Tax Credits for Doctors in New Mexico

The Raton Range reports that New Mexico’s doctors will soon be eligible to receive tax credits if they serve rural and under served areas of the state. New Mexico’s Lt. Governor Diane Denish and Health Secretary Dr. Alfredo Vigil recently announced the new tax credit of $3,000 or $5,000.

The New Mexico Department of Health will begin accepting applications for the Rural Health Care Practitioner Tax Credit Program Jan. 1.

Progress Expected on Farm Bill

Prairie Farmer reports that U.S. House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) is confident that House and Senate leaders will be able to work out their differences when Congress reconvenes next month. Chairman Peterson says meetings about the bill between House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Senate Agriculture Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA), and Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and himself have been positive.

However, the President Bush has threatened to veto the bill citing a lack of reform, particularly a cap on adjusted gross income. The Chairman is willing to work with Bush on the Farm Bill, but says the proposed cap of $200,000 is unrealistic.

According to Prairie Farmer: “Peterson says it's Congress' job to write the farm bill, and that the White House shouldn't be proposing farm bills in the first place. He says that the original White House proposal was brought before the House Ag Committee and garnered no votes.”

Senate Passes Farm Bill

The U.S. Senate passed its version of the Farm Bill on Friday by a 79-14 vote on Friday. The measure includes farm income protection, makes investments for the future in energy, conservation, nutrition and rural development initiatives and stays within strict budget limits. President Bush has indicated that he will veto the bill.

President Senate Agriculture Chairman Tom Harkin (IA-D) said: “This is a strong, bipartisan bill – evident by the fact that it passed Committee after only one day of deliberation with no negative votes voiced against it and passed the Senate today by an overwhelming majority. After months of negotiations, we were able to work within a very strict budget allocation to complete our work and pass a farm bill that is good for agriculture, good for rural areas and good for the health of Americans” said Chairman Harkin. “This is a forward-looking farm bill with greatly strengthened initiatives to support renewable energy, conservation, nutrition, rural development and to promote better diets and health for all Americans. It maintains a strong safety net for farm producers, and strengthens programs that will help agricultural producers of all kinds across our nation.”

The bill includes provisions for a new Producer Income Protection title that gives producers the option to choose to participate in a state-level revenue protection system. The Average Crop Revenue program offers producers options for managing risk on their farms in today’s uncertain, rapidly changing farm environment. Specialty crop producers will receive greater financial assistance under the bill.

A conference committee comprised of member of the House and Senate will now work out differences between the chambers’ versions of the farm bill. It is expected that the conference committee will meet after the beginning of the New Year. The Associated Press has published a comparison the House and Senate bills. (Read)

House Questions VA's Efforts to Combat Veteran Suicides

Yesterday the House Committee on Veterans Affairs held a hearing entitled Stopping Veteran Suicides: VA Not Reaching the Veterans that Need the Help. Chairman Bob Filner (CA-D) expressed frustation that the VA is not reaching those veterans who need help and concerned by the agency's lack of response to the growing rate of veteran suicide.

Testifying before the committee were Mike and Kim Bowman from Forreston, Illinois. The Bowman's son, Timothy, was a National Guardsman who served in Iraq and retured to rural Illinois with virtually no attention paid to his precarious mental health. Timothy killed himself at his family’s business on Thanksgiving Day 2005.

Last February the McClatchy Newpapers ran a report telling how Timothy's National Guard unit had returned from treacherous duty in Iraq and scattered to dozens of towns across five states. In the process, many were left to languish. (Read)

Dr. Ira Katz, the VA's deputy chief patient care service officer for mental health, defended the agency's work siting the implementation of a suicide prevention hotline. The Associated Press reported that Chairman Filner questioned the VA's decision to focus on tracking the number of suicides rather than on developing treatment programs to help prevent suicide.

Harkin Says Senate Could Pass Farm Bill Next Week

Reuters reports that Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) indicated in a telephone interview today that: "the Senate would pass the farm bill no later than next week." Harkin also said that he hopes to build a veto-proof majority for the bill.

The wire service also reports that the Senate rejected the "Fresh Act" which would have replaced U.S. farm subsidies with government-paid insurance policies. The rejected legislation would have eliminated the $5.2 billion paid annually in direct payments and replaced them with insurance policies to protect growers from a steep drops in revenue or yields.

Senate Begins Farm Bill Debate

The Senate began debating amendments to its version of a farm bill Friday after reaching a bi-partisan agreement that would limit each 20 amendments. More than 200 amendments to the bill had been previously offered.

Agriculture Online reports that it is unlikely that voting on amendments likely won't start until Tuesday and debate could last through most of next week.

North Carolina Breaks Grounds for State's First Ethanol Plant

WRAL.com reports that Cary, NC-based Clean Burn Fuels has broken ground for North Carolina's first ethanol plant. The company expects to spend $100 million to build the facility near Raeford in Hoke County. It is expected to bring 100 jobs to the rural area.

The company plans to sell ethanol to major oil companies, which will blend it into gasoline. The owners said the facility will be well suited to transport ethanol to distributors in the East.

"This is unbelievable and an opportunity none of us believed we'd ever see in this part of North Carolina in our lifetime," Bruce Andrews, a business recruiter for the state's Department of Commerce.

Hoke County is located in south-central North Carolina. It is part of the state's 8th Congressional District which has been hit hard by textile mill closures.

House Passes Broad Energy Bill, But Senate Fails to Consider Measure

Yesterday the House passed an extensive energy bill that raises fuel-efficiency standards for the first time in 32 years, requires the use of renewable fuels for electricity generation, and provides support for small businesses looking to create the innovations that will serve as the basis for our energy future. However, today the Senate failed to muster enough votes to close debate on the bill as it was passed by the House.

The Washington Post reports that the House legislation would: "raise automobile fuel-efficiency standards for the first time in 32 years and require increased use of renewable energy sources to generate electricity." The measure would require auto manufacturers' vehicle fleets to average 35 miles per gallon by 202o. Also by 2020, the nation's utilities would have to derive 15 percent of the electricity they generate from renewable energy sources, including solar, wind power, and biomass.

Additionally, the House measure includes key measures from H.R. 2389, The Small Energy Efficient Business Act (SEEBA), introduced by Congressman Heath Shuler (NC-11). The included provisions provide loans, education and investment to small businesses to help them reduce their consumption of power through the use of more efficient technology and direct capital investment to producers of renewable fuels, spurring expansion, job creation and new ideas throughout the sector.

It is expected that the Senate will reconsider the bill on Tuesday. The new version of the bill that will likely omit the requirement for electric utilities to use renewable energy.

Senate Leaders Say Amendements Imperil Farm Bill

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has warned that the Senate will not pass the Farm Bill this year unless Senators withhold amendments on controversial issues including immigration reform and war in Iraq. Reuters' Charles Abbott reported that Reid: "left open the possibility he would ask a vote next week to shut off debate on the bill and that debate might be deferred to next year."

More than 260 amendments to the bill have been proposed. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told Abbott the solution, as with other bills, would be for him and Reid to decide in private on a limited number of amendments that would be put to a vote.


Last month My Rural America urged Senators to pass the bill immediately.

A Threat to Farming and Food Supply? Looking ahead to the 2080's

In some sectors, global warming is being treated as something like a joke. In other sectors, global warming is seen as not only a serious issue but also a life-endangering threat to the world's food supply.

Only a few days ago, President George W. Bush honored Nobel prize winners at the White House. Former Vice President Al Gore , who received the Nobel for his work on global warming, was among the honorees.

In recent writings, Rick Weiss, Washington Post Staff Writer, has emphasized how climate change could mean a global threat to farming and the dependable food supplies we have come to take for granted: Facing a Threat to Farming and Food Supply.

PASS THE FARM BILL NOW

My Rural America has written Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, asking for immediate passage of the Farm Bill.

You can write too by faxing your letter to:

• The Honorable Harry Reid FAX: 202-224-7362
• The Honorable Mitch McConnell FAX: 202-224-2499
  

See below for what we said. We urge you to write with your own reasons, too.

Dear Senator Reid and Senator McConnell:

On behalf of rural Americans, we urge immediate passage of the Farm Bill.

The facts speak for themselves. The Farm Bill prioritizes rural children by giving new emphasis to funding for nutrition programs.

Rural children are the neediest, as proven by the Carsey Institute’s research. For example:

• In 2006, children accounted for about one-quarter of the rural population, but they made up 40 percent of the rural population who depended on food stamps. Overall, rural food stamp recipients are more likely to be children, more likely to be female and to have low education levels;
• Rural Children are also more likely to receive free or reduced price school lunch, with 79 percent of rural children receiving assistance in purchasing their school lunches.

Further, we urge passage of the Senate Farm Bill because of its strong emphasis on renewable energy, biofuels and conservation. This spending must be prioritized because it will result in new security for our nation, assisting America become energy independent while protecting our land, i.e., our most valuable resource which overtime will fulfill new responsibility, i.e., to fuel the world, as well as more traditionally, to feed the world.

In both the Afghan and Iraqi wars, rural America is paying a higher price than urban America, as rural soldiers continue to suffer a 60% higher death rate than do soldiers from urban areas. The bottom line: our country and the world would not be in Iraq if it were not for its oil; had the United States made energy independence a priority years earlier, the Iraq war might have been avoided in entirety. Now – a delay in passing the Farm Bill only results in more unnecessary war, unnecessary tragedy and sadly, more unnecessary deaths.

On behalf of all rural Americans, My Rural America urges immediate passage of the Farm Bill, so that its promise of energy independence and its commitment to nutrition for the neediest of our rural children can be fulfilled. Members of Congress have already made their compromises, while delay taints the world with the smell of bad politics while it holds hostage our children and our future.

High Rates of Unemployment Lead to High Rates of Enlistment

Author David Anderson writes, "High rates of unemployment lead to high rates of enlistment and war related deaths in rural areas."

Anderson also points out that 31 out of every million rural American adults have been killed in the Afghan and Iraqi wars. A smaller ratio of urban adults have been killed in the wars, with casualty rates among urban dwellers hitting 21 per million. A similar study done last year showed casualty rates among rural Americans a 24 per million and among urban dwellers at 15 per million.

See more on this story at "Soldiers from Rural America ..."

Don't Get Sick in Idaho

Joan McCarter writes in the New West blog, that Idaho and other western states are particularly bad places to "choose" to get sick. Access to a doctor is key, and Idaho has only 140 doctors for every 100,000 patients.

"Don't Get Sick in Idaho" also details health care positions of the various candidates running for president -- both Republicans and Democrats.

Nine million rural Americans lack health insurance, so at least some of the candidates are being specific about how to help rural residents access insurance.

Saturday, Oct. 27 -- Ames, IA

My Rural America is proud to join eighteen rural organizations, including the American Corn Growers, the Center for Rural Strategies, Iowa, Missouri and Rocky Mountain chapters of the National Farmers Union and the National Catholic Rural Life Conference,
in co-sponsoring a National Summit on Agriculture and Rural Life.

Join four presidential candidates -- Democrats John Edwards and Barack Obama, and Republican John Cox live! and hear Hillary Clinton via video. It's a great opportunity to learn more about the state of rural America while making your voice heard about the challenges we rural Americans face every day.

There are many more on the program, but My Rural America's favorite is Mil Duncan, Director of the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire .

Click National Summit on Agriculture and Rural Life to get the details, or call 612-879-7578.

National Summit
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Scheman Education Center
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa

Pre-registration is already closed, but you can still register at the door for $10.

The Perfect Drought

Georgia isn't the only state that has drought troubles. The 10-21-2007 New York Times Magazine published a story called The Perfect Drought ... The Future is Drying Up.

The whole story is worth reading, but just to get you started, here's some of the quotes we found most interesting:

• "Speaking of the Southwest, one scientist in the report said: "You can't call it a drought anymore, because it's going over to a drier climate. No one says the Sahara is in drought."
• "The West is the fastest-growing part of the country. It's also the driest. And climate change could be making matters much, much worse.
• "Scientists sometimes refer to the effect a hotter world will have on this country's fresh water as the other water problem, because global warming more commonly evokes the specter of rising oceans submerging our great coastal cities. By comparison, the steady decrease in mountain snowpack ... seems to be the more modest worry. But not all researchers agree with this ranking of dangers."

Jon Gertner wrote the article, and even the pictures are telling!

Georgia (drought) On My Mind

Several days ago Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue declared a state of emergency over its worst drought in decades and appealed to President George W. Bush for federal aid.

The drought in Georgia is not news, but the fact that Governor Perdue has noticed the drought should be. See Reuters' news story: Georgia Declares State of Emergency.

Conserve Water Georgia's website also has more information about the drought, which has affected neighboring states, too.

At My Rural America, we hope President Bush agrees to the Governor's request.

However, we also hope that Georgians remember that last year -- yes, there was already drought in Georgia last year! -- Congressman John Barrow was first to understand, as he worked last year to assist Georgia citizens when he lead the effort to get Georgia's farmers emergency disaster assistance for drought. You may already recall the discharge petition that would have pulled the disaster assistance bill out of committee, where then House Ag Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (now Ranking Member) at the request of the President, was refusing to allow a floor vote. 197 Members of Congress signed that petition, but 218 signatures were necessary, and the President held firm., as did the following Georgia Congressmen who refused to sign the petition:

• Deal, Nathan
• Gingrey, Phil
• Kingston, Jack
• Linder, John
• Norwood, Charlie -- now deceased
  
• Price, Tom
• Westmoreland, Lynn A.
  

Alas! No drought relief in 2006, although early this year, the new Congress did pass supplemental drought relief that covered the previous two years while the bill was locked up in committee. Whether President Bush will grant Governor Perdue's request is yet unknown.

1.3 Million Uninsured Children Live in Rural Areas

Remember the k.i.s.s. -- keep it simple! -- method? Today ... let's just keep it simple.

Question: What's the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) about?

Answer: Kids who don't have health insurance because their families can't afford the insurance.

Question: Why did President Bush veto the bill?

Answer: Apparently misinformed?

Question: What can you do?

Answer: Ask your Member of Congress to override the President's veto.

Question: How?

Answer: Call or email -- see below.

• US House of Representatives

Or you can just call the US Capitol and ask by name: 202-224-3121

PS: Want more facts? Click here for the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute study on how SCHIP affects rural children ... or just read a little bit more. All facts come from the Institute.

• 1.3 million uninsured children live in rural areas.
• In 2005 - the latest year the figures are available, about four million rural children depended upon public health insurance.]
• What SCHIP does is build upon the Medicaid program. Thus, for children from the poorest of families, Medicaid covers the children
• But for the working poor, i.e., those who make a little too much money to be below the poverty level, but not nearly enough dollars to buy private ... and expensive ... health insurance, SCHIP makes up the difference.
• Most children who are eligible now ... or will be eligible with reauthorization, come from families who earn less than twice as much as the poverty level
• Poverty level for a family of four is $20,650 annual income.
• The cost of health insurance has risen dramatically in recent years
  

You can also read more detail about Congress' effort to override Bush's veto at National Public Radio's website.

Children's Health Care ... Is the President's Veto a sign of battles to come?

We all know about warning signals. There are the easy ones, like a red light that tells us to stop or a yellow light saying caution. We also know about other kinds of warning signals, e.g., when the fish show up dead on the shore, we know we have an environmental disaster on our hands .... and that we'd better clean it up, or we'll be sick from the water, too.

Now, Ron Brownstein, writing for National Journal, has identified a new warning signal, saying, "The current debate (on children's health care) is a prelude to next year's fight over broader health care reform."

President Bush said he vetoed the bill because the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) would direct its benefits toward middle class families who don't need the help. However, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office refutes, finding that 85 percent of the nearly 4 million uninsured children the bill would add to the rolls live in families already eligible for the program.

In fact, the Urban Institute found that three-fourths of the children who would be newly enrolled, live in families who earn less than twice the federal poverty level, or about $41,000 for a family of four.

For rural children, the situation becomes particularly dire. The Carsey Institute's studies on rural children's health care finds there is growing need, with rural children's dependence on SCHIP for health care six percent higher than for urban children.

All of us from rural areas of the country have stories to tell ... about how diminished our small -- now smaller, home towns, have become as the good jobs left town and many of the remaining families have more trouble making ends meet. Now, some of us are counting on the emerging bio-fuel renewable energy industry to bring back some of those new jobs. But meanwhile, our children don't have time to wait.

What the President really meant with his veto, is that he wants to send a message to middle class voters that assistance on health insurance will cost more than it's worth. It's the same message that the old "Harry and Louise" political ad used to kill Bill and Hillary Clinton's proposal for universal health insurance coverage. That old "Harry & Louise ad, by the way, is now used in Wikipedia as a primary example of modern propaganda, i.e., how ads can twist facts and confuse their audience.

However Brownstein also reminds us, "Since then, the cycle of rising health care costs and declining access has threatened more middle-class families: Of the 1 million children who lost health insurance over the past two years, fully two in five lived in families earning more than twice the poverty level."

Congress is considering now whether to over-ride Mr. Bush's veto. We urge you to call or email your member of Congress. Ask them to support SCHIP. Click below to find out how to email your Representative and Senators.

United State House of Representatives

United States Senate

We're also doing our first poll on this blogging site, so take a look at it, too ... and let us know what you're thinking.

Actions -- More Effective than Words

We have a newly updated website underway. When we release it, you may expect this blog to be integrated into the web.

You may also expect us to track key votes in Congress. We will also be starting a "presidential candidate watch" in which our new site will offer easy access to progressive presidential candidates' positions on key rural issues.

Wyoming and Oklahoma -- The Real Story on Their Need for Disaster Assistance

In 2006, Wyoming had the worst case of drought in our country. Oklahoma was close behind, as was west Texas. President Bush and the Republican Majority in Congress didn't want to help so for two years in a row, they locked the disaster relief bill up in committee so there couldn't be a vote on the bill. Still, various Republican members from these states still talked a good game.

Georgia Congressman John Barrow (D-GA) got tired of this double-talk, so he started a discharge petition, i.e., a legal document which requires Members of Congress to sign if they want to vote on a specific issue.

My Rural America told the story in Wyoming:

In 2006, My Rural America and our Rural Leadership Coordinator Aaron Owens worked hard to bring the facts about the need for disaster assistance for drought victims to Wyoming citizens' attention.

By failing to sign a discharge petition that would require a vote on agriculture disaster assistance in the House of Representatives, Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo., is “hanging Wyoming farmers out to dry,” according to My Rural America, a non-partisan educational organization dedicated to improving the quality of life in rural communities.

“Wyoming’s only representative has stood on the sidelines while her Republican friends have blocked drought relief, despite having told us she would ‘use some political capital’ to help farmers in her own state," said Aaron R. Owens, Rural Leadership Coordinator for My Rural America.

Owens, who lives in Laramie, said that only two Republicans – neither of them Rep. Cubin – have signed the petition that needs 218 signatures to force Congress to move agriculture disaster assistance legislation forward. “It is a classic case of Cubin telling her constituents and the press one thing in Wyoming but acting in another way when she is in Washington,” said Owens.-

Owens noted that 197 Members of Congress have united behind the effort to force a vote last month before the House of Representatives recessed until after the November elections. Despite the urging of more than 30 farm and allied organizations that encouraged all members of Congress to sign the discharge petition, the House Republican leadership prevailed when most GOP members with agricultural constituencies, including Cubin, declined to do so.

Representative Barbara Cubin (R-WY At Large) refused to sign the petition, but she still went from town to town to insist she was committed to getting assistance for drought victims. Essentially, she double-talked, but sadly, Wyoming newspapers refused to carry the story. This year, once again, Cubin voted no on disaster assistance.

Like Cubin, Frank Lucas (R-OK) also said he was for disaster assistance in 2006. He even sponsored his own bill, but when push came to shove, he failed to sign the discharge petition to get the final bill out of committee. Once again, local newspapers only carried stories that said what Lucas said, rather than what he did.

Cubin and Lucas were re-elected in November 2006 but voters -- starved for information, had no option but to believe what they said. At My Rural America, we believe actions are more important than words.

Torrington, Wyoming -- "Rural America: Invisible to Voters"

Joe Miklosi, candidate for Colorado State House -- District 9, brought this Denver Post story to our attention: "Rural America: Invisible to Voters"

In it, Denver Post writer Karen E. Crummy wonders why rural voters are often ignored.

The story serves as a prime example of why we've begun My Rural America, i.e., when rural citizens don't get the news and are locked out of easy access to high-speed Internet ... while their small town newspapers no longer have the resources to serve as community watch-dogs to tell the story about how national elected officials serve their communities, all too many rural citizens become quiet ... and too trusting.

Our favorite quote in the story:

• "Ignoring these [rural] areas can be politically lethal for candidates. While rural voters make up only about 23 percent of the electorate, they have affected the past four presidential elections."

The story continues, "Former President Clinton, a Democrat, appealed to enough rural residents to receive almost 50 percent of their votes in 1992 and 1996. President Bush won in 2000 and 2004 by netting 60 percent or more of the rural vote.

"It shows that to win as a Republican, you need the lion's share of rural votes. For Democrats to win, you have to neutralize those voters," said Seth McKee, a University of South Florida professor who analyzed rural voters in presidential elections from 1992 to 2004.

"Exit polling shows that religion, gender and what region of the country they live in take a back seat to the residents' rural status in voting, Mc Kee said."

... Well, yes! Residents' rural status matters, but rural residents have to be able to get the facts, too. Without news, without easy access to the facts -- voting records and accurate policy information, rural voters can easily waste their votes.

My Rural America sets the record straight. For an example about how we set the record straight, see our next story.

House Farm Bill Highlights

Over the next several days, we will be highlighting House passage of the Farm Bill. Special thanks go out to Tracy Hammond, who summarized the House approved bill -- H.R. 2419 for My Rural America.


The 2007 Farm Bill passed the House with a 231 to 191 vote. The vote was largely along party lines and some 57 votes short of being veto-proof despite the President’s threat to do so. Only 19 House Republicans voted for the bill. Most who did so came from rural districts and were wary of alienating voters who would benefit from the legislation. Further, just 14 Democrats broke ranks and voted against passage.

The administration announced July 25 that it would veto the bill after revelations that the bill would include a tax-related measure that would offset about $4 billion in additional nutrition funding. The administration is concerned also about the subsidy levels in the bill and various other issues. Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) has shrugged off the White House veto threat. "We take it with a grain of salt," Peterson said. "They said they wouldn't sign the 2002 Farm Bill and they did." He also noted that a president has not vetoed a Farm Bill in 40 years. If the president vetoes the bill, that action will not "go down well in farm country." Peterson has stated that he believed the Bush administration has been working against him on other fronts. Democrats likely would have had the veto-proof margin if House leaders did not choose to offset the $4 billion by including the controversial tax provision amending the tax code regarding rates paid by U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies. In fact, House Agriculture Committee ranking member Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) told lawmakers repeatedly that he could vote for the bill only if that language were scratched, and he later made good on his word with a "no" vote on final passage. The bill would bar farmers who have more than $1 million in annual income from collecting government subsidies and eliminate payments to those who earn between $500,000 and $1 million if less than 67 percent of that income comes from farming. Under current law, farmers with income in excess of $2.5 million annually are barred from receiving subsidies, unless 75 percent of their income is agriculture-related. Collin C. Peterson (D-MN), chairman of the Agriculture Committee and sponsor of the bill, said the payment limitations would save $226 million over five years, helping the bill comply with House budget rules. The bill also would increase the maximum in direct payments that an individual farmer could collect to $60,000 a year from $40,000. If a husband and wife both farm the same land and are both eligible, they could collect up to $120,000 a year. The House easily rejected a controversial amendment by a vote of 117 to 309, offered by Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI), that would cut subsidies completely and funnel most of that money into conservation programs. The proposal, floated by Kind and Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), would have established farmers' savings accounts and allow for greater conservation and renewable energy spending in lieu of direct payments and subsidies. It would phase out federal farm subsidies over the next several years.

“This Farm Bill is about much more than farms. It is about the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and increasingly the fuel we will use. It assures that we will have a safe, strong food supply now and for years to come,” Chairman Peterson said. “I am proud of the balanced and forward-looking Farm Bill that we have passed supporting conservation, nutrition, rural, renewable energy, labor, and farm country.” Important highlights of the Farm Bill (H.R. 2419) include:

• Investing more than $1.6 billion in priorities to strengthen and support the fruit and vegetable industry in the United States. A new section for Horticulture and Organic Agriculture includes nutrition, research, pest management and trade promotion programs.
• Implementing Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling for fruit, vegetables and meat after years of delay.
• Expanding the USDA Snack Program, which helps schools provide healthy snacks to students during after-school activities to all 50 states and continuing the DOD Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, which provides a variety of fresh produce to schools.
  
• Strengthening and enhancing the food stamp program by reforming benefit rules to improve coverage of food costs and expand access to the program with additional funding support.
• Including key provisions that invest in rural communities nationwide, including economic development programs and access to broadband telecommunication services.
• Providing farmers participating in commodity programs with a choice between traditional price protection and new market-oriented revenue coverage payments.
• Strengthening payment limits to ensure that people making more than $1 million a year (adjusted gross income) can’t collect conservation and farm program payments and closing loopholes that allow people to avoid payment limits by receiving money through multiple business units.
• Extending and making significant new investments in popular conservation programs, including the Conservation Reserve Program, Wetlands Reserve Program, Environmental Quality Incentive Program, Farm and Ranchland Protection Program, and many others.
• Making important new investments in renewable energy research, development and production in rural America.
• Rebalancing loan rates and target prices among commodities, achieving greater regional equity.
• Establishing a new National Agriculture Research Program Office to coordinate the programs and activities of USDA’s research agencies to minimize duplication and maximize coordination at all levels and creates a competitive grants program.
• Protecting and sustaining our nation’s forest resources.

To be continued: Over the next few days, this website will also provide a more detailed summary of the various titles of the Farm Bill. Once this summary is completed, we'll begin our "watch" on the Senate which will be taking up the Farm Bill next.

OPPORTUNITY ... To Learn About the Extra Dangers Our Rural Soldiers Are Facing

Dr. William O'Hare, author of the Carsey Institute's study of rural casualties, will be speaking tomorrow -- Saturday, September 8th, at "The War and Rural America" forum which is being hosted by Farms Not Farms and Family Farm Defenders.

Sadly, the Carsey Institute study finds that soldiers from rural areas are dying in Afghanistan and Iraq at a +60 percent higher rate that those from urban areas. You can read the study for yourself at "US Rural Soldiers Account for a Disproportionately High Share of Casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan".

Although we know it's likely that you may not be able to go to this conference, Dr. O'Hare is willing to do interviews, and we suggest you call your local newspaper, asking your editor to call Dr. O'Hare and ask him why rural soldiers and their families are carrying the heavier burden in these occupations.

Farmers Pay Price for Nation's Immigration Woes

The good news: There is a crop. The bad news -- Who's going to bring the crop in?

Farm Bureau leaders talk with White House officials

Thursday, August 16, 2007, 1:34 PM, Brownfield Ag News For America
Wisconsin Farm Bureau president, Bill Bruins says White House officials have every intention to push-ahead with enforcement plans. “I believe that the Administration is cracking-down on these mismatched Social Security numbers to prove to the country and to Congress that they can respond and enforce the rules that are on the books.”

The New York Times give more detail in a story by Lisa W. Foderaro.

"Plenty of Apples, but Possibly a Shortage of Immigrant Pickers"
This story details the plight of apple growers in upstate New York, but more farmers around the country are hurting for workers, too. See the Times' coverage on "Immigration and Refugees" for further detail.

Read more:
Center for America Progress -- Tough but Fair on Immigration
Center for Immigration Studies
Pew Hispanic Center

End of Summer/Catching our Breath ... But Farm Bill Debate Continues Soon

Yes, the Farm Bill passed in the House, so it's on to the Senate after Labor Day. President Bush has threatened to veto it and we find this odd. See below for what the President of the American Agriculture Movement had to say:

Foreign Companies Enjoy the Wealth of U.S. – They Should Pay Their Fair Share

WASHINGTON, Aug 23, 2007 – Larry Matlack, President of the American Agriculture Movement (AAM), has taken exception with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns on the issue of closing a tax loophole which would require U.S. subsidiaries of foreign-owned companies to pay taxes on profits made in the U.S. “Those foreign companies enjoy access to the opportunities and wealth of the United States and they should pay their fair share for that access,” said Matlack. “It is high time that we worry more about the feeding the malnourished and keeping families on their farms than whether foreign-owned companies get to keep a tax loophole which should have been closed years ago.”

Matlack directed his remarks to Johanns who has called closing the tax loophole a ‘tax increase’ which President Bush opposes. The loophole will be closed to help pay for $4 billion in critical nutrition funding in the next farm bill if provisions passed by the U.S. House on July 27 by a vote of 231-191 are enacted.

PASS THE BILL ... Facts on State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)

These facts come from the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire. The Institute specializes in rural studies. All data is from 2005, the most recent data available:

• Almost 4 million rural children depend upon SCHIP.
• 32 percent of children in rural areas rely on SCHIP or Medicaid compared with 26 percent of children in metro areas. This number has been rising steadily as manufacturing and other jobs with benefits dry up and private insurance becomes unaffordable.
  
• Even with SCHIP available, many continue to go without insurance.
  
• More than 1.3 million rural children were uninsured.
  
• More than half of these children were in families whose head worked full-time, year round.

To read more about this important program: Rural Children Increasingly Rely on Medicaid
and SCHIP.

Your Member of Congress is voting today ... or maybe tomorrow ... on this important bill. Please call your representative NOW to let him/her know how important it is that this bill passes:

202-224-3121
Ask for your specific Member of Congress.
To find out his/her name, click below
Representative Offices

Shocking! 186 Republicans Say NO! to Rural America

This afternoon the Farm Bill passed the House on an almost straight party line vote.

186 Republicans said NO to rural Americans ... NO to farmers ... NO to nutrition ... NO to food stamps ... NO to conservation ... and NO to energy independence for our country.

Think about it -- the NO to energy independence was really a NO to national security. If the United States were energy independent now, we wouldn't be in Iraq. Nor would we be reading stories -- almost every day, it seems -- about the terrible care our veterans are getting when they come home in need of medical care. Nor would more than 3600 American soldiers have died in combat.

Of course, the Republicans' NO vote was really an echo. The President calls a tax loophole a tax increase, and just like lemmings ... there go the Republican Minority ... off the cliff and against the country.

Congratulations to House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn) for passing the Farm Bill -- H.R. 2419, the Farm, Nutrition and Bioenergy Act of 2007, and congratulations for closing the loophole, too. It's interesting to note that this week President Bush called the loophole a tax increase, but five years ago he supported closing it. What closing the loophole does is make it more difficult for foreign companies with U.S. subsidiaries to use offshore entities to avoid paying taxes on profits made in the U.S. Why Mr. Bush, or anyone for that matter, would want to allow foreign companies to skip paying taxes on the money they made here is beyond me.

Closing the loophole saves $3.2 billion dollars, money that will be spent on nutrition programs for children. Overall, the legislation must be considered landmark, since there are a number of "firsts" in the bill. For example, the New Direction Farm Bill:

• Includes specialty crop growers in the farm safety net
• Promotes fruits and vegetables and organic agriculture
  
• Prohibits payments to millionaires and stops others from evading farm payment limits
• Increases investments in renewable energy by 600%
• Prioritizes nutrition while providing stronger assistance to low income families.

Two-thirds of the cost of $284 Billion (over five years) Farm Bill will go to nutrition, and that makes me wonder ... why we don't rename the Farm Bill? We could call it the "Food" Bill because that's what it really is -- food and fiber for all of our families, not just for those of us who live on the farm, but rather for families all over the world.

Farm Bill ... Today!

Today, we're in a keep it simple mode, so here's what one of our Colorado readers had to say about the President's threat to veto:

• "Only my (Republican) party could spin “closing a tax loophole” as a “tax increase”….and yes, war is really “peace” and mounting deficits are really “fiscal responsibility”. The Colorado (Republican) party reads right out of the national playbook. Governor Ritter and the Dem Legislature just closed a loophole on property taxes and the increase in dollars will help fund the public school system…the Repugs are spending this summer traveling the state calling our Gov “Mr. Tax and Spend”. What a bunch of morons ..."
  

To be clear, the debate is about whether closing a tax loophole should be considered a tax increase. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) has a bill called "Fairness in International Tax Bill" that could stop foreign-based parent companies from moving their U.S. income (earned through U.S. sales from their U.S. based subsidiaries) to countries with either lower taxes or no taxes. President Bush originally supported the proposal but has now changed his mind.

Closing this corporate loophole allows the Farm Bill to meet "pay go" requirements and at the same time fund the extra dollars ($4B) needed for increases in spending for food stamp.

The House version of the Farm Bill has broad support, and My Rural America supports passage. Assuming passage, in September, the Senate will take up the bill so we can expect more debate. One issue will come from Senator Durbin and Senator Brown:

• Call this a preview of upcoming debate when the Senate takes up the Farm Bill in September: National Corn Growers say "Durbin-Brown Takes Farm Policy to a New Level."

More issues can be expected ... including additional support for rural development.

Just What Is He thinking? President Bush Just Threatened to Veto the Farm Bill

And we just don't get it. Traditionally, Farm Bill is non-partisan, more regional than partisan, and this year ... Dems and Repubs have worked closely together to create a solid bill that moves us in the right direction -- protecting the rural economy and forward thinking about our nation's need to be energy independent, as well as supportive of conservation, organic growers and specialty crops.

The best thing to do ... pick up the phone, dial 202-224-3121 and ask for your Member of Congress. Tell him or her to stop playing politics and vote YES on the Farm Bill.

Farm Bill -- Debate Begins at 3PM today: Wednesday, July 25

We urge you to ask your Member of Congress to vote NO! on the Kind Amendment. Our reasoning is very similar to the American Corn Growers -- see excerpt below. In addition, we would add that House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) and Ranking Member Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) have worked closely together -- carefully sorting the issues out in a bi-partisan manner, so that the Farm Bill begins reform, taking strong steps toward helping our nation become energy independent, while investing in new opportunities for nutrition, conservation and support for both organic growers and specialty crops.

In a letter to Congressman Ron Kind (D-WI), ACGA commended the initiative and leadership exhibited by the Congressman for his work on the farm policy debate this year but ... asked Kind to consider supporting the Food From Family Farms Act (FFFA) to provide:

• A return to a price floor mechanism for program crops,
• A return to a Farmer Owned Grain Reserve (FOR), and
• Authority to help farmers migrate a portion of the land currently being used to grow those crops usually produced in excess to the production of alternative, dedicated energy crops.

“The price floor contained in FFFA will save tens of billions of dollars in direct subsidies to farmers in exchange for providing them the opportunity to receive a fair price from the market,” explained Larry Mitchell, Director of Government Affairs for ACGA. “The FOR will provide for national food security, national energy security and a safety valve for the nation’s consumers, livestock producers, and biofuels sector. Helping farmers migrate to growing dedicated alternative energy crops will help mitigate over production of some crops and help the nation move toward energy independence.”

ACGA concluded, “The savings achieved with the FFFA will provide additional funding for conservation programs as well as renewable energy initiatives, nutrition needs and rural development. ...”

Congratulations Congress -- 74 Million Rural Americans Benefit from Raise in Minimum Wage

With Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Harry Reid leading the way, Democrats celebrated their success in raising the minimum wage ... promises given/promises kept!

National minimum wage has been $5.15 per hour since 1997. The raise will occur in three stages:

• $5.85 per hour, beginning 60 days after the bill's enactment. The President signed the bill into law on May 25;
• $6.55 per hour 12 months, or one year, after that sixtieth day; and
• $7.25 per hour 24 months, or two years, after that sixtieth day.

More than 650 economists were joined together in support of the raise, while the Economic Policy Institute reported that "The real value of today’s federal minimum is less than it has been since 1951. Moreover, the ratio of the minimum wage to the average hourly wage of non-supervisory workers is 31%, its lowest level since World War II."

According to William O'Hare at the Carsey Institute, more than 5.5 million people in rural America live in households where someone earns less than $7.25 an hour and 60% of the benefactors of the wage increase live in rural America. Read more at the Carsey Institute's study by O'Hare: "Rural Workers Would Benefi t More Than Urban Workers from an Increase in the Federal Minimum Wage"

A Prison Opens in Rural America Every 15 Days ...

"Every 15 days" happened in the 1990's. Today -- July 24th, PBS is premiering a movie about what happened in one of the small towns where the prisons were built.

Prison Town, USA highlights the tragedies suffered by both town residents and the prisoners. What's saddest about this story is that the U.S. has imprisoned more people than anywhere else around the world. Check your local listing for the exact time, and flip your TV set on to PBS. It's well worth watching.

Let us know what you think about America's failing criminal justice system, too.

Where the Rubber Meets the Road and Rhetoric No Longer Matters

The Senate stayed up all night, resulting in 52 votes for a new direction in Iraq. Senator Joe Biden called for finding a political solution "...So when we leave Iraq, we don't have to send our grandchildren back."

Four Republicans stood with the Democrats -- Senators Gordon Smith of Oregon, Olympia Snowe of Maine, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Susan Collins of Maine.

In his Washington Post column, OpEd writer Harold Meyerson began like this, "Anyone searching for the highest forms of invertebrate life need look no further than the floor of the U.S. Senate this week. These spineless specimans go by various names -- Republican moderates; respected Republicans; Dick Lugar, John Warner, Peter Domenici, George Voinovich."

Read for yourself: The column is called "Spineless Sages."

Welcome to My Rural America's New Blog

Welcome. This new blog is for you. We invite you to comment ... share your opinions, and let us know what subjects you're most interested in.

We had hoped to open this blog with good news, saying that we promise to highlight what's going well for rural America, as well as to emphasize Washington policy making ... and how these action's affect rural America's "bread & butter", i.e., economic well-being.

Instead, today's news highlights how sad it is that, quite simply, the President has failed to hear the voice of the American people, as they spoke so strongly only eight months ago in the 2006 elections.

Americans understood then ... the endless Iraq war has made things worse instead of better, and we are now in a position that our soldiers are dying to honor those who died before them. A new National Intelligence Estimate re-emphasizes that Al Qaeda is growing stronger while we remain focused on Iraq. The Report says we are in a "heightened threat environment." Overall, the assessment underlines the need to force the President to change the mission, so that our nation's resources can be redirected toward Al Qaeda, rather than be caught in Iraq's civil war.

Congressman Ike Skelton of Missouri, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, puts it this way, "We must responsibly redeploy our troops out of Iraq, handing responsibility for security over to the Iraqis and leaving only those forces required for limited missions. This will allow us to concentrate our efforts on Afghanistan and the al-Qaida terrorists who attacked us on 9/11."

TIME TO SAY STOP!! Too Many Rural Americans Are Paying the Ultimate Sacrifice

Today -- Tuesday, July 17th, we ask you to join in saying "enough is enough." It is time for a new strategy ... time to say to the President STOP OBSTRUCTING an end to the Iraq war.

If you live in the Washington, DC region, we urge you to join us in a candlelight vigil.

Tuesday, July 17th
8:30 PM

Upper Senate Park, Constitution and Delaware, NW

(Across from the U.S. Capitol and next to the Russell Senate Office Building)

Or if you live outside the Washington area, we urge you to dial the phone -- call your Republican Senator and tell him or her "enough is enough" ... it is time to change directions in Iraq. It is time to tell the President to stop now.

General Senate #: 202-224-2131

Tell them rural Americans have already paid too high a price, with rural soldiers dying in Iraq and Afghanistan at a 60% higher rate than urban soldiers.

Why? According to the Carsey Institute's analysis of U.S. Department of Defense data, this higher rural death rate reflects the fact that rural areas have higher rates of military recruitment, and a lack of good rural employment and educational opportunities.

Vermont has the highest death rate in the country.

Tragic ... to say the least. You can find out about your state's soldiers, and more about how we are losing our rural soldiers at the following website: http://www.carseyinstitute.unh.edu/documents/RuralDead_fact_revised.pdf

My Rural America Applauds Gov. Sebelius

Before My Rural America opened its doors, we researched Rural America's needs, and here's what we found:

• Home Broadband Adoption Lags Behind -- PEW Internet and American Life, 2-26-06
  
• Study Finds More News Media Outlets , but Less News Covered -- Kellogg Foundation ... The State of the New Media 2006, 3-14-2006
• Rural Citizens Have Less Than 4 Percent Chance to Read How Their Elected Member of Congress Votes -- My Rural America Action Fund Study, 9-1-05
  

Now Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius has testified to the U.S. House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, saying that the challenges in rural America do not singularly center on economics.

Governor Sebelius frames it this way, "First and foremost, rural communities have lost their ability to constructively call their citizens to a common table to discuss their future."

Using the coffee shops as an example, she emphasizes how rural Americans have lost the skills necessary for productive and progressive communications, since many times the only information available is misinformed, discouraging or very negative.

Sebelius also points to rural America's media, saying, "The small community newspapers -- which 40 or 50 years ago served as a 'conscience of the community' -- are no longer serving that purpose and in many cases have disappeared altogether. So called 'local' TV broadcasts originate from hundreds of miles away, and supposedly 'local' radio stations are increasingly owned by nationwide conglomerates that pipe in programming from the other side of the country."

My Rural America applauds Governor Sebelius. She's gotten it right, emphasizing how for rural development to be effective, it must begin with leadership development, strategic planning and communications.

Communications!! That's this new blog's goal -- to increase communications, to offer facts about what happens in Congress and in local communities while we give rural Americans the opportunity to speak out.

We invite you to participate.

• For more detail on Governor Sebelius' testimony, please see the following: http://www.kansas.com/205/story/116887.html
  

Global Warming -- Watch on Rising Insurance Rates

It doesn’t matter – crop insurance, flood insurance, you name it! We can expect taxpayer-funded insurance programs to only go up. See more details here.

“Investigators Warn of Global Warming Costs … Taxpayer-Funded Insurance Program May Take a Hit” by David Lightman and Joel Lange, Hartford Courant. 4/19/2007

Milk Dispute

Consumer Choice? Do you think dairy producers and consumers should have the right to choose whether synthetic hormones should be in the milk we drink? Essentially, Monsanto says, NO! You decide?

“Monsanto having a cow in milk label dispute … 'Hormone free' tag unfair, company says” by Stephen J. Hedges, Chicago Tribune. 4/11/2007

Organic Agriculture

The House Agriculture Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture held a hearing on the economic impact of organic agriculture. Organic food is currently a $14 billion industry, accounting for about 2 percent of total retail food sales in the United States. That number is projected to grow to as much as $23.8 billion and 3.5 percent of the U.S. food market by 2010. Once you’ve clicked the following, you might want to click again at the bottom of the media release to read the actual testimony.

U.S. House Committee on Agriculture

Farm Bill Progresses

This week’s Senate Agriculture Hearing was pretty interesting. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 – better known as the Farm Bill, will expire this year, but legislators are already at work, preparing to write a new Farm Bill to take its place. Although some members of the media all too often tend to emphasize commodity programs only, the reality is that the Farm Bill also benefits all urban dwellers, e.g., school lunch, land conservation, food stamps and other nutrition programs, rules on trade, Rural Electrification (serving many urban areas despite its “Rural” name) and lately, our nation’s push for energy independence. We invite you to see/hear the details yourself.