The National Grange recently announced its partnership in the Sullivan Project Lecture Series on Health Care Reform, headed by Dr. Louis Sullivan. Dr. Sullivan, a former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary and President Emeritus of Morehouse School of Medicine, has served as one of the nation’s leading public health policy experts and as a medical practitioner for nearly 50 years. Dr. Sullivan and campaign partners seek to demonstrate the value of a comprehensive, “symphony of health care delivery” approach and discuss the keys that he believes must be adopted to affordably improve our health care system. The campaign will also present research that underscores Dr. Sullivan’s concerns about restricted access to medication and innovation when “cost-over-care” health delivery measures are enacted.

Rural Americans have always faced serious challenges in obtaining access to quality health care. Distance, availability of services, and a lack of sufficiently qualified local health care professionals are but a few of these challenges. Rural patients and their families seek the freedom and flexibility to address their personal medical responsibilities. In the U.S. health care system today, there is a growing trend to shift the rationale for medical treatment decisions away from patient outcomes toward treatment costs. This concept is referred to as “cost-over-care health delivery.” Unchecked, this practice denies patient access to services and innovative medicines.

Dr. Sullivan believes that the best, most appropriate way for patients to receive care is through a “symphony of health care delivery,” with the doctor acting as the conductor. Too much emphasis on one particular “instrument” or service area, such as cost alone, drowns out other important elements. Deviating from this “symphony” approach, Dr. Sullivan believes, leads to discordant health care results for patients.

The National Grange commends Dr. Louis Sullivan for his leadership in developing the comprehensive “Symphony of Health Care Delivery Campaign.” William A. Steel, National Grange President, stated, “We are thrilled to be a partner in the Sullivan Project Lecture Series. Dr. Sullivan’s theme of doctor-based health care should be an integral part of all rural health care services.” Steel concluded, “Adequate rural health care is one of the major issues facing National Grange members across America. Dr. Sullivan’s ‘symphony of health care delivery’ must be fully implemented to improve our nation’s health care system.”

The National Grange strongly believes that continued investments in high speed Internet infrastructure are imperative to enable rural Americans to enjoy the same broadband opportunities as their fellow citizens in urban areas. In the spirit of the highly successful national policy goal of assuring that all Americans have access to basic telephone service, the National Grange strongly urged the FCC to set a similar national goal to enact policies that will propel innovation and private investment in rural broadband capacity and will enable our country to quickly deliver fast, reliable and affordable broadband service throughout rural America.

The challenge of delivering reliable broadband and the need for continuing investment in rural communities are compounded by the growing bandwidth demands created by a host of valuable and innovative new services that are just beginning to emerge. In addition to highend video services, distance learning and related online educational content and telemedicine applications are beginning to deliver life-enhancing services to communities that have often been bypassed by advanced technology because of their small size or remote locations. Because of these new services, the National Grange believes that citizens of rural America will be among the greatest beneficiaries of ubiquitous broadband deployment, providing we adopt public policies that accurately identify underserved rural areas and accelerate deployment of broadband infrastructure to these communities.

The National Grange was pleased to note in its comments to the FCC that the broadband gap between urban and rural communities has narrowed in recent years, but we are concerned that proposals for so-called “network neutrality” regulation of the Internet may halt or reverse that progress.

By raising the costs of network infrastructure, however, the National Grange believes that so-called “network neutrality” proposals will either limit the ability of network operators to expand their networks to meet the growing demand for bandwidth, raise the cost of network expansion, or both. If that happens, high-cost areas in rural America will suffer disproportionately and many rural residents may be priced out of broadband services.

Further, the National Grange is concerned that network neutrality mandates will prevent network operators from meeting the specific technical needs of valuable services such as telemedicine services that can bring high quality medical care to underserved rural communities. The Grange strongly opposes any regulations that would preclude service quality guarantees for critical services like telemedicine. Many telemedicine services, especially real-time consultations and the transmission of medical images, depend on smooth transmission without jitter or delay. Even the slightest disruption can undermine such services. We are concerned that network neutrality rules that require identical treatment for every transmission via the Internet would make it impossible to ensure smooth function of these vital services.

The National Grange strongly believes that consumers should continue to have unfettered access to websites of their choice and that network operators should not block or degrade legal Internet services. In this regard, the National Grange encourages the FCC to aggressively enforce its existing consumer protection principles and to practice vigilance against abusive conduct by network operators that harms consumers.

The National Grange strongly urged the FCC to establish a national goal of assuring that all Americans, including Americans who live in farming and rural communities, have timely access to high speed Internet services of comparable quality, cost, reliability and speed. However, the Grange is concerned that the debate over network neutrality is diverting America from our national goal of universal broadband deployment. Network neutrality threatens to slow investment in network infrastructure and interfere with the deployment of broadband in rural America and other high-cost areas. The National Grange, therefore, urges the Commission to reject new network neutrality regulation and, instead, pursue policies that are likely to stimulate new investment and expand the availability of broadband services in rural America.

The U.S. Senate has approved energy legislation, H.R. 6, which includes a mandate to increase the renewable fuels standard (RFS) to 36 billion gallons by 2022. The legislation would nearly double the current RFS requirement of 7.5 billion gallons by 2012 and would continue ramping up the standard until 2022. H.R. 6 includes provisions to stimulate cellulosic ethanol production. There would be mandates for cellulosic ethanol beginning at 3 billion gallons in 2016, and reaching 21 billion gallons by 2022. Another provision of the bill increases the corporate average fuel economy standards for cars and trucks to 35 miles per gallon, which was scaled back from the original proposal of 50 mpg. The Senate voted down a package of energy tax increases that would have increased energy costs even more across the board. The National Grange is still working to include provisions for greater drilling for natural gas offshore and on federal lands in order to help keep fertilizer costs in check.

Representative Bruce Braley (IA) introduced H.R. 872 entitled the NEW ERA Act, which will provide funding and programs to expand the renewable energy workforce and encourage energy independence. Instability in oil producing regions and rising energy prices have made it clear that America needs to move toward energy independence. To meet this demand, the renewable energy sector is increasing rapidly, with small businesses at the forefront of this expansion. Just last year, bio-diesel production reached 225 million gallons. Today with 148 bio-diesel plants in operation and close to 100 factories under construction, this industry is expected only to grow.

Many small producers do not have the capacity to conduct adequate onsite training, yet a skilled workforce is essential for their survival. To surmount this obstacle and encourage continued growth in renewable energy, the NEW ERA Act, would provide funding and programs to expand the renewable energy workforce. Under the bill, grants would be awarded to community colleges to create renewable energy workforce education and training programs, allowing for increased investment in human capital. These initiatives will provide a new set of bioenergy workers, ensuring that the expansion of the renewable fuel industry will have adequate support from skilled professionals equipped with the tools to stay competitive in the field.

Additionally, the NEW ERA Act of 2007 authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to offer competitive grants to mid-western community colleges and advanced technology education centers supporting the education and training of technicians in the fields of bio-energy and other agriculture-based, renewable energy resources, and for other purposes. The bill requires grant applicants to demonstrate the ability to leverage existing partnerships and develop educational and occupation outreach and training programs with secondary schools, four-year institutions of higher education, and the agricultural extension system. It also gives funding priority to specified occupational education and training initiatives.

The U. S. Senate recently adopted the Grange supported 25 x ‘25 resolution expressing the sense of Congress that by January 1, 2025 the U.S. should have a goal of domestic agricultural, forestry, and working land providing no less than 25 percent of the renewable resources needed to manufacture at least 25 percent of the total energy consumed in the United States while continuing to produce safe, abundant, and affordable food, feed, and fiber. The National Grange has supported the 25 x ‘25 action plan calling for increased production and improved efficiency of renewable energy, expanding and delivering renewable energy to markets, and strengthening conservation of natural resources and the environment. By achieving 25x’25 our nation will increase farm income by $180 billion and generate $700 billion in new economic activity annually. Over four million new jobs will be created mostly in rural areas, and U.S. consumers will reduce oil consumption by 2.5 million barrels per day.

The National Grange, along with the National Forest Counties and Schools Coalition, is pleased to announce on May 25, 2007 Congress approved and President Bush signed, a one-year extension for the Secure Rural Schools and Communities Act of 2000. This is a straight-forward one-year extension of the 2006 version of SRSCA. Schools and counties in areas that are impacted by significant federal land holdings will receive the same revenue in 2007 as they received in 2006. This additional year of funding gives the forest counties and schools a six month breather. It allows them to rescind many of the employee layoff notices from July through January. However, with no guarantee of funding for 2008 these same county governments and public school systems will have to send new notices to employees canceling or suspend vital programs and services, and creating disruption in various programs again like this past spring. This extension was a major accomplishment, but the short time frame of the extension means there is still much work to be done to assure county governments and rural schools systems located in counties with large federal landholdings will receive the financial assistance they need to operate effectively.

The goal of the National Forest Counties and Schools Coalition and the National Grange is to convince Congress to pass a multi-year reauthorization of the SRSCA. The Coalition wants to build on the momentum from the recently passed one-year extension and reach a comprise agreement that is bipartisan and bicameral by the end of September. If the Coalition is successful, this will prevent the financial uncertainty the counties and schools as well as their employees, students and citizens faced in 2007.