Press Release

June 13, 2023

House Committee Vote Would Raid REAP

An impending House vote would set the stage to raid half a billion from popular Rural Energy for America Program and stop grants to farmers from FY2024 funding

A House subcommittee vote set for the morning of June 14 endangers a popular program that brings energy efficiency and renewable energy opportunities to farms, ranches, and rural small businesses across the country.  

“The House Agriculture Appropriations Committee would cut off farmers, ranchers and rural small businesses from receiving REAP grants from mandatory funding,” said ELPC Senior Policy Advocate Andy Olsen. “Worse yet, they would raid half a billion dollars in REAP funds intended to assist these rural concerns in adapting to the low-carbon economy.” 

With the vote endangering this popular, bipartisan program, here are the facts on REAP: 

• The Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) has been around for 20 years as part of the Farm Bill’s Energy Title. REAP has historically had strong bipartisan support.  
• In that time, it has sparked investment in over 22,000 renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, and it is ready to do more. 
• Because of its well-recognized successes, REAP was included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) with nearly $2 billion over the next 10 years as a key rural strategy to confront climate change.  
• A proposal up for a vote before the House Agriculture Appropriations Committee would slash a half billion dollars from that investment in the nation’s farmers.  
• This plan would also block the USDA from awarding grants from mandatory funding. Mandatory funding could only be used for loan guarantees. In FY 2022, loan guarantees made up just 5.3% of REAP projects. Loan guarantees are used mostly for very large projects, not the small family farms, ranches and other businesses that can benefit most from grants.  
• The agricultural community supports REAP, with a coalition of 117 agriculture, trade, environmental and business groups recently urging Congress to fully fund the popular program. 
• A recent ELPC report profiled farms, ranches and rural small businesses who used REAP to create jobs, growth and economic opportunities in rural America. These are the Americans this raid on REAP would hurt. 

TELL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE THAT YOU SUPPORT AMERICA’S FARMERS! DON’T RAID REAP!