Vermont Business Magazine U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont), Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Rural Development, Energy, and Credit, today pressed U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins about the Department’s progress in delivering over $62 million in disaster aid relief to Vermont communities impacted by devastating floods in July of 2023 and 2024. During his questioning, Secretary Rollins confirmed that $31.7 million in disaster aid block grant funding was approved for deployment to Vermont imminently.
Sen. Welch: Vermont has had very significant damage from floods that we had in 2023 and 2024, and I’ve had a chance to talk to you. But let me just ask you, if you can tell us Vermonters, what the status is of the disaster assistance block grant, and then also the USDA Rural Development Disaster Assistance Fund. Both of those are $31 million—we’ve been going through the process, and hopefully the money will be delivered. It’ll make a huge difference to us in Vermont.
Secretary Rollins: That’s right...I grew up in the summers on my grandparents’ row crop farm in Minnesota, so I knew row crops, and I knew cotton and cattle coming into this job. I did not know specialty crops obviously as much, and you and others again working across the aisle, and some of your colleagues from the Northeast and in California frankly have just been really, really good at making sure that I fully understand the challenges facing our specialty crop producers. So, the block grant that you’re speaking of, most of the Northeast is in paperwork process, some of them are complete...I’ll follow up with you on that. If it hasn’t been deployed yet, then it will be imminently.
Sen. Welch: We’re talking about two things: the disaster assistance, that’s $31.7 million, and then the USDA disaster assistance fund—your office has been responsive to me, but what I understand is that both of those are on track for deployment quite soon, right?
Secretary Rollins: Well, in fact, the crack staff behind me said that we signed Vermont yesterday. So, it’s done and should be moving out—the block grant piece of that.
Senator Welch has advocated for disaster aid funding throughout Vermont’s catastrophic back-to-back flooding, including touring flood damage to homes and infrastructure in Orwell, Hardwick, Moretown, Plainfield, Barre, Barnet, St. Johnsbury, Peacham, and Lyndonville.
Last summer, on the anniversaries of Vermont’s catastrophic floods of July 2023 and 2024, Senator Welch introduced the Disaster Assistance Improvement and Decentralization (AID) Act, which would cut red tape and support hazard mitigation efforts, make the delivery of disaster aid more efficient and effective, provide technical assistance to small towns and communities impacted by natural disasters, and block the White House from withholding funding for disaster response. The bill was inspired and shaped by the disaster recovery experience of communities across Vermont. He also introduced the Rural Recovery Act, which would create a new program at USDA Rural Development (RD) to provide RD state offices with automatic funding for emergency recovery technical assistance after disasters take place in their jurisdiction.
6.10.2026. WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Peter Welch
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