Trump requests 93% cut to Appalachian Regional Commission. Ohio would take a huge hit.

BY: SUSAN TEBBEN - JULY 15, 2025 5:00 AM

The Appalachian region in Ohio and elsewhere is bracing for a big hit as President Donald Trump proposed a 93% cut to funding for the Appalachian Regional Commission.

The proposal is included in a discretionary budget, a year-to-year funding proposal that is different than the mandatory funding included in the recently passed Trump-Republican megabill.

In the discretionary budget, Trump proposed a cut of 93% for the regional commission, from $200 million to $14 million in the 2026 fiscal year, according to the commission.

Local and state officials and organizations from around the region sent a letter to members of Congress asking that the funding the commission has received in the past be maintained.

“The ARC has been instrumental in driving forward (the region’s) potential,” the letter stated. “Reductions to its programs pose a risk to innovative initiatives in workforce development, community revitalization and American-made resilient energy.”

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POLITICS & GOVERNMENT
Trump plan to slash Appalachian Regional Commission budget by 93% gets pushback

By Austin Horn and Piper Hansen
UPDATED JULY 10, 2025 3:34 PM


Dusk falls over downtown Hazard, Ky., on Thursday, April 28, 2022. RYAN C. HERMENS rhermens@herald-leader.com

Several Kentucky nonprofits joined calls to stop a Trump administration plan to slash funding to the Appalachian Regional Commission, a federal-state partnership that works to better the region’s socioeconomic standing.

In a budget proposal released in May, the White House called for a 93% reduction in the organization’s budget, from $200 million to $14 million.

The Appalachian Regional Commission, which covers all or parts of 13 Appalachian states, has been a conduit for hundreds of millions in aid to Eastern Kentucky since it was founded in 1965, when poverty rates exceeded 50% in some counties and much of the region lacked adequate water, highways and health care.

More than 80 elected officials and groups within the Appalachian Regional Commission’s territory signed onto a letter pleading with U.S. Congressional leaders to “adequately fund the Appalachian Regional Commission consistent with recent fiscal year funding levels.”

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