GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.—Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a longtime champion of electric cooperatives in Congress, accepted NRECA’s Distinguished Service Award on Sept. 5 in honor of her work to bolster federal funding for rural broadband and energy providers.

Stabenow has served in the Senate since 2001 and currently chairs the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee.

The Michigan Democrat pushed to include $65 billion in the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law to help connect all Americans to high-speed internet. Stabenow was also instrumental in securing nearly $10 billion in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 to support electric co-ops, the single largest investment in rural electrification since the New Deal.

“Sen. Stabenow is always willing to listen to co-ops and collaborate on key issues that help rural people, because she is a rural person by nature,” Michigan Electric Cooperative Association President and CEO Craig Borr said in presenting Stabenow’s award during NRECA’s Regions 1&4 Meeting.

Borr noted the many letters of support from Michigan co-ops for her award nomination. The letters pointed out how many times Stabenow had supported co-ops in accessing federal grant programs and making the federal government easier to navigate.

“Sen. Stabenow never forgot the values gained from her rural roots,” he said. With Stabenow set to retire from the Senate in January 2025, Borr said he is “certainly sad to see her go.”

“I am so honored to receive your Distinguished Service Award,” Stabenow said at the Grand Rapids gathering. “It’s been such a wonderful partnership over the years.”

She emphasized her efforts to promote co-ops’ work in rural communities and asked meeting attendees to share their stories publicly to spread the word about the good things they’re doing.

“For more than 80 years, rural electric co-ops have been instrumental in our efforts to electrify our country,” she said.

Stabenow also asked for co-ops’ help in finalizing a new, bipartisan Farm Bill and in sharing how the IRA will help expand clean, reliable, affordable energy in rural communities.

“Understanding what you do, supporting the programs that help you do it, is very important, and people need to know the stories that you have to tell,” she said.

Stabenow noted her work on the 2018 Farm Bill to include permanent funding for the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), which provides grants and loans to farmers and small businesses to improve their energy efficiency and invest in renewable energy. She also touted her support for other rural programs, including the ReConnect broadband program, and her desire to see those initiatives adequately backed in the next Farm Bill.

“We want to build on those investments,” Stabenow said. “We cannot go backwards.”

As negotiations around the legislation continue, the Michigan senator stressed that co-op voices will be crucial in crafting a bipartisan solution.

“We’ve got to make sure that the things that you are counting on are broadly supported in the bill,” she said. “We’ve got to make sure that we’re providing the certainty that we need and the support for you to do the leadership in communities.”

NRECA CEO Jim Matheson said Stabenow has been “a strong advocate for electric co-ops and has helped champion meaningful initiatives for both broadband and energy infrastructure in rural America.” 

“We will miss having her as a partner on Capitol Hill,” he said.