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Obligated IRA funds guaranteed to continue

A USDA Deputy State Director says many Inflation Reduction Act-funded projects will continue under the Trump administration regardless of its policy priorities.

Rural Development’s Valarie Handy, based in Michigan, tells Brownfield, “Once funds have been obligated for a project, those funds are set aside for that entity’s described project.” “It would literally take an act of Congress to rescind those dollars,” she says.

The $500 billion legislation that was passed in 2022 directed $400 billion toward clean energy tax incentives, grants, and loan guarantees. At the end of the 2024 fiscal year, nearly 70 percent of the climate appropriations had been announced, but the amount of obligated funds is unclear as President Biden’s term wraps up.

Handy says during the administrative change Deputy State Directors in her agency will act in place of state directors to provide consistency during the transition.

“The big things that change are those kind of one-off short-term programs that focus in on specific administration priorities,” she explains. “Those change from administration to administration, but overall, our core programs continue to exist—our housing programs, our community facilities, water and sewer programs, business programs.”

She says Michigan Rural Development has invested nearly $700 million of Inflation Reduction Act funding including awards that support building infrastructure to distribute higher blends of ethanol and energy efficiency projects to the Rural Energy for America Program.