Itta Bena, Mississippi -- Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) chaired a hearing of the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee today at Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Bena, Mississippi to discuss rural and economic development programs in the Mississippi Delta region.

"We have seen over the years many proposals to improve the economic conditions of the Delta and improve the quality of life for the people here," said Cochran. "I believe that today's forum will help us explore better alternatives to help the Lower Mississippi Delta region. Creating a new federal bureaucracy as the Administration has proposed may not be the best way to go about it."

In the President's annual budget, $30 million was requested to establish a Delta Regional Authority. During a recent hearing of the Subcommittee, the Senator said he was "suspicious" about how the funds would be spent and hoped the Administration would consider as an alternative using the resources at Mississippi universities and colleges which could provide more expertise than "a Washington person."

Cochran pointed out that his Appropriations Subcommittee had approved $212 million in loans and grant programs for the Mississippi Delta region. He also said the Lower Mississippi Delta Development Commission, which was established in 1988, produced a ten year plan of action for economic development, but "much more can and should be done."

Top officials from colleges and universities located in the Delta discussed with the Subcommittee their ideas about programs that are working and other programs that could be improved with federal assistance. Officials from the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Education, and Transportation also participated in the hearing.

Cochran said, "The efforts of educators at Mississippi Valley State University, Alcorn State University, Delta State University, and the community colleges have shown that they can produce good results in the area of economic growth, job training, and resource development in the Mississippi Delta. We need to give them more support from the federal level."