Eva M. Clayton: “I come before this body again to seek additional resources for our struggling and rural communities, along with a safety…”

“I come before this body again to seek additional resources for our struggling and rural communities, along with a safety net for our farmers. Both I think can happen. Clearly, agriculture has long played and continues to play an important role in the well-being of rural America. That is why I support the Farm Security Act of 2001. It provides a strong, generous safety net for the American agriculture producers in trying times for the farm economy. A farm safety net will provide refuge for our farmers during times of economic hardship. This is as it should be. But we must ask ourselves, will this farm safety net create non-farm jobs. Will this safety net help our rural communities deal with a multi-billion dollar backlog of unfunded infrastructure projects? Will the safety net increase the economic well-being of workers who have to drive 60 miles round trip to work at a Wal-Mart at $6.25 an hour? Will it provide running water for the 1 million rural Americans who still, still today, do not have running water in their homes? Will it prevent a great hollowing out of rural America that is currently taking place by young people and our most productive citizens moving away for a better opportunity? I say with deep regret and disappointment that the answer to these questions is no. No.”