Policy experts suggest four major changes in federal rural policy amid pandemic

"With Congress back in session, a debate is raging about whether to offer covid-19 relief to state, local, and tribal governments, which are in acute fiscal crisis due to an unexpected double whammy: the direct costs associated with taking quick, decisive action to protect public health, and the indirect costs of loss of revenue that are the inevitable fallout of interrupted economic activity due to social distancing," Katharine Ferguson and Anthony Pipa write for Brookings. Ferguson is the associate director of the Community Strategies Group at the Aspen Institute and Pipa is a senior fellow in Global Economy and Development at Brookings.

Ferguson and Pipa suggest four ways the federal government can improve rural policies to address systemic disparities that have grown over the past 15 years. Click here to read more.