Rep. Salinas Advocates for Farm Bill Amendment to Increase Investments in Rural Communities

Click here to watch Rep. Salinas' full remarks.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Congresswoman Andrea Salinas (OR-06) advocated for her Rural Partnership and Prosperity Act as an amendment during the House Agriculture Committee's Farm Bill markup. The legislation would help rural communities get ahead and address chronic underinvestment by improving technical support for federal grants for needs like child care, housing, and job training.

A transcript of Salinas' remarks is available below:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

As we all know, affordable child care is becoming increasingly difficult to find in this country - particularly in rural communities where child care professionals and facilities are few and far between.

The consistent theme I have heard in the affordability listening tour I launched in my district is that our small towns and rural communities feel left behind by the federal government.

The federal funding landscape is incredibly confusing, and identifying relevant grant opportunities can be quite a challenge.

Grant applications are complex and can be filled with convoluted eligibility requirements.

And if a small town ultimately does receive funding, they still have to navigate environmental reviews, planning requirements, and a whole lot of red tape.

That's why I introduced the bipartisan Rural Partnership and Prosperity Act with Representative Valadao.

Our legislation would connect rural localities with third-party technical assistance providers who can help them find, apply for, and implement federal funding opportunities.

The Rural Partnership and Prosperity Act would also allow rural localities to partner with other rural stakeholders, like universities, county governments, and nonprofits, to address a wide variety of urgent needs in their communities, like access to child care and disaster recovery efforts.

Finally, the bill expands the existing Rural Partners Network, which uses an all-of-government approach to improve rural communities' access to federal programs and facilitates cross-agency coordination.

To be frank, I am incredibly disappointed that this bipartisan legislation was excluded from the majority's proposal, despite having the support of a broad coalition of rural development-oriented organizations, including the National Association of Counties and National Cooperative Business Association-CLUSA, among many others.

This is why I offered this amendment. It would address urgent needs, like affordable child care, housing, and job training in rural communities.

It provides technical assistance grants to help these communities navigate existing federal funding opportunities and ensure they get a share of private and federal investments.

And finally, it improves supportive services offered by the federal government to rural communities.

Let's be honest. Rural communities are struggling with affordability, and I think more so than some of our urban and suburban centers. Just like the rest of the country, they deserve access to the same resources that our urban centers enjoy.

I won't stop fighting to ensure our rural communities get the resources they deserve from the federal government. That's why I want to see this legislation and this amendment passed.

However, sometimes the best path forward does require strategic patience. Therefore I do intend to withdraw my amendment.

I yield back.

CHAIR THOMPSON: I'm very supportive of the intention of this. There is some - I do look forward to working with you on this. There are some duplicative programs and unfortunately some costs that we need to account for. But I hope to work with you going forward to determine the gaps in existing programs that you're trying to fill. Because I think it's a worthy cause. Thank you.

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