Tuesday, Oct 2 2012 4:07PM

While the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and other federal agencies continue to help fund programs to benefit rural communities, Congress recently failed to pass a more comprehensive Food, Farm and Jobs bill, leaving many areas without funds to help improve community facilities.

Despite the record amount of funds provided to rural communities through USDA and similar programs, residents nationwide are still in need of affordable housing and updates and replacements of dated infrastructure systems.

"Unfortunately, the House leadership has left Washington without passing a new comprehensive, multi-year Food, Farm and Jobs Bill," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "When the current Farm Bill expires, this will leave producers with needless uncertainty as they work hard to get through the current drought – particularly America’s dairy producers, who will lose access to a critical dairy safety net program on September 30."

According to Vilsack, more than 31 million rural Americans have benefited from current programs that improve public safety and opening more hospitals and medical clinics in these needing areas. The failure to pass a new bill, however, has left many rural residents looking for answers about the future programs that will be offered.

For further information, check out this source: U.S. Department of Agriculture