Minnesota Senator Al Franken held a meeting on Saturday in Tea, South Dakota to gain support for additional funding for the Lewis and Clark rural water project.  He says there was $3.2 million in the President’s budget for Lewis and Clark, but there is another $27 million dollars for rural water projects in the appropriations bill that they’re targeting.

That money will be used to extend the rural water line from the Iowa border to Luverne, Minnesota.  The price tag is $20 million so the original $3.2 million of funding for Lewis and Clark is far from adequate.

To up the ante Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton has also issued a bonding bill for $20 million for this rural water project.