13 



tion age and better education can have a very significant and 

 transforming impact on rural communities. 



With that, I will close my testimony. 



[The prepared statement of Ms. Long appears at the conclusion 

 of the hearing.] 



The Chairman. Thank you very much. 



I must commend you for the excellent and very accurate presen- 

 tation of the problems of rural America. I am so happy to see that 

 you, as a leader not only in our committee but in the Congressional 

 Rural Caucus, are going to focus on education. I like your theory 

 that periodically our schools should be laboratories rather than 

 just factories pumping out someone with a little paper that says 

 "diploma." This should be emulated not only in the rural but the 

 urban areas as well. 



Your statement is true that we in rural America have the same 

 problems as urban America but suffer a much larger consequence 

 with unemployment, lack of infrastructure, and all the benign ne- 

 glect that we have had to live under. Hopefully, this new beginning 

 and this changing of the course might help in that endeavor. 



I commend you for this excellent statement. We look forward to 

 working with you not only in our committee but in your position as 

 leader of the Congressional Rural Caucus. 



We know that the economics — on which we will be delving 

 today — as it relates to money infusion from Washington to the 

 rural areas is a major problem. Unfortunately, there are still those 

 that at the first indication of need for cut they point at agriculture 

 and rural America. I am not going to bother you with my chart at 

 this time. [Laughter.] 



But there isn't any more room on that chart to go down. Not 

 that we haven't shared our responsibility. In the last 12 years we 

 have reduced outlays by $57 billion from the agricultural budgets. 

 We're not given any credit for that. But we are willing to do the 

 responsible thing and help meet the appropriate needs of the coun- 

 try. We will share in sacrifice with our responsible allocation. But 

 pointing fingers at this program or that program is not the answer. 

 Maybe I shouldn't even mention it, but there was this investigative 

 reporter whose first question asked of me was, "How dare you use 

 taxpayers' money." 



I said, "There is no taxpayers' money involved. The money comes 

 from a duty on imports." They said, "I didn't know that." 



So from the beginning, there seems to be this mindset: How do 

 we bash agriculture? They pick a program that sounds like a sexy 

 issue for an expose and they begin not even knowing that it wasn't 

 taxpayers' money. 



Maybe we need to look at the program. Maybe there is stream- 

 lining necessary. Maybe there are areas we need to look at. But 

 also I think we have another major responsibility: The education of 

 those not acquainted with the plight of rural America. We must 

 educate our brethren. 



We thank you for your excellent statement. 



If any member has a question or a brief statement, our next wit- 

 ness is here. 



Ms. Long. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Roberts. Could I ask a question, Mr. Chairman? 



