WASHINGTON D.C. — Senators Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Peter Welch (D-VT), members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, are joining 19 of their colleagues in raising strong concerns about the plan to reorganize the Rural Development mission area at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“We write with significant concern regarding the reorganization of the Rural Development mission area at the U.S. Department of Agriculture,” wrote the Senators. “Rural communities, small businesses, and families will lose access to important services if the proposed reorganization plan moves forward. Rural Development is a unique division within the Department, supporting agriculture and ensuring that rural communities prosper by administering grants and loans to support rural businesses, providing financial support for rural housing, financing the construction of rural health clinics and daycare centers, and championing critical infrastructure projects for water, electric, or broadband.”
“In order for rural communities to benefit from these projects, the Rural Development agency must have the capacity to process applications and disburse funds,” the Senators continued. “Rural Development’s depletion of staff has already left rural America without the support it needs as the prices of gas, groceries, and agricultural inputs are skyrocketing as a result of tariffs and foreign conflicts. Without adequate and expert staff, the money that Congress has appropriated to help rural communities will not reach its intended beneficiaries.”
Along with Senators Slotkin, Klobuchar and Welch, the letter was signed by Senators Van Hollen (D-MD), King (I-ME), Heinrich (D-NM), Warnock (D-GA), Durbin (D-IL), Murray (D-WA), Bennet (D-CO), Baldwin (D-WI), Warner (D-VA), Merkley (D-OR), Booker (D-NJ), Alsobrooks (D-MD), Smith (D-MN), Fetterman (D-PA), Sanders (I-VT), Luján (D-NM), Wyden (D-OR), Schiff (D-CA), and Shaheen (D-NH).
The full letter is available here.
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