Invest In Rural Communities & Protect the Environment

Congressman Butterfield speaking to a representative of the agricultural industry Congressman Butterfield at the USDA Rural Development Event Congressman receiving the Friend of Farm Bureau Award

As a senior member of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Congressman Butterfield has worked hard to provide high speed broadband to rural communities in the First District so residents are able to compete in the global marketplace. Congressman Butterfield also recognizes that strengthening the transportation infrastructure in rural communities in eastern North Carolina is key to economic development. Additionally, providing agricultural producers with access to world markets, employment increase, federal assistance and new methods of production are critical if rural communities like many in the First District are to thrive.

You Should Know

Congressman Butterfield’s has worked hard to connect the rural communities of the First District to the global marketplace by encouragin high-speed internet investment and investment to improve our transportation infrastructure to create more jobs and expand opportunities for consumers and local businesses.

Congressman Butterfield advocates for a new energy future calling for cooperation between public and private partnerships, research universities, and community colleges in efforts to prepare our country to compete in a new energy economy. An efficient energy policy would decrease American dependence on foreign oil and stimulate job growth in rural America.

Congressman Butterfield has been proactively working to improve the transportation infrastructure of rural eastern North Carolina to spur increases in commerce and generate economic development. In 2013, Congressman Butterfield helped the City of Goldsboro secure a $10 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant to fund a major transportation project that will increase business and economic development for the region. He also introduced the Route to Opportunity and Development (ROAD) Act (H.R. 4829), to promote a future interstate through eastern North Carolina between Raleigh and Norfolk, Virginia.

Congressman Butterfield has stood up for rural communities in eastern North Carolina and has co-sponsored the Farm Service Accountability Act (H.R. 4313) which would stop the closing of high volume Farm Service Agency offices. He also led his colleagues in opposition to the 2013 Farm Bill (H.R. 1947), on the House Floor because of the removal of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.