NRECA Discusses Policies, Funding Needed For Rural Broadband
With the Trump Administration planning to cut ReConnect, rural broadband cooperatives are scrambling
WASHINGTON, June 2, 2025 – Leaders of electric cooperatives expressed frustration Monday over delays in federal broadband funding and threats to the USDA’s ReConnect program.
With the Trump administration proposing cuts to USDA’s ReConnect program – responsible for awarding more than $4.4 billion to expand broadband in remote rural areas – electric co-op leaders warned that the nation’s hardest-to-reach communities risk being left behind.
“We're interested in maintaining the ReConnect program [with the] USDA,” said NRECA CEO James Matheson. “We've got a specific piece of legislation called the ReConnecting Rural America Act that codifies that program in statute.”
“ReConnect certainly is more targeted toward co-ops, so that funding proves invaluable,” Matheson said.
His remarks were during a press conference held by the National Rural Electronic Cooperative Association ahead of next week’s NRECA Broadband Leadership Summit, which expects nearly 150 co-op leaders from around the country.
Matheson said he doesn’t have a specific dollar amount in mind for future ReConnect funding, but emphasized the need to maintain current levels. “The more important issue is having it codified in statute,” he said. “We want to see the program put in more of a sense of security in terms of moving forward.”
The United States Department of Agriculture furnishes loans and grants through the ReConnect program to implement and improve broadband service in eligible rural areas, particularly those where fewer than 10 percent of residents have broadband access.
The Trump administration announced plans to cut the program on May 5, saying “programs that are too small to have macro-economic impact [or are] costly to deliver will be eliminated.”
Cutting ReConnect, reexamining BEAD
In his efforts to cut government funding, Trump has also called for the reexamining of the guidelines of the $42.5 billion Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment program, enacted under the Biden administration. The proposed program changes have led to delays, prompting NRECA, along with broadband trade groups, to send a letter to Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick last week.
“When it comes to the BEAD program, we want to move ahead with this. We've been waiting a long time. We'd like to see NTIA removing what we think are some unnecessary and burdensome requirements that were placed on it by the previous administration. If we want to deploy broadband, let's make that program go,” Matheson said.
Two cooperative chiefs, one from New York and one from Texas, shared how state-level policies and federal delays were shaping their ability to complete broadband buildouts.
“We are not pursuing BEAD at this point because New York State has made the policy judgments that they imposed quite a few extensive requirements, such as prevailing wage labor, which is very hard to find…away from urban areas, it's virtually unavailable,” said Tim Johnson, CEO of Otsego Electric Cooperative, based in Hartwick, New York.
Under New York’s Affordable Broadband Act, internet service providers must offer a $15 per month plan for low-income residents. “[This] is far below our costs of operation, not even 50% of our costs, actually,” said Johnson. “We can't expose our cooperative without some assurances that we can pay our bills, right?” Johnson said external funding was crucial for the continued provision of broadband to sparsely-populated areas in New York.
Cameron Smallwood, CEO of United Cooperative Services in Texas, said that his cooperative intends to apply for BEAD funding to improve and “future-proof” the broadband technology in the area the co-ops covers. “We [expect to spend] another $130-140 million…to reach that last 30% of our members, and we really need BEAD to move forward in order to accomplish that,” he said.
