Happy Holidays from My Rural America

Dear Friends,

I hope this holiday season finds you -- and those most important to you -- healthy, happy, and filled with hope for the year ahead. 2009 can be expected to be a very challenging time, but where there is change, there is always opportunity.

Thanks too for all your work in 2008. Sharing the facts about progressive policies and the candidates who support them will continue to be an important part of My Rural America's mission in 2009, as we build upon the work we did in 2008.

At My Rural America, we consider ourselves blessed by your friendship and wish for you, our country and the world the very best. One of our readers sent the attached “Christmas Wish” … which offers many reasons to count our blessings during these challenging times, and we've chosen to share it with you even though we don't know the original author. If one of you do, please let us know and we will give appropriate credit.

Thanks for all that you do.

Barbara Leach
President

Guest Editorial -- Why Rural Homeowners Suffer More

Why Rural Homeowners Suffer More from Housing Mess: While most publicity surrounding the current mortgage foreclosure crisis has centered on the woes of Wall Street and urban dwellers, homeowners in rural America are taking a major hit due to the economic realities of rural communities.

As the number of adjustable-rate mortgages peak this summer and interest rates are reset, more homeowners will find that their monthly payments exceed their ability to pay. When that happens, rural residents will have fewer options than their city brethren.

A recent study cited by the Des Moines Register found that rural borrowers had an average income of $56,000, compared to $66,000 for urban borrowers. Lenders see lower incomes as higher risk and thereby increase their loan rates. Appraisers have a harder time valuing homes in rural areas where fewer homes sell and sales are far apart. Homes can thereby swing in value from an initial loan to refinancing, and can leave borrowers owing more on their loan than their home is worth in a declining market.

Even big lenders in nearby cities often raise the interest rates on rural, inexpensive homes to cover their costs and make their profit. And when rural borrowers get into trouble, they have fewer options among lenders to refinance and fewer choices if they’re forced to sell. Of course, even a few foreclosures can have a huge impact on a small town, according to John Baker, an attorney with Iowa Concern, a hotline for financial and legal assistance. “The value of every property in the town drops dramatically,” he says, because vacant houses deteriorate in value “and it has a cascading effect.”

The newspaper’s study found that 27% of rural loans had higher interest rates associated with sub-prime mortgages, compared to 19% of urban loans. The Iowa Mediation Service operates a hotline for people struggling to pay their mortgages. “What I was struck by … was how many little towns have more than one complaint,” said director Mike Thompson. About half of all complaints came from rural areas even though statistics show more than twice as many loans exist in urban areas. “I think you’re going to see a lot of rural people with the same problems,” he said. By Keith C. Dinsmore. Mr. Dinsmore is a journalist and also former editor of a chain of 22 weekly newspaper in Iowa and Missouri.

Farm Bill -- Yes Delayed ... Again! and Still!

Not that anyone totally knows for sure, but it could be that we're looking at a one to two month extension of the current Farm Bill -- coming soon?

According to Jerry Hagstrom reporting for DTN, House Agriculture Committee Chair Collin Peterson has blamed some Senators who want to turn the Farm Bill into a tax bill.

"Credit" for the delay in passage of the Farm Bill can also be blamed on other factors, including USDA, which even with the confirmation of the new Secretary, isn't exactly cooperating and on Western and Southern Plains Senators who are committed to creating a new permanent disaster program. Of course, this "blame" list leaves out the environmentalists who had hoped to turn the Farm Bill into a healthy food/health land bill, the corporate interests who specifically oppose change in farm programs and the President who again and again has promised to veto the Farm Bill if the costs threaten his tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans -- Bush Threatens Farm Bill Veto: Opposes Public Nutrition, BioFuel and Land Stewardship Programs.

Meanwhile, rural communities and their farming constituencies are paying the price. Senate Agriculture Chairman Tom Harkin's longstanding commitment to stronger funding for rural development programs, conservation and programs strengthening school lunch are also at stake. See House Farm Bill, Senate Farm Bill and USDA Farm Bill for detail on the differences.

The Match Up -- Obama & Hillary vs. McCain

SurveyUSA: Hillary And Obama Win Electoral College In Distinct Ways

By Eric Kleefeld - March 6, 2008, 1:48PM

SurveyUSA has a new set of polls out, testing Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in all 50 states. The bottom line: Both candidates would narrowly win the Electoral College, but in very different ways.

Obama vs. McCain - Obama Would Win 280 to 258

Clinton vs. McCain: Clinton Would Win 278 to 260

Be sure to click the new set of polls to see the maps, too.

Countdown: Less than Five Days Until TX/OH Showdown

Texas and Ohio are the two most important primaries coming up on Tuesday, and at this point it is pretty clear that the Republicans have settled on the fact that their nominee will be John McCain ... like it or lump it. It also appears that Democrats are starting to settle in with Barack Obama ... but Hillary is still working hard to claim the nomination so it's not over til it's over.

Meanwhile, see below for what some national pundants ... not they alway know ... are saying about the last debate:

• Boston Globe: Clinton Attacks on All Fronts. Obama Hits Back on Health, Trade, War and Campaign Tactics.
• New York Times: A Complicated Challenge on One Side; A Single Task on the Other.
• The New York Observer: Panetta's Lament: They Had No Plan.
  

1 in 100 U.S. Citizens Behind Bars?

That's what a recent study from the Pew Center on the States says. It's worrying because this is money -- keeping all 230 million people in jail -- that's wasted. Actually, it's wasted people as well as wasted money ... $49 Billion to be exact.

Nationwide, the prison population grew by 25,000 last year, bringing it to almost 1.6 million. Another 723,000 people are in local jails. The number of American adults is about 230 million, meaning that one in every 99.1 adults is behind bars. See more on this New York Times story at 1 in 100 U.S. Citizens Behind Bars

The Boston Globe reports that "Vermont Tops the List of States Spending More on Prison than College." And in Michigan, AP Reporter David Eggert reports that Michigan is right behind Vermont, spending $1.19 for every $1.00 spent on higher education, "Michigan is 1 of 4 states to spend more on prison than college." Meanwhile, Georgia ranks seventh in prison population with more than 55,000 people imprisoned and a growing population that tripled the U.S. average.

The Pew report says that states don't really make active choices about whether prisons or colleges are the most important to spend money on, but still, a dollar spent one place is a dollar that isn't available for other spending.

In terms of the effect of what seems to be our nation's growing need for prisons, one sometimes un-noticed effect is how some small towns have fought for prisons to build in their communities as a means of creating new jobs. For more info on this growing trend, see Big Prisons Small Towns.

At My Rural America, we deplore the idea that our rural economy should get to the point that our jobs might depend upon others committing crimes. Better ideas would be to push for cost of production protections for our agriculture producers, new broadband connections so that small businesses have an easier time competing for business and of course, to get serious about investing in our children so that they don't grow up to be criminals.

Congress, Presidential Powers and the Three Legged Milk Stool

Remember those old three legged stools -- the kind that some of our dads sat on to milk the cows with? I found myself recalling that old milk stool recently as I thought about how last week Congress voted 223-32 to hold former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with subpoenas to testify before Congress in regard to the firing of nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006.

The way I learned about the balance of powers required by the U.S. Constitution was with a drawing of the three legged stool -- Congress, Judiciary, Presidency/the Executive Branch. Take one leg away, and the stool falls over. Take one branch of government away and our government is in danger. When the checks and balances don't work as required by the Constitution, it's a serious signal that our democracy is at risk.

• Miers and Bolten's failure to comply with Congressional subpoenas requiring their testimony under oath, is exactly the kind of signal that the writers of our Constitution were worried about, i.e., one branch of government cannot be allowed to run amuck.

"Amuck" ... that's the most polite word we can write here. For our purposes, it means that Congress was exactly right in holding Miers and Bolten in contempt. Steve Fox of the American Freedom Campaign described the situation as, "In order for our system of checks and balances to be effective, Congress must have oversight over the executive branch. When Bolten and Miers -- with the encouragement of the President -- refused to comply with the congressional subpoenas last summer, they were tacitly saying that this oversight power no longer existed. If they are not held in contempt -- and prosecuted in the courts -- our Constitution will have been defiled."

Amuck. "Defiled." Both accurate words in this case. One unresolved question is what happens next? Since Bolten and Miers said "No" because President Bush asked ... told? them to do so, our question is: Does he have responsibility, too?

As reported by Roll Call, Bruce Fein, a former counsel to Congress in the Iran-Contra probe and an ex-deputy attorney general under Ronald Reagan, has predicted that Congress is likely to win one out of the two battles that come next. These upcoming battles will be one in criminal court and one in civil court. Fein described the situation this way,

"Thsi is the more aggressive executive privilege claim ever. It would be the equivalent of Nixon telling John Dean he couldn't testify."

As we follow this continuing story, readers may expect us to add more detail regarding which Members of Congress voted to protect the Constitution.

Children in Poverty -- More Every Day

At My Rural America, we value

• Family – Children, good neighbors, friends helping friends, working together to solve problems … teamwork.

In recent months, we have strongly supported children's health care ... or SCHIP as passed by Congress and consistently vetoed by the President. It's a veto supported by most conservatives in Congress, and it's a veto we don't understand since Democrats and also key Republicans like Senator Chuck Grassley from Iowa have actively worked as a team to support it.

Meanwhile, our nation's children have been slipping deeper into poverty. "Poverty Mars Formation of Infant Brains," screamed a recent headline in the Financial Times.

If you care about children, this news story is must reading since in plain language it explains the results of a recent study by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, e.g.,

• Martha Farah, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s centre for cognitive neuroscience, said: “The biggest effects are on language and memory. The finding about memory impairment – the ability to encounter a pattern and remember it – really surprised us."
• Jack Shonkoff, director of Harvard University’s centre on the developing child, said policymakers had to take note of the research because “the foundation of all social problems later in life takes place in the early years ... The earlier you intervene [to counteract the impact of poverty], the better the outcome in the end, because the brain loses its plasticity [adaptability] as the child becomes older.”
  

New York Times op-ed writer Paul Krugman put it another way on Monday, saying "Poverty is Poison." Krugman reminds us that statistics prove that Lyndon Johnson's "war on poverty" reduced the poverty rate from 23% in 1963 to 14% in 1968. In 2006, this rate has increased to the point that 17.4% of America's children are living in poverty.

Krugman continues, " ... American children born to parents in the bottom fourth of the income distribution have almost a 50 percent chance of staying there -- and almost a two-thirds chance of remaining stuck if they're black."

Well, poverty strikes a lot of ways -- hunger, neglect, embarrassment, shame, the feeling of being an outcast ... of knowing that there is no hope, that you're just stuck and miserable and angry. This is a tough list, so for today, let's just start with one goal -- food for the kids. They can't learn if their stomachs are empty.

The Farm Bill awaits President Bush' s signature. By not signing it, he endangers free and reduced school lunches for poverty stricken children. Our recommendation: Call the White House today and tell him your patience has run out ... he must sign the Farm Bill immediately. Here are the numbers:

Phone Numbers Comments: 202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414 FAX: 202-456-2461

TTY/TDD Comments: 202-456-6213 Visitors Office: 202-456-2121

Valentine's Day - a cartoon to make you laugh

The Pulitzer Prize was awarded to Ann Telnaes for editorial cartooning in 2001. Her work has been posted in newspapers and magazines around the world, and is regularly featured in the Washington Post. Her cartoons have been exhibited at the Library of Congress, in Paris and in Jerusalem and have been collected in two books, "Humor's Edge" and "Dick." Click here for her Happy Valentine's Day cartoon.

Congress Getting Along? YES!!

Well, this is pretty cool. We first wrote about how Speaker Nancy Pelosi went to the White House to negotiate with the President over the need for economic stimulus in January. She came out with agreement for a solid package that met the three most basic goals for a stimulus -- timely, targeted and temporary. The bill passed the House and went to the Senate where it got dolled up with a couple of very necessary extras that will assist 20 million seniors and 250,000 disabled veterans. That was good news, but still we worried ... since the bill was a slightly stronger bill than the President had agreed to, would House Republicans balk?

The answer to that question was no. Rather, Minority Leader John Boehner and Speaker Pelosi worked together to pass the bill in the House, with the expected result that the President will sign it very soon. We call that a BIG WIN for the economy and for our nation. For more detail on the final package, see the New York Times story -- Congress Votes for a Stimulus of $168 Billion.

There's more good news, too. Today's Politico has an on-line story "First Date: Well Played" that's a quick, fun read with a serious message. Pelosi and Boehner are still talking, and that's a good start.

Let's hope that these conversations include talk about the Farm Bill. After all, the Farm Bill is crucial to the economy of rural America.

Open Letter to Senator Jon Tester on the Bush Budget

Dear Senator Tester,

My Rural America just loves you. Why? ... Because you're right about the Bush Budget being just plain cruel to rural America. You said just, " ... another nail in the coffin of rural America, so to speak."

Over the next days/weeks we'll be doing a continuing feature about our country's endangered Middle Class. Whether the subject -- i.e., the "nail" -- is "Economic Stimulus" package, Farm Bill or how the Bush Budget cuts "Essential Air", broadband, AMTRAK, the "Wild Land Fire Program" and/or a lot of other things too, it would be a real slap in the face to rural Americans if we were to end up stuck with the President and his allies' Budget.

To get us started, we're sharing the Great Falls Tribune's story, "Tester: Bush Budget Fails Rural America."

Thanks again for working hard to protect us all.

Your fans at My Rural America

Super Tsunami Tuesday At a Glance - Continued

Our previous post focused on the demographics of who voted in the Democratic Primaries on Super Tuesday. This evening's post is about those voting in the Republican primaries. Overall, there were 19 primaries.

The first difference: 5 million more people voted in the Democratic Primaries. With the exception of four states -- Alabama, Alaska, Arizona and Utah, more people voted in the Democratic primaries than did Republicans.

McCain won the most states. Huckabee, whom most pundants thought was out of the race, surprised everyone by winning the Southern States. Meanwhile, Romney had a disappointing night. Other facts at a glance we found interesting:

• Huckabee: Won 42% of weekly church-goers; tied with Romney in some states by splitting "very conservative" voters;
• McCain: Won 3 in 20 evangelical votes; ran stronger among voters prioritizing national security and character; ran stronger among men than women;
• Romney: Won 7 out of 10 voters who self-identified as "very conservative"; won 4 in 10 voters who want undocumented immigrants deported.
  

As a whole, Republicans thought immigration mattered more than terrorism and considered the values of the candidates they voted for a priority. It is unclear exactly what these "values" actually mean.

None of the three candidates above have targeted specific plans or proposals for rural America as part of their campaign strategies. However, in our continuing stories, we will cover what the head of the Republican Party -- President George W. Bush -- is supporting for rural America -- as documented in his Budget for the fiscal year 2008-09.

Last Night at a Glance -- Both Clinton and Obama Won

UPDATED NUMBERS -- Obama won more states.

• Obama: 14 (plus 2)-- Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, North Dakota, Utah (plus earlier winning Iowa and South Carolina)
  
• Clinton: 8 (plus 2) -- Arkansas, Arizona, California, Oklahoma, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Tennessee (plus earlier winning New Hampshire and Nevada)
  

Clinton won more delegates.

• Clinton: 641.
  
• Obama: 633.

Or, if you look at grand totals so far, Clinton has a slight edge. According to MSNBC's unofficial count which includes super delegates, some of whom have not gone public:

• Clinton: 811 -- includes 193 super delegates
  
• Obama: 720 -- includes 111 super delegates
  

Note that super delegates in a tight contest are notoriously fickle, so when the polls move around, so so the decisions of the super delegates. As we watch this contest move into the next several weeks, the promises of super delegates need to be weighed with great care.

Other "facts at a glance" that we found interesting:

• Clinton won the largest of the primary states and did best among the following:
• Middle-aged voters and seniors
• Women
  
• Hispanics (6 in 10)
  
• Voters most concerned about health care and the economy.
• Low income and less educated.
  

• Obama won all the Caucus states and also won states in every region of the country and he did best among the following:

• Voters under age 44
• White men
• African Americans (8 in 10)
  
• Voters concerned about Iraq; voters who want change.
  
• Higher income voters and better educated.

Later today, we'll do a similar review of the Republicans, and also review what the differences in the popular vote were.

Super Tsunami Tuesday

My Rural America made a decision some time ago that we would wait to see who our presidential nominees are before we share much in the way of campaign news, but today is Super Tuesday when 22 states, many of them with significant numbers of rural voters, are voting so see below for some of our favorite recent news coverage. They are chosen to showcase a broad cross section of stories about the two remaining progressive candidates in the race. It bears noting that both of them -- Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, have chosen to be very specific about their plans for rural America, offering detailed policies to assist the rural economy. See these plans at the end of this column. We would also be remiss if we failed to point out that neither of the two leading conservative candidates -- Senator McCain and Governor Romney, have offered specific plans for rural America.

• My Qualms Before the Storm, Salon 2/4/08
• Tuesday's Tipping Point, Boston Globe 2/5/08
• How Edwards Advanced the Debate, Boston Globe 2/2/08
  
• In Democratic Families, Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows , New York Times 2/4/08
  
• Obama, Cultivating California Spirit, Eases Clinton's Grip on the State , New York Times 2/4/08
  
• Bill Clinton's Legacy, How Former President Is Viewed Could Affect Vote , Washington Post 2/4/08
  
• Democrats Flood States With Ads as Tuesday Nears , New York Times 2/3/08
  
• Clinton Aides Hit Obama Ad -- Health Care Ad Called Misleading, Boston Globe 2/3/08
  
• Obama, Clinton Play Their Parts to Perfection by Los Angeles Times 2/2/08
• Clinton Campaigns in California, Obama Hits New Mexico, Los Angeles Times 2/2/08
• Democratic Stalemate, Washington Post 2/4/08
• Clinton, Obama, Insurance, New York Times 2/4/08
• The Cooper Concerns, New York Times 2/4/08

And here are Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama's policy proposals for rural America.

Senator Clinton: Creating Opportunity for Rural America
Senator Obama: Plan to Support Rural Communities.

NPR Notices -- More on how George Apparently Doesn't Eat

Everyone's catching on: The President continues his silence. Determined to be relevant, he's willing to veto almost anything but funds for the continuing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

NPR described the Mr. Bush's continuing silence -- first in the State of the Union, and continuing five days later, like this: "Let's see ... economy .. check. The success of the surge ... check. Renewing No Child Left Behind ... check. Nasty Iranian rulers ... check. Shot at Bill Clinton's remark about his willingness to pay more taxes ... check."

Never mind that the ability to produce our own food and feed our own people has long been a great strength of our country. Never mind that we can't support or "grow" a strong middle class if our people are hungry. Never mind that for decades U.S. farm policy has long nurtured both food producers and people who need to eat. NPR called its story, "Farmers Angry Bush Left Farmers out of Speech," but we all need to be angry -- farmers and consumers alike because when the President and his lock-step followers in the Congress stop the Farm Bill, they neglect School Lunch, Food Stamps, Food Safety, Food Security and much more, including the farm programs that act as insurance for our food producers so they can stay in business.

So we urge you: Write or call the President today. Let him know that he and his supporters made a big mistake, and it's past time to become cooperative so that we can get the Farm Bill passed and after that, get back to making the decisions necessary to get our economy working again. Click here to find out how: The White House.

Maybe George Bush Doesn't Eat?

Now that there has been a bit of time since SOTU, have you noticed what was missing?

Think now. After all, why are we here? .... and now that your thinking cap is on, we'll bet you remember R U R A L.

Not one word did George Bush have to say about rural, Farm Bill, rural development, school lunch, food safety, agriculture or the Bill's many other related subjects on Monday night. We might remember that rural Americans gave George Bush a +19 vote margin over John Kerry in 2004. But we guess he just forgot ... just forgot all 55 to 60 million of us.

Read what some Farm State members had to say at "Bush Silence on Farm Bill Draws Fire," on Politico. Our favorites:

• "To stymie a Farm Bill has real consequences ... The Farm Bill is our (economic) stimulus," reminded Representative Earl Pomeroy (ND).
• "The Farm Bill is the single most important legislation for rural communities," Senator Tom Harkin (IA).

Succinctly, Tom Buis, President of the National Farmers Union said, "I was appalled."

At My Rural America, we are appalled, too. Maybe George Bush doesn't eat?

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.

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.

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

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