Don't Forget Rural America

Our country is facing some of the biggest challenges I've seen in my lifetime, and we must act quickly and carefully to put our country back on the path of greatness. There has been much talk of the need to invest in infrastructure projects that will employ Americans while rebuilding our nation. But in this discussion once again America's rural areas are being ignored.

Approximately 50 million Americans live in rural communities, and they face the same challenges confronting all other Americans. People across this country are struggling to pay their mortgages and afford rising health care costs, while still putting groceries in their refrigerator and gas in their tanks. But rural communities are hit even harder by the tough economy, especially when it comes to jobs. In my district, for example, one rural county's unemployment is over three percentage points higher than the average for the state as a whole.

Despite the bleaker outlook facing rural communities, we fail to invest equitably in their economic health. Right now, the federal government invests $500 less per person in rural communities than in urban areas. But this proportion does not fairly recognize the importance of rural infrastructure to our country's economy. For example, America's interstate highways help transport 77 percent of America's freight. On a typical day, about 33 million tons of goods, valued at about $27 billion, are transported across America's highways. We must recognize that the highways are more than just a way for rural folks to get to work, they are one of the main arteries of our country's economy.

A broader stimulus plan that ultimately only funds projects in urban and suburban communities will fail to provide the broad economic benefit Congress intends. Congress should build on the precedent created in previous funding bills to include similar guarantees of equitable funding for rural areas. America's economy cannot be restored to greatness without investing in all Americans, not just those in urban areas.

Comments

[zippy01]

I see there really is a bias toward rural residents. The rural lifestyle built this country, instills better values in most cases and encourages self reliance. Cities are more destructive to the environment, suck up FAR more resources and drain more public money than rural communities. City residents are eliteist, and then they want second homes in rural communities so they can come here and complain about the smell of a farm or the lack of this or that service. Cities are vile cesspools where the worst of humanity is on display constantly. All of you who look down on us, s.c.r.e.w you and I don't want government help. I'd like the government to get the hell out of my pocket and quit giving my money to people who don't want to work and consider welfare a career. Ha Ha that'll NEVER happen, especially after the last and now the incoming administration.

[BlackJAC]

Taking a few pages from SOCIOLOGY OF THE SOUTH by George Fitzhugh, I see.

[PATina]

A lot of the comments on this article are so sad. How many of you got mad at Sarah Palin for saying there were Pro-American parts of the country and that only parts of America are "Real" America???? But here you are saying the same thing (just reversing the locations). That's just trifling.

[jdenham]

I agree many of us, me included, sometimes attack the messenger. Rep Thompson made a good case. Maybe we should give him a feedback of ideas to help. We need ideas.

[jdenham]

You are correct Mike we need to invest in rural areas too. But you were a little vague on which projects we should invest in. You appear to want to spend money on roads. But do you want to repair existing ones or build new ones? I would not mind giving money to counties to spend on needed infrastructure, but I do not want to build these monuments to public officials. Lets build high quality schools, but not a marble tile palace like we are seeing go up now. I want to see this stimulus package put people to work, fix our Energy grid, build new bridges in rural areas too, and invest in our children's future with education. What I do not want to see is another hand out to big business that has acted irresponsibly. I don't want to see big projects with multiple no bid contracts like we saw in New Orleans. What i do not want to see is a long protracted battle over tax cuts. Personally I do not need a tax cut, I am willing to invest in America for us all. I am sure many Americans feel the same as me.

[susanthe]

Jeepers creepers - not all rural areas are confined to red states. If we're going to leave rural areas out of the equation, does that mean us rural folk can stop paying taxes?

[PATina]

I live in a pretty large city (Pittsburgh)... but I agree w/ you. A lot of the comments here are ridiculous... and are better suited for the Drudge Report than HuffPo.

[Giordano Bruno]

Mike voted for the extension on the Iraq funding bill. A lot of those dollars could have been better invested in rural America. The shrinking pie is the problem, and much of the flour was already squandered on a military fiasco, one which Mr. Thompson supported. I had a chance to vote for Mr. Thompson, who is my Congressman, but declined, as I would have done if provided the chance to vote in Ms. Pelosi's district. These "friends" of ours, have let us down. And it is the unkindest cut of all. Mike is right about investing in the rural communities, but his conversion is late, and he and the worst President ever have relinquished our trust. He might be popular in our district, but not with me. Giordy

[Overd0g]

Why are they important?

[babaann]

Most of these rural communities have been literally removed from the map when the interstate system bypassed them.

Investing in the railroad system (which already exists) would be an great way to invest in rural towns all over America. The railroad is the reason that the towns were on the map to begin with.

I can visualize rebuilding of train stations, loading facilities for bulk freight in addition to "piggie-back" transport facilities in many places, in addition to passenger trains.

[jcwtts1]

I think we need to do that anyway. Helping the rural communities is an added benefit. We need high speed rails all over the country, when we talk about infrastructure this is part of it.

[BlackJAC]

The real trick to that will be making passenger train travel more practical. As it stands, trains go about the same speed as cars on the highway. Even if we had something equivalent to TGVs, it's still faster to fly than to take the train.

[indyleftist]

I oppose helping rural America simply for the fact that they would vote against such help if given the option

They would call it socialism and I don't feel the need to argue. Let them pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. If us on the left constantly bail the right ringers out then they will never learn. We've been doing it for a long time and not only are they not grateful that the cities completely support the rural areas, they deny that they have even been helped. So waste my time and money on them

[robin50]

I live in a community of less than 3k and grew up in a community of less than 1k. I've not heard much use of the word "socialism" around here.

Could you please explain to me how cities completely support the rural areas? I'm not seeing much there in financial support. How long have we paid more for poorer utilities and services? Instead of spending for decent speeds in internet access in rural areas, city services are upgraded. Monoplies actually were better for rural areas. They were regulated. Now in many rural areas, we have unregulated monopolies. They just don't call them that. I don't see you liking nor would we busing children to your schools. And wouldn't it be just great fun to drive 40 miles one way to a pharmacy in the city that supports us?.

[indyleftist]

Tax revenues
Cities produce them; Rural areas take them
Rural America survives on both Federal and State welfare and subsidies to survive

[jcwtts1]

I feel you Indy, but we can't do it. We can't leave millions of people behind. It isn't right. We won, but not just for us, for all people.

J

[jeepers1959]

My sentiments exactly, but I guess it really wouldn't be the "right" thing to not want to pitch in and help even though this is the very group that is most likely to disparage and demean me.

[Proletarian101]

Your absolute ignorance of rural communities is dumbfounding. Actually, most of your resources for food and energy come from rural areas, so technically the rural areas are supporting the cities. I'm sure they would be happy to keep all these resources for themselves. You are on the wrong side of right for one of your answers; people who live in rural areas do tend to be a little more resilent and resourcefulbut that is primarily because of the nature of their situation. They don't have fire, police, ambulances, hospitals or general commerce outside their front door, so they have to deal with many of these issues by themselves. The people you have been cottled in the suburbs and urban areas of the country would not survive without these luxuries.

[PATina]

Agreed. But more importantly... they are also AMERICANS. I guess Sarah Palin wasn't the only one who thought only certain parts of America were REAL America.

[indyleftist]

No I'm right
Look at any electoral map and divide it into blue and red states
The blue states add money to the federal government in terms of taxes and the red ones take it away
It works on a smaller state by state scale as well.
I live in Missouri. And in MO, St. Louis and Kansas city produce tax revenues
The rest of MO takes tax revenues. It has been that way for years

And on my other point; you can't possibly argue that rural America wouldn't vote against these bailout. There's just no argument. They are against them

[in4success]

just watched hannity (rural america's uber-hero.)

according to him obama is using fear tactics to scare people into giving him his outrageous stimulus package that the faux business channel experts are saying is crazy and will make the recession worse.

i don't think rural america will be supporting obama's stimulus package -- who are we to force them?

just saying.

[robin50]

Where is this comming from of rural america being it's own worse enemy? Get over your hay seed image. Do you live in a rural area? Ever lived in one?

[in4success]

robin, i've bailed and hauled more hay than you could ever imagine....been to the swimming holes, squirrel hunting, got blue ribbons in barrel racing and broke more bones and horses in the rocky ozarks than you could count. love those people (some are family), but their stubbornness, willful ignorance and blind faith in ANYONE who uses god in a sentence to sell ideology, etc is terrifying.

if they put one fifth the faith in science and education they do in dogma and ideology WOULD be the driving force in this nation . . . as it is now, they're bigoted and racist and ill equipped to adequately comprehend the complexities of today's world and their own best interests.

i have a niece that visited me in vegas. we went out to the MGM and she saw some african-american kids just hangin' and almost ran. i was astonished. i said, "hey, they're just people like you and me, watch this." i then walked up to the crew and said, "merry christmas guys!" they all returned the sentiment, gave me "terrorist fist jabs" and high-fives and we went on our way. ---she is in her FORTIES . . . so i taught her all i could -- where i became frustrated (and she with me to the degree that now we are cordial at best - is her INSISTENCE that "gay" was a choice.

have a lovely new year.

[Mdazes]

Rural America votes against it own interest, so why should they not be forgotten.

[jcwtts1]

While my initial reaction was similar, I believe we have a chance here to end the republic party. To splinter the GOP into three factions. I believe that funding rural communities may be one of keys to do that. Further it has the added benefit of being the right thing to do. I grew up in the suburbs of Philly and I now live in Western PA in a small college town. I hadn't seen economic depression like this out side of North Philadelphia. There is a chance to raise the standard of living of all Americans and whether they voted with us for O is immaterial. He is president not just of people who voted for him but all Americans. While it is true the GOP would never do something like this... it is also true that we are better than the GOP.

J

[robin50]

Where is this comming from of rural america being it's own worse enemy? Get over your hay seed image. Do you live in a rural area? Ever lived in one?

[DubEKungfugrip]

Hi Brass-
A hearty "I agree with you"....here in NC...robeson county has been reliably blue for a long time...(dont know when it has voted red...no...not even the gipper??)..and its a rural as it gets.......all country folk arent wingnuts.....

[babaann]

All country folks don't live in the south.

[CitizenLegislatorCC]

You could simultaenously do rural and poor Americans and good citizenship a real favor, Rep. Thompson, if you're serious about this topic.

I speak of C-SPAN, and my concern is this: C-SPAN'S ONLINE CONGRESSIONAL COVERAGE STREAMS ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE TO DIAL-UP INTERNET USERS.

Is Congress aware of this fact? Do you care? And do you have the power or clout to do anything about it?

The pathetic part of this is that C-SPAN - as part of a comprehensive website upgrade - WAS doing a beautiful job of combining new broadband features and video WHILE PRESERVING seamless access for dial-up users to watch Congress live.

But no more: Starting about last August, dial-up bandwidth became insufficient for viewing C-SPAN's very basic House and Senate livefeeds, and the former option of AUDIO-only feeds (which continued for a time) was then also eliminated. I was using the audio feed, until it was terminated, via this (now-inoperative) URL:

http://cspan.org/watch/cs_cspan_rm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS

All that's left is C-SPAN radio, which doesn't air the proceedings in Congress.

Providing at least an audio feed for dial-up access to the C-SPAN channels seems the bare minimum Congress ought to require of these corporations under their public service mandate, until the whole nation has affordable access to broadband web feeds.

Please consider acting on this matter for those underserved Americans whose access to their federal legislature's actions is inexcusably regressing.

[Shishlakji]

Uh, that would be mostly the rural communities that voted overwhelmingly Republican in every election since 1996? The ones that contribute far less in tax per capita than the blue states?

Let them eat cake.

[PlaceboStudman]

I totally agree. It's the rural areas, which are intentionally lagging behind in terms of information and technological advances that is keeping this country stagnant, because of the rural "traditional family values" red state mentality that most agriculture based states maintain. We as a nation, led by our government need to modernize and educate the people, thus bringing their knowledge and wisdom up to par with the rest of the country, allowing progression of the greater collective consciousness of the nation to continue forward, not remain stagnant in 20th or even 19th century mentality

[brassminnie]

Excuse me, but out here in 'rural' is where you'll find wind turbines, solar panels, organic farms and cattle, and chickens and hogs that live and eat clean. While you talk about it, some of us are living it. I've got an old pickup that's partly fueled by water, out here in rural. All it takes is a coil of wire and a little water in a mason jar, wires from the battery and a hose to the carburetor. The engine won't last a hundred thousand miles, until they make ceramic, but I'll drop another old engine in it, every so often, until then. Frankly, rural America is the only place you can put all those wind and solar power farms, and we know where the wind blows and the sun shines. Ohio is a lot of rural. Minnesota is a lot of rural. Illinois, Pennsylvania and even California are a lot of rural. Look at a map of Oregon. Ever been to Vermont? Don't confuse rural with conservative. If it was 'rural' that voted Republican, there wouldn't have been a red state. There aren't enough of us. The city people in those states did it. Go get a fourth-grade geography book and learn something besides the route to Walmart, where the food comes from Central and South America and everything else is from China. You won't see me there.

[robin50]

"thus bringing their knowledge and wisdom up to par with the rest of the country, "?

From what I see, you sophisticated city folks are not doing all that great in that area. How many school shooting in urban and suburban areas?

[boognish818]

I find this comment offensive simply because I live in Mike Thompson's district, in California! Up here in Humboldt County we have our share of conservatives but we overwhelmingly support advancement just about any way we can get it. We, however, are generally ignored by federal programs, which is at least partially Thompson's fault. And don't forget that it was liberal policies, in large part, that crippled the local economy by changing logging and fishing laws. So all that snark about tax revenue is unfounded.

[albertBarr]

I also live here in rep. Thompson's district. We could use some help but we will get by if we don't. And if anyone things this is "red" territory, they are sorely mistaken.

[MsMeryMac]

Last time I checked, New York was a blue state. I'm sure you've only visited NYC, if that, but upstate new york is very, very rural for the most part. There are a few cities, but Buffalo is the second-largest city in NY - with a population of 300K as opposed to the 8 MILLION in the 5 boroughs. NY contains the Adirondack mountain region, the biggest state park in the US, along with the Catskill and Allegheny mountains. My family has lived in upstate New York for 300 years - before it was a state, even. And most of them, even through the 20th century, have been traveling businessmen and dairy farmers. Most have left the business, though, due to the big factory farms and corporate agriculture.

[Sumocat]

Agreed, but highways aren't enough. In Virginia, for example, I believe high-speed rail, built alongside high-capacity power and data lines, would help to bring the commonwealth together and bridge the wealth divide between the urban and rural regions. Our ability to quickly transport material and human resources, as well as data and power, is critical to making America competitive on all levels of the global market.

[PlaceboStudman]

Let's not forget automating the planting and harvesting processes. Remember, it wasn't slavery that caused The Civil War, but the invention of the cotton jin, forcing the rural economically challenged south to abandon cost effective slave labor, for the more effective mechanical labor, that in the long run costs the farmer less, increasing profit and allowing for more personal economic growth.

It was the south's resistance to this change, which they weren't willing to pay for in the short term that made slavery become what most people now believe to be the main factor in The Civil War, combined with the human rights issues, which can be compared in modern day society to the indentured servant class of illegal immigrant. If we were to modernize the supply side aspects of the agriculture system, it would force people to seek better education and employment and lead to a technological revolution which would be beneficial to the entire world, let alone just our own interest

[brassminnie]

Grain farming is a very high-tech industry. There's no 'resistance to change.' The farmers go for the latest and greatest and would be delighted to run the tractor and combine from the computer in the house, too. Take a road trip to a farm equipment dealer, look inside a combine and find out what it does. Then learn what technology cannot do. It cannot replace the human hand, eye and judgment. It's going to be a while before we can build tech that can pick the ripe and leave the rest to ripen, fast and cheap enough you can afford to buy the food.

[MsMeryMac]

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. Modern agriculture is run by 4-5 huge businesses who buy all the grain in the US. Rather than diversifying crops, farmers have to grow corn and soybeans, using truckloads of chemical fertilizers and GM crops, which can produce more per acre, and sell it to Con-Agra and similar companies for a pittance. Most barely survive, and would come no where near surviving without government subsidies. What we need to do is diversify crops that are planted and turn to more local and sustainable sources for food.

[robin50]

Hopefully high speed rail for both moving people and freight needs to be built period, wether it aids rural communities or not. It has to be more fuel efficient than individual cars and tractor trailers. Plus it would get rid of some of the grid lock all cities have.

[iwantpie]

Tell this to the President-Elect Obama or The Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. It's seem everyone wants piece of the pie and you have every right to get yours. Good Luck!

[PATina]

Agreed.