Rural Electrification Administration

The Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was created during the Depression era to provide electricity to rural areas. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the REA through Executive Order 7037 on May 11, 1935. In 1939, the REA became part of the Department of Agriculture (USDA). Subsequently, the agency's role was expanded by Congress to include directing a rural telephone program in 1949 and the delivery of rural Internet-based broadband telecommunications programs in 2002. In 1994, the Department of Agriculture was restructured under the Federal Crop Insurance Reform and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act. This restructuring ended the REA but created the Rural Utility Service (RUS), which was charged with administering rural utility programs, rural housing programs, community facilities programs, rural water and waste disposal programs, and ...