WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Representatives Steve Pearce, Ben Ray Luján, and Michelle Lujan Grisham urged U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue to appoint a Rural Development (RD) state director for New Mexico as soon as possible, to continue the critical mission of USDA RD to administer programs that provide hundreds of loans and grants each year for rural New Mexico, and to promote economic growth and improve quality of life in the state. Over the last seven years, USDA RD has provided New Mexico with more than $1.7 billion in “crucial support during a time of poor economic growth in our state, especially for many rural communities,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Perdue.
WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Representatives Steve Pearce, Ben Ray Luján, and Michelle Lujan Grisham urged U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue to appoint a Rural Development (RD) state director for New Mexico as soon as possible, to continue the critical mission of USDA RD to administer programs that provide hundreds of loans and grants each year for rural New Mexico, and to promote economic growth and improve quality of life in the state. Over the last seven years, USDA RD has provided New Mexico with more than $1.7 billion in “crucial support during a time of poor economic growth in our state, especially for many rural communities,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Perdue.
WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Representatives Steve Pearce, Ben Ray Luján, and Michelle Lujan Grisham urged U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue to appoint a Rural Development (RD) state director for New Mexico as soon as possible, to continue the critical mission of USDA RD to administer programs that provide hundreds of loans and grants each year for rural New Mexico, and to promote economic growth and improve quality of life in the state. Over the last seven years, USDA RD has provided New Mexico with more than $1.7 billion in “crucial support during a time of poor economic growth in our state, especially for many rural communities,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Perdue.
Congress of the United States
‘Washington, BE 20510
August 09, 2017
‘The Honorable Sonny Perdue
Secretary
ULS. Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Ave., 8.W.
Washington, D.C. 20250
Dear Secretary Perdue:
‘Thank you for your service as the Secretary of Agriculture. We write to respectfully request
that a qualified New Mexico Rural Development State Director be named as soon as possible in
order to continue the mission of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development (USDA
RD) mn in our state.
This position is critical to providing on-the-ground leadership for USDA to manage over
5,000 loans, grants, and assistance programs. USDA RD provided more than $1.7 billion in New
Mexico over the past seven years, crucial support during a time of poor economic growth in our
state, especially for many rural communities. This funding came primarily through affordable
loans, which can create new jobs and fund rural infrastructure projects at a good value for
taxpayers. In that time, USDA RD has helped communities and over 3,000 families do projects
and create opportunities to make their lives better and spur economic growth
Given the diversity and unique characteristics of New Mexico, we believe that strong state
director leadership is essential to providing robust and efficient levels of service for our struggling
rural communities. New Mexico is a majority minority state, with the highest proportion of
Hispanic residents of any state and the second-highest proportion of Native Americans, and
includes many unique and historic rural agricultural communities. Economic changes in the
agriculture and other industries in all corners of our state are leading many communities to turn to
USDA RD for assistance.
USDA RD’s mission is especially important in our state because New Mexico has one of
the highest poverty rates in the nation at 20.4 percent, New Mexico is 50" in poverty among those
who work full time year round and is one of six states where income inequality is greater for rural
households than for urban households. In addition New Mexico has one of the highest
‘unemployment rates in the nation today. While the energy and tourism sectors are showing some
recent strength, employment in the agriculture sector declined by 3.5 percent last year. These
employment losses are projected to reach 5.7 percent by 2020. USDA RD programs have helped
New Mexico’s rural communities remain resilient, however more work is urgently needed to bring
economic growth up to the level enjoyed by rest of the country.
To enable USDA to work effectively to face these challenges, New Mexico needs a state
director who can understand the local context and ensure that USDA RD resources match theeconomic and social development needs of our diverse communities. Therefore, we respectfully
urge you to appoint a State Director as soon as possible. Thank you for your attention to my/our
request and we hope you will consider New Mexico's needs on this and other important matters
under your leadership at USDA. If we can be of any assistance in your work at the Department,
please do not hesitate to contact us,
Sincerely,
Tom Udall Martin Heinrich
United States Senator United States Senator
Steve Pearce Ben Ray Li
United States Representative United States Representative
Michelle Lujan Siam
United States Representative