Stimulus Package Sends Wrong Message to Agriculture

Illinois Corn Growers Association
January 27, 2009

The Illinois Corn Growers Association (ICGA) will not support the Economic Stimulus package currently before the U.S. House because it fails to address needed improvements to transportation infrastructure and steps needed to assist the struggling domestic ethanol industry.

Specifically, the bill precludes the use of stimulus dollars to renovate and construct locks and dams on the Upper Mississippi or Illinois Rivers under the Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program. ICGA had requested $2 billion for the previously authorized U.S. Army Corps of Engineers civil works programs. Likewise, the legislation fails to address the credit crunch that currently threatens to shutter more ethanol plants which have become such a critical contributor to the rural economic landscape.

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