Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is releasing a new policy when he visits Iowa this week that he says is aimed at helping people in rural America.

The plan, if enacted, could have a wide-ranging impact on different areas of rural American life — from creating a public option for high-speed internet to encouraging immigrants to find work in areas with declining populations. Buttigieg also wants to combat climate change with the help of farmers and boost teacher pay.

“Rural America should be growing,” the South Bend, Indiana, mayor told the Des Moines Register in an exclusive interview. “And it should be as fruitful and promising to live in rural communities as in any other part of the United States. But to do that, we’ve got to make real investments.”

For Buttigieg, who will be in Iowa for three days beginning Tuesday, that includes an $80 billion "Internet for All" initiative to bring broadband high-speech Internet to unserved and underserved communities.

It also means support for rural businesses and jobs, it part through spending up to $500 million in federal funds to create “regional innovation clusters” that connect rural communities to research and economic opportunities.

“I think a lot of communities are outgrowing the old economic development model where it felt like everybody's just scrapping after whatever jobs are left, at the expense of the next county over. And as communities move on from that model to a regional one, there should be federal support,” he said.

Buttigieg will describe the policy in detail when he visits rural counties in the southeast corner of the state as part of his trip.

Among the plan's provisions is more funding to train small- and medium-scale manufacturing entrepreneurs and an expansion of apprenticeship and internship opportunities in rural areas.

Buttigieg also wants immigrants to find work in rural America through “community renewal visas” that would be available for areas that have lost a working population or aren’t keeping pace economically.

Buttigieg credited immigrants with helping South Bend's population, which is about 100,000. He said places like Storm Lake in Iowa, which has a large Latino population, inspired his policy.

"I want to make sure that immigrants hear the message that we understand and value what they bring to our communities," he said. "And that often immigration is the lifeblood of growth in our economy and our communities."

Buttigieg said his perspective as a mayor means he also has ideas that may seem small but could have a huge ripple effect, like a universal "common application" that communities could use when seeking federal funding.

Buttigieg also wants to give farmers more of a defined role in combating climate change, in part through more conservation funding. Buttigieg proposes investing nearly $50 billion over a decade on what he calls “innovative research” that includes soil carbon sequestration. He would also create "resilience hubs" that would provide climate data to help rural communities.

"I think the terms of the climate debate right now have really tended to pit urban and rural America against each other," he said. "Kind of sending this message that rural America is part of the problem, when actually, both the problem and the solution are widespread across different kinds of communities in the country."

Buttigieg also wants to strengthen antitrust enforcement for family farmers, and examine recent mergers within the seed market to look for anti-competitive behavior.

The policy comes days after Buttigieg released a plan on rural health care that promoted a public option for Medicare and addressed the high maternal mortality rates and lack of mental health care access.

Buttigieg is scheduled to speak Tuesday at the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair.

Barbara Rodriguez covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. She can be reached by email at bcrodriguez@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8011. Follow her on Twitter @bcrodriguez.

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