President Barack Obama has named two men to lead efforts in rural North Carolina for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Aaron Martin will serve as North Carolina State Executive Director for the Farm Service Agency at the USDA. There, he will help provide loans for equipment, seed and fertilizer, and work to get disaster relief to farmers, Barb Barrett reports. The Farm Service Agency also obtains commodities to help low-income families through food aid programs.

Martin was most recently the district director of the Farm Service Agency for the western region of North Carolina. He also served as a crop disaster specialist and FSA director in Clay County.

Obama also named Randal Gore to be North Carolina state director of Rural Development for USDA. The division manages more than 40 housing, business and community programs to improve quality of life in rural areas.

Gore was area director of Rural Development in Asheboro for 11 years, and served as a multifamily housing specialist in Greensboro from 1990-1994. He previously was a vocational teacher at Whiteville High School and West Brunswick High School.

Gore donated $250 to Obama's presidential campaign and $250 to U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield's most recent campaign, according to federal election records.

Martin gave U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan $500 and U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler $500 in the most recent campaign, according to federal election records. He has given U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge $3,000 since 2007.

As the summer recess wound to a close, U.S. Reps. Heath Shuler, Mike McIntyre and Virginia Foxx talked about their problems with the health care reform bill currently in the U.S. House.

McIntyre, a Lumberton Democrat, told the Wilmington-Star News that he is concerned about the expense of the current house proposal as well as the public option insurance plan.

McIntyre pointed to recent projections that the United States will face a $9 trillion federal deficit during the next decade.

"And now, we’re looking at the possibility of a proposed new federal bureaucracy dumping another minimum one trillion more dollars on top of that," he said, referring to the estimate for the reform package over 10 years.

McIntyre also said funding is why he is uncertain about the much-debated public option for a new government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers.

"I’m not convinced yet that the public option is the way to go," he said. "The federal budget right now, we’re not in a position we can afford it."

Shuler, a Waynesville Democrat, took questions on a talk radio show. Shuler said health care reform must not add to the federal deficit, focus on wellness and prevention and must start with an overhaul before millions of uninsured Americans are put into the health care system, the Asheville Citizen-Times reports.

More after the jump.

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