[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 130 (Tuesday, October 2, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H6069]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           THE RURAL PROBLEM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2001, the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, in 1908, President Roosevelt charged the 
Country Life Commission with the task of solving the ``rural problem.'' 
He identified this problem as the fact that the social and economic 
institutions of this country are not keeping pace with the Nation as a 
whole.

                              {time}  1245

  Uttered almost 100 years ago, those words just as easily describe our 
situation in America today.
  Many people are aware that there is indeed a farm crisis plaguing 
rural America. However, this crisis does not stop at the farm. Consider 
the crumbling infrastructure, lack of educational and employment 
opportunities, out-migration of our youth, inadequate health care 
facilities, and a growing digital divide. These are just a few of the 
struggles our rural communities must overcome.
  Consider the following sobering statistics: of the 250 poorest 
counties in America, 244 are rural; 28 percent of the housing stock in 
rural America is considered physically deficient; rural workers are 
almost twice as likely to earn the minimum wage than their urban 
counterparts; 12 percent of rural workers earn the minimum wage, 
whereas only 7 percent of the urban workers earn the same. Because of 
this, the face of poverty in rural America is a working family. Two-
thirds of the rural poor live in a family where at least one member is 
working.
  These are serious problems that require our attention. In the light 
of these and other difficulties, it is not surprising that we are 
witnessing a great hollowing out in rural areas. Consider the recent 
statistics. The census says that people are leaving in large numbers 
from rural America. The growing gap between rural and urban America 
threatens to turn this into an irreversible gulf. We must take steps to 
close this gap before it is too late.
  Tomorrow, I will join with my colleague, the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Peterson), to offer an amendment to the farm bill 
that will seek to provide rural America with additional resources to 
address these pressing problems. The amendment will increase critical 
funding to three important areas.
  First, it will provide almost $50 million annually for drinking water 
and wastewater facility infrastructure grants for small towns and rural 
areas. In a recent survey of its members, the National Association of 
Counties, which has endorsed this amendment, found that water 
infrastructure needs was the number one concern of its counties 
nationwide.
  Rural and small non-metropolitan areas face particular needs and 
challenges in meeting their drinking and wastewater infrastructure 
needs. Water systems located in communities with less than 10,000 
residents account for 94 percent of community water systems in this 
country. Many of them with low tax bases. The Environmental Protection 
Agency reported in 1997 that small communities, serving less than 3,300 
residents, are in need of $37.2 billion through the year 2014 just to 
keep up with the current challenges. A sound infrastructure is a 
prerequisite for both quality of life and for economic development. We 
must not allow a disproportionate amount of infrastructure dollars to 
flow simply to urban areas.
  Second, this amendment will provide almost $50 million annually to 
provide rural areas with strategic regional planning and implementation 
grants. Unlike our urban areas, rural communities often do not have the 
capacity to inventory their assets and to plan for their collective 
future. Just as our urban communities require careful planning, 
strategies and long-term thinking, so do our rural communities.
  This important funding would enable rural communities to join 
together across county lines to have a marketing area where they could 
be competitive across jurisdictions so they can work together for the 
good of rural residents throughout the region. We must not consign our 
rural communities to a slow disappearance by doing nothing. We must 
help them increase their own capacity and draw upon their natural 
assets and to develop their future collectively.
  Finally, this amendment provides $10 million per year for value-added 
agricultural development grants. If our agricultural producers are to 
innovate and survive, we must enable them to capture more of the profit 
in their own communities.
  This amendment does not add new policy to the farm bill as passed out 
of the committee or change current policy in the bill. It simply seeks 
to build upon the work that the committee has already done by 
increasing resources available to the areas that the chairman and the 
ranking member of the committee have determined appropriate.
  I am aware that some will say that I am taking away from farmers, but 
I submit to my colleagues that rural communities include farmers, their 
families, their neighbors, and communities. So I urge my colleagues to 
consider this rural amendment to the farm bill.

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