Already caught up in the Trump administration’s halt on federal grants, a rural energy program at the Agriculture Department is pivoting to its next battle: surviving the annual fight over appropriations.
Advocates for the Rural Energy for America Program asked lawmakers in a letter this week to protect the initiative, which helps farmers and rural businesses pay for small energy projects like solar arrays and biogas generators.
If they’re lucky, a program ally told POLITICO’s E&E News, the program’s backers may persuade Congress to boost the program’s budget for the long term.
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President Donald Trump’s budget request is expected to be released Friday and Appropriations hearings for fiscal 2026 spending will expand next week.
