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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: 74
Born: 1950
Born: December 13
Lawyer
Politician
United States Secretary Of Agriculture
Pittsburg
Pennsylvania
Thomas James Vilsack
Thomas James Tom Vilsack
Fighting
Grandparent
President
Mom
Hails
America
Obama
Illinois
States
Raised
Kansas
Fight
Grandparents
Personal
Hail
Single
Rural
State
Farming

More quotes by 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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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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If we can get people to focus on fruits and vegetables and more healthy foods, we'll be better in terms of our healthcare situation.
Tom Vilsack
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Strong communities ... embrace change. New discoveries require us to think differently and approach things differently, to think anew.
Tom Vilsack
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We have a long tradition in this state of caring for our neighbors - it is truly an Iowa value.
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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More than half of America's rural counties are losing population and with it, political representation.
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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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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Let us tackle the big issues with bold ideas that transform Iowa to accomplish our shared mission to grow Iowa, and realize our shared vision of Iowa as the best place to live, work and raise a family.
Tom Vilsack
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Food during my early years was a very difficult issue for me. I grew up in an addictive family. My mother had serious problems with alcohol and prescription drugs. I was an overweight kid. I can remember back in those days there weren't the strategies that there are today to deal with those issues.
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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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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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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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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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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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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When you've paid your debt to society, you need to be reconnected and re-engaged in society.
Tom Vilsack
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I grew up in a city. My parents would think there was something wrong with America if they knew I was secretary of agriculture.
Tom Vilsack
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The rise of childhood obesity has placed the health of an entire generation at risk.
Tom Vilsack