Trump Plan Wants to Cut USDA Broadband Funding

WASHINGTON, May 5, 2025 – The Trump administration unveiled a new budget plan Friday that called for halting new broadband funding through the United States Department of Agriculture.

Congress established the USDA’s ReConnect Program to expand rural broadband access in 2018. Since the program’s creation, Congress has issued $2.3 billion in funding for ReConnect programs and loans for rural broadband deployment. 

The proposed budget was announced by the Office of Management and Budget under the acting Director, Russ Vought.

“No new USDA funding is needed for broadband expansion, as existing balances and other Federal resources are meeting planned growth,” the White House said. “The Budget would also eliminate programs that are duplicative, too small to have macro-economic impact, costly to deliver, in limited demand, available through the private sector, or conceived as temporary.” 

The Trump administration cited telecommunications loans as examples of those that fit their qualifications for programs to eliminate.

“Cutting duplicative rural broadband efforts is the right move, especially as new technologies like fixed wireless and low-earth orbit satellites are closing the coverage gap,” Information Technology and Innovation Foundation President Robert Atkinson said in a Friday response to the new budget. “Future efforts should focus on affordability and adoption, not redundant infrastructure.”

Other telecommunications industry groups have yet to comment on the planned budget.