Issue Position: Agriculture and Our Rural Areas

Issue Position

Mike Espy grew up in a small, rural, Mississippi town, and he highly values the rural way of life. In addition, as a Member of Congress representing a rural district and as the nation's Secretary of Agriculture, he has used his knowledge and experience to improve our agricultural economy.

In Mississippi, agriculture is the largest part of our economy. In addition to row crops, Mississippi has strong production in poultry/eggs, pork, cattle, catfish, and forestry.

Because so much of Mississippi's agricultural produce is exported, Mike Espy sees punitive tariffs as being harmful to our farmers, to our state's economy, and to future trade. (It also is potentially harmful to our state's growing automobile industry.)

Our Constitution specifically gives responsibility for tariffs to the Congress. Mike Espy believes that that the current, unchecked misuse of tariff policy needs to return to how the Founding Fathers intended.

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