Action Alert: Help Save Rural Program Your letters and calls are urgently needed to help support the Fund for Rural America. Issued 5/22/97 Please call your congressional representatives (House and Senate) and tell them how upset you are that Congress just cut funding for the Fund for Rural America by $20 million for this current fiscal year (FY97). The U.S. House and Senate last evening cut funding for the FRA as a part of a mid-cycle corrections process that Congress sometimes engages in after the actual appropriations bills are passed in the fall. The process is called a Supplemental Appropriations Bill. This year, Congress cut the Fund as a partial way to make up extreme budget shortfalls due to disaster relief, nutrition programs, peacekeeping operations, and other needs. The cuts' biggest impact will be on the $46 million research/ extension competitive grants program, since the Fund had already spent most of its other program monies. But remember that this cut is for current funding. Congress is also in the middle of setting FY98 funding levels. Of course, the Fund actually should be considered uncuttable, as it was given "mandatory" funding at $100 million per year for three years in the 1996 Farm Bill. But the reality is that, with severe budgetary shortfalls all around us, the Fund will almost certainly be slated for similar (or worse) cuts in FY98. By contacting your congressional reps to them know how troubled you are by these cuts, you may help deter future cuts in FY98 or later budget cycles. It's easy to call: Just dial the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 225-3121 and ask for your member. (See the Congressional Directory for more detailed contact information, including email addresses.) The message is simple: "I'm a constituent, and I'm upset that Congress just cut the Fund for Rural America. Please work to protect its full funding at $100 million for 1998." Background Information, or Key Points You May Want to Make:
Source: News release from the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, P.O. Box 396, Pine Bush, NY 12566. Phone: (914) 744-8448. Fax: (914) 744-8477. email: Campaign@magiccarpet.com See also: Cuts Threaten Rural Program
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