WASHINGTON—The U.S. Senate adopted an amendment authored by Senator John Boozman (R-AR), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, that prevents a ban on fossil fuels and supports access to affordable, reliable energy to power their farms, businesses and broadband networks in rural America. 

“I appreciate my colleagues taking a stand for rural America by supporting my amendment rejecting this harmful mandate. The push to ban fossil fuels is yet another Biden administration policy directive that punishes rural Americans. The inclusion of my amendment to the Democrats’ reckless tax and spending bill will force the administration to pursue an ‘all-of-the-above' strategy to meet the energy needs of our rural communities now and in the future,” Boozman said. 

Background 

Last year, a number of former Obama-era U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials authored the Climate 21 transition memo to guide the Biden administration’s policy objectives. This memo provided a roadmap for federal agencies to achieve the administration’s goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050. The recommendations in this memo included developing plans for retiring fossil fuel-burning power plants. 

Boozman’s amendment prohibits the USDA from starving our rural electric providers of financing in an attempt to shutter fossil fuel-burning power plants.