May XX, 2011
The Honorable Herb Kohl The Honorable Roy Blunt
Chairman, Ranking Member,
Subcommittee on Agriculture, Subcommittee on Agriculture,
Rural Development, Food and Drug Rural Development, Food and Drug
Administration, and Related Agencies Administration, and Related Agencies
330 Hart Senate Office Building 260 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510 Washington, DC 20510
Dear Chairman Kohl and Ranking Member Blunt:
As the Subcommittee begins to work on the fiscal year (FY) 2012 appropriations bill, we urge you to include the Rural Innovation Initiative, which would increase the effectiveness of USDA’s Rural Development programs. The President included this provision in his FY 2012 budget request.
USDA Rural Development resources are important because they position communities to make the best use of public and private contributions at the local level. These grant and loan programs make local investments more effective in achieving important goals such as developing water and wastewater infrastructure, constructing community facilities; increasing broadband connectivity; providing affordable housing options; and fostering renewable energy and business growth.
The demand for grants and loans that enhance rural infrastructure and business development is overwhelming, especially in the face of decreasing resources at the federal, state and local levels. Therefore, it is critical that USDA direct its resources to projects and initiatives that rural regions have identified as priorities.
Traditionally, the rural economic development landscape was dominated by counties and municipalities acting as their own economic islands in which neighbors competed for industries and manufacturing jobs through tax incentives. This landscape is changing.
A phenomenon accelerated by the current recession, local governments are increasingly working collaboratively as regions in order to provide strategic infrastructure and economic development services in difficult times, creating an innovative new model for rural economic development. This growth model is rooted in building regional economies in which prosperous and successful rural regions are tied together in clusters of innovation that are supported by integrated plans for workforce, economic development, research and infrastructure.
All too often USDA Rural Development programs are structured to support individual projects and do not work well for larger, regional initiatives. In today’s economy, our rural places are not served well by stove-piped programming, but rather are in need of federal investments to help with crafting and implementing strategic regional plans that capitalize on the unique economic assets and locally-led visions of people, businesses and organizations in these regions.
USDA’s Rural Innovation Initiative is an important effort to update the agency’s focus and to more effectively respond to locally-led strategic investments. The Rural Innovation Initiative would provide a new framework for USDA to promote economic development and job creation in rural communities.
To support this innovative, locally-driven approach, the President’s FY12 budget proposal includes the Rural Innovation Initiative, which will allocate these funds competitively among innovative regional economic development projects tailored to local needs and opportunities. This programmatic request requires no new funding. The President’s budget proposes allowing the USDA some flexibility in how to allocate $170 million – or 5 percent – of funds from a suite of existing programs. We urge you to enact General Provision 718 of the Agriculture section of the President’s FY 2012 Budget, which will give USDA the ability to better target funding to locally-driven regional priorities and needs.
Recognizing that top-down edicts from Washington won’t create lasting economic growth, the USDA’s proposed Rural Innovation Initiative is one way to provide this new framework for economic development and job creation in rural communities.
We appreciate your consideration of this important request.
Sincerely,