When the effects of the 1929 Depression began to be felt by the rest of the nation, rural residents had been struggling for several years with low incomes and low standards of living. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration began aiding rural families in 1932. Later, the Farm Security Administration and the Work Projects Administration provided much needed assistance to rural families and farm households. In the post-World War II era, widespread rural poverty, most notably among farmers, continued to dominate rural policy concerns. The Eisenhower Administration's Under Secretary for Agriculture, True D. Morse, began a Rural Development Program in 1955 to assist low-income farmers. Because agriculture was the major economic activity in many rural areas of the time, a focus on farms and farm households became de facto rural policy. The War on Poverty during the 1960s continued the focus on rural poverty as a central policy issue. With the continued decline in agriculture as rural America's dominant economic activity, policy attention shifted to rural revitalization. The 1980s farm financial crisis and economic dislocation in rural America brought the importance of rural structural change to the forefront of policy concerns. The further decline of farming to less than 8% of rural employment and the loss of many manufacturing jobs during the past decade have highlighted the growing gap between many rural areas and the nation's urban/suburban areas. While no overarching framework guides rural policy at the federal level, adequate housing, employment creation and business retention, human capital concerns, poverty issues, medical care, and physical infrastructure development remain key foci of federal rural policy. The rural population has declined over the past decade. According to the U.S. Census, as of July 2012, approximately 46.2 million people (14.6% of the U.S. population) lived in rural areas, down from approximately 16% in 2000. While rural farming and mining counties have long experienced dwindling populations, more recently rural retirement and recreation areas have also seen declines as the baby-boomer generation increasingly opts for urban areas in retirement. Manufacturing now accounts for about 22% of rural private sector earnings and about 11% of all rural jobs. The service sector, as with the U.S. domestic economy as a whole, however, dominates rural job opportunities. Although over 90% of total farm household income now comes from off-farm sources, farming, and agriculture more generally, remain the major legislative focus for much of congressional debate on rural policy. Since 1973, omnibus farm bills have included a rural development title. The most recently passed is Title VI of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 ( P.L. 110-246 ). Agriculture and manufacturing issues are increasingly seen as part of global and regional restructuring issues, which have significant implications for rural areas, especially those areas where these production sectors remain dominant. How to position rural areas to better compete in a global environment is a key issue framing debates about the future of rural America. Omnibus farm bills are the major modern legislative vehicle for addressing many rural development issues. While other legislation has significant implications for rural areas and rural residents (e.g., transportation initiatives, environmental regulation, finance and taxation, Medicare, Social Security), Congress has used periodic farm bills to address emerging rural issues as well as to reauthorize a wide range of rural programs administered by the various USDA rural development mission agencies. While the extent of overlap between federal agencies and programs targeting rural areas has been of concern to some rural policy observers, legislation enacted since 1990 reflects an effort to address rural issues more comprehensively. USDA's rural development mission is to enhance rural communities by targeting financial and technical resources to areas of greatest need. Three agencies, established by the Agricultural Reorganization Act of 1994 ( P.L. 103-354 ), are responsible for the mission area: the Rural Housing Service (RHS), the Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS), and the Rural Utilities Service (RUS). An Office of Community Development provides further community development support through USDA Rural Development's state offices. Congress has enacted many public laws bearing on rural policies and rural residents. The Rural Electrification Act of 1936, to cite one significant example, was central to the provision of electrical power and telephone service throughout rural America. In 1966, Congress created the National Commission on Rural Poverty, which published its famous report, The People Left Behind , the following year. Various loan and grant programs that target improvements in rural social welfare (e.g., housing) were also authorized and administered by the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA), the agency forerunner of today's USDA Office of Rural Development. Rural policy as an identified congressional concern, however, may be dated to the 1972 Rural Development Act, an amendment to the Consolidated Farmers Home Administration Act of 1961. In addition to periodic omnibus farm bills, new rural development legislation generally amends three major authorizing statutes: (1) the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act of 1972 (P.L. 92-419); (2) the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 ( P.L. 101-624 ); and (3) the Rural Electrification Act of 1936. To illustrate the range of congressional legislative activity targeting rural areas, a brief description and overview of key sections of the basic statutory authorities for rural development programs are provided below. The act established the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) during the Great Depression to create jobs and electrify rural areas by providing subsidized loans and grants to rural electric cooperatives. In 1949, telephone cooperatives also were brought under the program. Cooperatives are a common form of business organization in rural areas, structured essentially as tax-exempt entities owned by the cooperative membership. In the 1930s, only a few farms and rural households had access to electricity; by the mid-1950s, the proportion of rural homes with electricity matched suburban penetration, and by 1975, more than 99% of all farms had electricity. Likewise, by the mid-1970s, telephone penetration in rural areas had topped 90%, and it has held steady at roughly 95% of households for the past 20 years. The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) is now the agency administering rural electric programs that were previously overseen by the REA. The REA was eliminated in the 1994 USDA reorganization (see below) and replaced by the RUS. The legislation was originally enacted as the Consolidated Farmers Home Administration Act of 1961. In 1972, Title V was changed to the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, and is often referred to as the ConAct. The ConAct, as amended, currently serves as the authorizing statute for most USDA rural development lending and grant programs. Title V directed the Secretary of Agriculture to provide leadership within the executive branch and to assume responsibility for coordinating a nationwide rural development program using the services of executive branch departments and agencies, including, but not limited to, the agencies, bureaus, offices, and services of the Department of Agriculture, in coordination with rural development programs of state and local governments. The act also authorized the Community Facility Loan program, the Rural Business and Industry Loan program, and the Rural Business Enterprise Grant program. This legislation affirmed USDA as the lead agency for rural development. (The 1972 act named USDA as the lead federal coordinator for rural policy.) The act also added responsibilities to the 1972 Rural Development Act. It authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to expand the department's leadership role through which multi-state, state, sub-state, and local rural development needs, plans, and recommendations can be received and assessed on a continuing basis. Part of the omnibus 1990 farm bill. Title XXIII amended the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act of 1972 to establish in USDA the Rural Development Administration (RDA). Legislative action saw significant debate between House and Senate Appropriations Committees with the House Agriculture Committee over establishing the RDA. The newly formed RDA absorbed all non-farm FmHA functions. Important provisions included Establishing (1) a Rural Partnerships Investment Board to provide lines of credit for rural economic development revolving funds; (2) (in the Department of the Treasury) the Rural Business Investment Fund; and (3) local revolving funds. Amended the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act of 1972 to establish a delivery system for certain rural development programs; Providing rural water and waste facilities. Amended the Farm Credit Act of 1971 to authorize lending for water and waste projects and revised water and waste facility financing provisions. Established a rural wastewater treatment circuit rider program. Amended the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to establish emergency community water assistance grants and water and waste facility loans and grants to alleviate health risks; Enhancing human resources. Provided for enhanced rural community access to advanced telecommunications. Amended the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to authorize loans for business telecommunications partnerships and establish rural emergency assistance loans; Supporting rural business. Amended the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to establish a technical assistance unit, defer economic development loan payments, and establish the Rural Incubator Fund to promote rural economic development. Title VIII authorized the first rural Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities (EZ/ECs). The EZ/EC program was a grant-making initiative whose objective is to revitalize low-income rural communities (and low-income urban areas) in ways that attract private sector investment. USDA administered the rural EZ/EC program, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development administers the urban EZ/EC program. In December 1994, three rural Empowerment Zones (EZ) and 30 rural Enterprise Communities (EC) were named. The Taxpayers Relief Act of 1997 added two additional rural EZs and 10 more rural ECs. A third round of competition, authorized by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2001, created two additional rural EZs. Although tax incentives for EZ Communities were extended through December 31, 2013, by P.L.