As Congress crafts a new Farm Bill, Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont is working to ensure that the legislation provides crucial funding for electric cooperatives and the rural communities they serve, co-op leaders say.

“Senator Welch is a longtime friend of electric cooperatives,” says Louis Finkel, NRECA’s senior vice president of Government Relations. “He knows our issues well from his time in the House of Representatives, where he served on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Agriculture Committee, and he brings that experience to his new roles on the Senate Commerce and Senate Agriculture Committees. As Congress works to write a new Farm Bill, this experience is critical to getting the policy right for electric co-ops.”

NRECA and its member co-ops are especially grateful for Welch’s sponsorship of the Rural Energy Savings Act, Finkel says. The bipartisan legislation seeks to improve the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy Savings Program, which provides no-interest loans to co-ops and other rural utilities to help communities develop clean, cost-effective energy upgrades.

Welch’s bill would reauthorize the program and expand it by providing limited grant funding to rural utilities to offset administrative and program costs, extending the maximum repayment term for loans to consumers to up to 20 years and expanding eligibility for all households within a rural utility’s service territory.

“We are hopeful that the enhancements his bill makes to the USDA Rural Energy Savings Program can make it into the Farm Bill,” Finkel says.

The Democratic senator is also “a champion for highspeed broadband investment” in Farm Bill initiatives such as ReConnect as well as programs outside the USDA, he says.

“He sponsored the ReConnecting Rural America Act, which would make the ReConnect program permanent through the Farm Bill while also setting a symmetrical build-to standard for networks built with these funds,” Finkel says. “Beyond USDA, he’s been fighting for programs that help to keep broadband service affordable in high-cost and low-income areas, such as the Federal Communication Commission’s Affordable Connectivity Program.”

In addition to playing a key national role on rural issues, Welch works closely with leaders of Vermont’s two electric co-ops.

“He’s incredibly down to earth, he’s easy to talk to, he really listens, and he’s passionately interested in rural economies and clean energy,” says Rebecca Towne, CEO of Vermont Electric Cooperative in Johnson. “He’s very accessible, and he and his whole team work extremely hard to be there for us.”

The 77-year-old senator has also helped secure funds from the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service for Washington Electric Cooperative in Montpelier, Vermont, says co-op General Manager Louis Porter.

The RUS program provides crucial funding to electric co-ops for infrastructure improvements and economic development.

“Those longstanding programs that enable co-ops to serve their territories are really important to us, and RUS funding through the Farm Bill is a huge one,” Porter says. “It’s essential for rural co-ops to get access to those low-interest loans.”

Welch notes that the strength of co-ops comes from their pragmatism and community focus. “Electric co-ops power rural America in more ways than one,” says Welch. “They’re partnering with Washington and state governments to advance commonsense energy policies that cut costs, lower emissions and improve reliability. And our co-ops are helping to build out broadband so more people can connect to the modern economy and the digital services we rely on every day.”

Welch is also known for his willingness to work across party lines to get things done, Towne says. His legislation to improve USDA’s Rural Energy Savings Program was introduced with Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.

“In a world where working across the aisle is becoming less common,” Towne says, “[Welch] continues to collaborate and partner to get the job done.”