Rural funds going to urban areas
The Washington Post reports on federal dollars originally intended for farmland and backwoods areas that were isolated and poor, struggling to keep their heads above water, are going to urban areas.
Money set for rural communities in states like Montana instead go to bedroom communities live Provincetown, Mass.
Today's Washington Post has a disturbing article that indicates a majority of the funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Program, which are intended to help struggling communities in rural areas, are actually going to bedroom communities surrounding big cities.
A USDA official decried the funding formula, which is determined by Congress:
"Nobody understands it. I don't understand it," said J. Gregory Greco, a business specialist who works out of the USDA's Rural Development office in Harrisburg, Pa. "You may find one area of town is eligible and another isn't. It can be by street: One side is eligible and another is not. I defy you to give the logic of it."
