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.