President Bush is expected to speak at an economic symposium on rural development in Des Moines at midday (around 12:15), talking about recent economic gains and his tax-cutting policies. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley will introduce the President at the event and says he’d like to hear Bush address one particular aspect of tax policy — on this federal tax deadline day. He says he wants to see the tax law made permanent, as Grassley says you need predictability.In addition to making tax laws permanent, not temporary, Grassley says he’d like the hear the President talk about the capital shortage in rural America. Grassley says too many big national banks are buying up the community banks in Iowa and elsewhere. Grassley says “When you lose a community banker, I think you lose an interest in the community and that’s a source of capital. I want to see the President put pressure on the major big banks to be as concerned about lending in rural America, particularly in those communities where they take over a community bank, as they are in the big cities.” Grassley says he’d also like to hear Bush talk about the importance of value-added agriculture, how farmers and other Iowans can see much greater benefits from exporting finished products instead of raw corn, for example.
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