[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 28 (Wednesday, February 14, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1931-S1932]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           FORGOTTEN AMERICA

  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I come to the Senate to speak about the 
forgotten America. That is the rural America which is a wide expanse of 
the geographic area of these United States. When I came to the Senate 2 
years ago, I gave my maiden speech about forgotten America, the rural 
parts of our country which have been in decline decade after decade 
after decade.
  I did so because if you look at my own history, I come from a place 
that is 300 miles to the south of Denver, a place that has the name of 
Conejos, in English meaning rabbit county. It is one of the four 
poorest counties in the United States of America. In that county, as in 
so many counties across America, you see the kinds of problems that 
describe the two Americas we have. We have the America of prosperity, 
much of that part of America lying within the metropolitan areas of our 
great Nation, and we have the other America, the forgotten America, the 
America that struggles on the vine every day to stay alive, the part of 
America that has great disparity in terms of the kind of health care 
and the kind of education and the kind of economic opportunity that 
exists for them.
  In my own State of Colorado, there were 64 counties, and out of the 
64 counties, even in the great boom of the 1990s when unemployment was 
nonexistent and our economy was growing at a very rapid pace, most of 
those counties were withering on the vine. They were declining in 
population. Their population was aging. They were struggling with 
health care. They were struggling with a whole host of issues that 
affect those communities.
  Out of the 64 counties in Colorado during the period of 2000 to 2005, 
21 of them actually declined in population. That is a third of my State 
that was actually declining in population. The fact is that same 
statistic can apply for many other States, including Nebraska, the 
Dakotas, Idaho, and most of our States around the country.
  I am very hopeful, as we move forward in the 110th Congress, that 
under the great leadership of Senator Tom Harkin from Iowa, we will be 
able to put together a farm bill that will help revitalize rural 
America and will help us put the spotlight on what has been the 
forgotten America.
  Even as we start the process of moving forward and addressing the 
issues set forth in the 10 titles of the farm bill, we already see some 
statistics that to all of us should be alarming. At a hearing we had 
earlier this week, there was testimony provided to us that the per 
capita investment in rural America is about $550 less than it is in 
urban communities. That is because the formulas we have for community 
development block grants and other investments the Federal Government 
makes to help communities ends up, in a very disappointing way, 
affecting rural communities in these negative ways. I am hopeful, as we 
move forward with the farm bill, we will be able to correct some of 
these disparities and create new opportunities for rural America.

  We will see one of those opportunities created with our efforts to 
grow our way to energy independence. The fact of the matter is, both 
Democrats and Republicans, progressives and conservatives, are coming 
together to recognize the fact that growing our way to energy 
independence is a matter of national security, a matter of economic 
security, and a matter of environmental security. I am tremendously 
optimistic about what we can do with the new farm bill.
  Mr. President, today I speak briefly about two pieces of legislation 
I have introduced or will soon be introducing that are part of that 
agenda to try to help rural America. The first, a bipartisan 
legislation that creates a rural leasing institute. It is legislation 
which I am proudly sponsoring with Senator Pryor, my good friend and 
former attorney general from Arkansas and Senator Chambliss and Senator 
Isakson.
  This legislation creates a rural policing institute to make sure our 
law enforcement in rural communities has a similar kind of opportunity 
that law enforcement has in the major metropolitan areas. In my State 
of Colorado, we have about 14,000 peace officers. I had the great honor 
as the attorney general of that State to serve as the chairman of the 
board that certified all the law enforcement officers in my State for a 
period of 6 years. There is a big difference between the kind of 
training rural law enforcement officers get and the kind of training 
provided to law enforcement areas in the metropolitan communities. Of 
the 14,000 peace officers in Colorado, 7,000 of the people work in 
departments that have fewer than 15 officers. They cannot afford the 
kind of training to protect themselves and to protect the public safety 
that other larger metropolitan police organizations can afford.
  Therefore, our effort to move forward with this rural policing 
institute is to

[[Page S1932]]

allow our national Government to provide training opportunities to the 
thousands upon thousands of police officers who live in rural 
communities and who work every day to protect the public safety of 
their communities.
  I hope our colleagues will join in the passage of this legislation. 
Last year, this legislation enjoyed the unanimous support of the 
Senate. I am hopeful we will again have that same kind of support.
  In conclusion, let me say that the forgotten America is, indeed, much 
of rural America. It is that part of rural America which we know is so 
important to us because of the values we find there, the bedrock values 
of what America is all about. It is a pioneering spirit of the West. It 
is the place where the food security of our Nation so depends.
  If you walk into my office, for many years I have had on my desk a 
sigh that says: No farms, no food. No farms, no food. I would hope, as 
we make that statement--as I make that statement--we recognize we 
should never compromise the food security of the United States of 
America. We, obviously, have done that in a very negative and 
disastrous way with respect to our energy dependence on foreign 
countries today. We ought not to do the same thing with food security.
  Our ability to revitalize rural America and to enact a farm bill that 
will help us revitalize rural America is very much at the heart of how 
we take care of this forgotten America.
  (The remarks of Mr. Salazar pertaining to the introduction of S. 583 
are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum and ask 
unanimous consent that the time be equally divided.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Menendez). Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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