Contact: Rob Ostrander 202.224.7627 Shana Stribling 202.224.0309
Thursday, August 19, 2004

SEDALIA, MO – Senator Kit Bond today met with Missouri farmers and ranchers at his annual agriculture advisory lunch at the Missouri State Fair, where Bond solicits candid comments and updates farm leaders on his work in the U.S. Senate on behalf of Missouri agriculture.

"Your advice and guidance has served the Missouri agricultural community well over the past years and has allowed me to carry out my duties to defend the Missouri farm economy and way of life," said Bond. "As your U.S. Senator I will continue to fight for policies and opportunities to strengthen and expand Missouri's agriculture industry."

Bond told farm leaders that his efforts to improve Missouri's transportation system have met with recent success. Earlier this summer, the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee passed his bipartisan legislation to update the aging locks on the Mississippi River. This bill authorizes $2.3 billion for seven new locks, including $1.46 billion for ecosystem restoration. Bond said for Missouri's agriculture industry, this modernization is especially important. The aging lock and dam system must be improved in order to maintain the Mississippi River shoreline and inland ports, which serve as Missouri’s arteries to world markets.

As Chairman of the EPW's Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, Bond is jointly responsible for writing the federal highway bill. Bond told the farmers and ranchers that this bipartisan bill is a big win for Missouri. The highway bill includes a minimum guarantee of 95 cents on the dollar for "donor" states like Missouri. When Bond first became a member of EPW, Missouri only received about 76 cents on the dollar. Currently, the highway legislation is in a House-Senate Conference, where Bond will continue to fight for the Senate's $318 billion level of funding. Bond explained that the highway bill will mean $250 million in new dollars to Missouri each year, which is about $1.5 billion in new projects that are not currently planned for.

Bond told the group that their hard work made this recent success possible.

"Thanks to the grassroots efforts of Missouri farm, labor, and business groups, we were able to move past Democratic stonewalling and move the highway bill to conference," Bond said.

Kit Bond is Missouri's senior Senator and served twice as Governor before continuing his service in his third term in the United States Senate.