A U.S. Senator and Congressman, both from New York, will be in Sullivan County Friday afternoon to push for the passage of a Farm Bill that extends priority access to USDA funding. More from WAMC’s Allison Dunne.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat, and Congressman Chris Gibson, a Republican, will be at the Sullivan County Cornell Cooperative Extension office in Liberty to talk about a provision of the Farm Bill that includes an extension of the Rural Economic Area Partnership, or REAP, Zone designation for Sullivan County and Town of Wawarsing in Ulster County. The designation helps give the region priority access to federal funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help grow the local economy and revitalize rural communities. Sullivan County received more than $485,000 in federal investments from REAP designation in 2012 and 2013. Gibson voted in favor of the five-year Farm Bill that was defeated in the House of Representatives. The Senate passed its version in June.
