Sanford Bishop: “Mr. Chairman, let me come down to support the de la Garza amendment, especially because of the need we have for more…”

“Mr. Chairman, let me come down to support the de la Garza amendment, especially because of the need we have for more rural development. Many of us who represent farm communities, communities that are filled with production agriculture, find that in order for our family farms to survive and for our communities to be strong economically, that there have to be some other value-added facilities there, some other employers and some other infrastructure to broaden that tax base. We have found that it has worked very well. We have had in the past some very good rural development projects to support some new industry that helps us to diversify. We have had poultry facilities that have come into our area, but they were helped by rural development grants to help the infrastructure, the water, the sewers, the electrification, road widenings, traffic signals. These kinds of things are very, very important in rural areas. To create, to have an industry come in that creates 1,500 jobs at one time is a real boost to a rural community and to its economy. Certainly, we are very, very concerned about the water provisions. Having clean water is important to our district. My district has some of the poorest counties anywhere in the country, and because of that it means a great deal for a county like Whitman County, GA, that had no running water, to be able to get a grant to help them serve their citizens with running water.”