Growing up in Harnett County, North Carolina, my parents taught me the value of keeping a promise. Rural Americans know this simple rule well - when you give someone your word, you keep it.

Three years ago, American farm families were made a promise in the 2002 Farm Bill. The bill was a great compromise between the farm community, the conservation community and the nutrition community for the benefit of all. Farmers were promised that the rules would not change until the Farm Bill expired in September, 2007. Families made hard choices about the future and made their planning and planting decisions based on the promise of this six-year farm bill.

Now, only three years later, Republican leaders in Congress are proposing a plan that breaks that promise to our farm families. They are proposing a $3.7 billion cut in Agriculture programs that would slash funding for commodity, conservation, and nutrition programs that were promised in the Farm Bill. They are changing the rules in the middle of the game and they are going back on their word.

Farm families are already struggling to make ends meet under record-high fuel prices. During this energy crisis, the biggest oil companies are enjoying record profits. Instead of taking action to bring down fuel prices and offer our farmers relief, Republicans in Congress are turning their backs on farmers.

The pain doesn't stop there. As winter begins and families face skyrocketing costs to heat their homes, the Washington Republicans are targeting rural Americans in need by cutting food stamps as well. By cutting $844 million from Food Stamps, thousands of working, low-wage families will be faced with the unthinkable choice of deciding between putting food on the table or heating their homes.

The Republican Party leaders say that we have to make these tough choices in order to reduce the budget deficit and offset the cost of the Hurricane Katrina recovery. But the cuts are not nearly sufficient to offset the cost of their new $70 billion tax loophole for the wealthiest Americans. The Republican budget plan will actually increase the deficit by $20 billion, while rural communities will continue to suffer.

The sad irony of the situation is that the programs that families affected by Hurricane Katrina depend on are exactly the ones that Republicans want to cut. Although the pictures on television show the devastation in New Orleans, this is only one part of the destruction that Hurricane Katrina caused. Thousands of rural Americans lost their homes, their belongings and their livelihoods from Hurricane Katrina. These families need our help, but instead Republicans are making them pay for years of irresponsible Republican budgets.

America can do better. We need to honor the promise that we made to farmers, their families, and rural communities when we passed the farm bill. We need to honor our commitments and put in place a fair and equitable plan to balance the budget rather than unfairly target rural Americans.

Democrats stand united in opposing budget cuts that will leave our farmers out to pasture. Together, we can do better.

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