  The world of information technology, the Internet, is equally 
important to our towns and to our homes. Connecting that last mile will 
be a formidable challenge. Telecommunications is vital to rural 
America's economic development. It is vital to our schools and our 
hospitals, and it is vital to our businesses. Business must have access 
to deal with their customers and suppliers; students and individuals 
need access to the Internet to communicate, to acquire knowledge and 
develop skills to maintain our competitiveness.
  I serve as the chairman of the Telecommunications Task Force of the 
Congressional Rural Caucus; and I am committed to working with other 
Members of Congress, with the industry and with the administration, to 
ensure the availability of advanced telecommunications services in our 
rural communities. Many of the challenges confronting rural America can 
be met and overcome with the commitment that adequate resources are 
directed toward the development of rural communities, and access to 
telecommunications is one of those critical issues we face.
  By bringing quality health care, education, information, and commerce 
to rural families and to business, an advanced telecommunication 
infrastructure can overcome any disadvantages of distance and low 
density.
  By providing one voice for rural America, the congressional caucus 
will ensure communities remain viable and competitive. Our job in 
Congress is to raise the awareness of rural issues to preserve this way 
of life. As Congress debates important issues like access to 
telecommunications, we must address the opportunities and challenges 
that we face in rural America. Rural America across this country needs 
to demonstrate to ourselves and to the rest of the world our commitment 
for a better life. I urge my colleagues to join us in this effort to 
fight and to speak out for rural America.

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