Hillary Clinton will look to move past the stories swirling around her campaign on Wednesday when she pitches her plan for rural America in three events in Iowa.
Clinton’s plan, pitched in a state where 35% of residents live in rural areas, involves more spending for government programs that provide capital and credit to rural business owners, farmers and ranchers.
Clinton will push for increasing the number of rural business investment companies that make investments in rural businesses, and will suggest creating a “national infrastructure bank and invest in infrastructure to improve the country’s rural transportation, water, and broadband infrastructure,” according to a factsheet on the plan provided to CNN.
“America’s rural communities lie at the heart of what makes this country great,” the factsheet said. “Despite their critical role in our economy, too many rural communities are not sharing in our nation’s economic gains.”
Clinton will also pitch strengthening the Renewable Fuel Standard, a federal rule that requires gasoline to be comprised of up to 10% in renewable fuels. The issue is critically important to Iowa, the top corn-producing state in the nation.
The campaign said Clinton will push to “strengthen the Renewable Fuel Standard so that it drives the development of advanced cellulosic and other advanced biofuels, protects consumers, improves access to E15, E85, and biodiesel blends, and provides investment certainty.”
Clinton has not always been for strengthening ethanol. In a 2002 debate over an energy bill, Clinton derided a then-pending requirement that two billion gallons of corn ethanol be blended into domestic gasoline per year.
“We are providing a single industry with a guaranteed market for its products — subsidies on top of subsidies on top of subsidies, and, on top of that, protection from liability,” Clinton said in 2002. “What a sweetheart deal.”
But in a May op-ed, Clinton said it was time to get the fuel standard “back on track.”
After a weekend off, the specifics she’ll tout — even with former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack’s endorsement — will be overshadowed by a growing set of challenges: Unending inquiries about her private email server and the possibility of a primary challenge from Vice President Joe Biden.
The 2016 Democratic front-runner will be joined at all her events by Vilsack, who formally endorsed Clinton on Tuesday.
