New rural policy report provides roadmap out of Washington deadlock

The Rural Policy Action Report shares popular policies to benefit rural America.

Congress has shut down the government rather than pass a budget that extends affordable health care. Now we’re facing a double crisis: Congress has disrupted vital services, and next month, millions of Americans are on track to have their health care costs skyrocket.

But there is another way. The Rural Policy Action Report outlines policies that are popular with everyday Americans and provides practical steps Congress could take immediately to deliver for the American people. The report provides a positive agenda to improve rural people’s lives and deliver lower costs, higher wages, and the freedom to make choices about our own lives.

Forty groups contributed to the report, which showcases the broad support for the tools and opportunities we need to build a good life. Brought together by the Rural Democracy Initiative, contributing groups include regional groups like New Rural Project, statewide organizations like the Wisconsin Farmers Union, and national organizations like the American Federation of Teachers. These groups represent diverse geographies, issue expertise, and constituents. Together, they form a cornerstone of a governing majority coalition, giving rural people power to influence the decisions that impact their lives.

Reshape Government for Working People

The Rural Policy Action Report recognizes that our country runs on the work and innovation of working people. But for decades, big corporations and the ultrawealthy have exploited government influence to gain special treatment and put up barriers for the rest of us. To reshape the government for working people, the report highlights 26 policy priorities, organized into four pillars.

1. Rein in corporate greed and support workers, small businesses, and farmers
2. Invest in foundational infrastructure for thriving communities
3. Everyone gets a fair deal - no one should be discriminated against or excluded from the benefits of pillars 1 and 2
4. Steward our land and natural resources for a prosperous and sustainable future

Rural Case Studies

The report also features four rural stories that illustrate how policy can either help or hinder rural communities

1. Last year, Missourians organized a ballot initiative and voted to raise the statewide minimum wage and establish paid sick leave. This pro-worker ballot initiative was more popular than any statewide candidate and shows the broad support for populist economic policy. When rural people have a seat at the policy-making table, we build an economy from the bottom up and middle out, not the top down.
2. Yakutat, Alaska utilized federal funding to repair a failing municipal heating system. This investment kept the school in session and created energy efficiency that will save millions while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Yet the 2024 success story in Yakutak is much more difficult today, because politicians in Washington cut programs and diverted funds to the ultrawealthy and giant corporations.
3. Bishop Marcia Dinkins of the Black Appalachian Coalition shares how healthcare saved her daughter’s life, but massive cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act will raise prices, kick people off of insurance, cause hospitals and health care infrastructure to close, and disrupt rural economies.
4. The report also shares how immigrants, small business owners, and farmers near Marshalltown, Iowa, are working together to build up their community. And federal policy could supercharge their hard work or a cruel immigration policy could cause immense disruption and send them backwards.

History of the Rural Policy Action Report

The 2025 Rural Policy Action Report is the third publication of this report. Since the original 2021 Rural Policy Action Report, we’ve achieved major victories — proving that when we organize we can make change. However, many of those successes have been reversed in 2025, and new policies have added barriers and harsher obstacles. The report provides a detailed accounting of the progress and rollbacks of the priorities in previous reports.