Political Quotes

“I rise in support of H.R. 5313, the Open Space and Farmland Preservation Act, a bill I introduced to strengthen the Federal Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program. Under the bill, 15 percent of the funds made available for the program would be reserved in order to make challenge grants available to preserve the most threatened farmland, farmland in States, counties, municipalities, or private entities all agree are vital to preserve. Simply put, if a State contributes 25 percent, a county contributes 25 percent, and a municipality or private entity contributes 25 percent towards the preservation of eligible farmland, the effort would then be eligible for a 25 percent Federal match. I know that every, State, county, and municipality's commitment to farmland preservation is different, but it is my hope that creating this challenge grant will encourage more efforts at these levels of government. States like Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania's counties and municipalities have invested heavily in preserving farmland. The challenge grant created through H.R. 5313 would only help to encourage other States in more local municipalities to follow this example and compete for Federal dollars available through the challenge grant.”