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President Obama's fight for rural America is personal. He was raised by a single mom and grandparents from Kansas. He hails from a farming state, Illinois.

Tom Vilsack

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Tom Vilsack
Age: 73
Born: 1950
Born: December 13
Lawyer
Politician
United States Secretary Of Agriculture
Pittsburg
Pennsylvania
Thomas James Vilsack
Thomas James Tom Vilsack
Single
Rural
State
Farming
Fighting
Grandparent
President
Mom
Hails
America
Obama
Illinois
States
Raised
Kansas
Fight
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Hail

More quotes by Tom Vilsack

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Food is a fairly significant aspect of my life. I have struggled mightily with food. With my weight. And I'm conscious of it. So I have a sensitivity to people who struggle with their weight.
Tom Vilsack
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People don't understand rural America. Sixteen percent of our population is rural, but 40 percent of our military is rural. I don't believe that's because of a lack of opportunity in rural America. I believe that's because if you grow up in rural America, you know you can't just keep taking from the land. You've got to give something back.
Tom Vilsack
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If we truly want an innovative and creative renewable fuel industry, then it needs to be challenged. And if we create a set of protections that allow it to not be as creative and innovative as possible, then we aren't doing a service to the industry or to the people of this country.
Tom Vilsack
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There is more potential for economic growth in rural America than at any time in decades.
Tom Vilsack
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During a national crisis, we as a nation become a single community and no one should take advantage of a crisis.
Tom Vilsack
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What Republicans have done in my view is that they are systematically dismantling a sense of community in America.
Tom Vilsack
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Rural Americans want leaders who help middle-class communities to plan and prosper over the long-term - not opportunists who reap the rewards for themselves, leaving nothing for the people who do the sowing.
Tom Vilsack
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I can't give you a specific number today, in large part because the analysis upon which we would make that determination has not been completed. . . . I think it is fair to say there may be additional costs associated with a farming operation, but it is very difficult to quantify.
Tom Vilsack
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If I had a rain prayer or a rain dance I could do, I would do it.
Tom Vilsack
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I think people have to remember where we were in 2009. We were losing 800,000 jobs a month. We had an unemployment rate in double digits. We had poverty rates soaring. We had kids who were food insecure. Today in 2016, we have a lot less unemployment, a lot less poverty, and a lot fewer kids who are food insecure.
Tom Vilsack
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The rise of childhood obesity has placed the health of an entire generation at risk.
Tom Vilsack
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I think the Democrats have - we really have failed to be in rural America, in the sense of having our leaders spending time talking to folks in rural America. The president Barack Obama has been there, but other than the president and vice president, we have had not a whole lot of conversation in rural America.
Tom Vilsack
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It's how you make decisions that matters, and that ought to be the question that people ask of any candidate for any executive office, whether it's mayor, governor or president. How do you make decisions? Who do you want in the room helping you make those decisions?
Tom Vilsack
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There are a lot of farmers and ranchers who are struggling. I get on my knees every day. If I had a rain prayer or a rain dance I could do, I would do it.
Tom Vilsack
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To help producers serve larger institutional customers like schools and hospitals, USDA has helped fund new regional infrastructure like cold storage warehouses, commercial kitchens and local slaughter facilities.
Tom Vilsack
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Proper school nutrition must be complemented by activities outside of the cafeteria. The decisions parents make to keep their kids healthy are critical in fighting this battle on the home front.
Tom Vilsack
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The lack of access to proper nutrition is not only fueling obesity, it is leading to food insecurity and hunger among our children.
Tom Vilsack
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Somewhere between 50 to 60 percent of the food you eat has been touched by immigrant hands, and it is fair to say some of them are not here as they should be here. But if you didn't have these folks, you would be spending a lot more - three, four or five times more - for food, or we would have to import food and have all the food security risks.
Tom Vilsack
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I think we all share the same goal, which is a United States of America that inspires people and leads.
Tom Vilsack
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President Obama has expressed his commitment to responsible stewardship of our land, water, and other natural resources. And one way of restoring the land to its natural condition is what we are doing here today - breaking pavement for the People's Garden.
Tom Vilsack