On December 27, 2020, President Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 to fund the Federal Government for the remainder of the current fiscal year. The legislation includes $180 million for ARC, an increase from the previous year’s appropriation and record funding for the agency’s non-highway work.

The legislation includes specific funding for ARC’s POWER Initiative to diversify the economy in the Region’s coal impacted communities,  infrastructure improvements in distressed counties in central Appalachia, broadband development in distressed counties in central, north-central and northern Appalachia,  economic development in northern Appalachia, and continued support for the automotive and aviation sector in southern and south-central Appalachia,  

The bill also includes $35 million for the Department of Labor’s Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities (WORC) Initiative to offer training and support activities to dislocated workers in both the Appalachian and Delta regions, $100 million dedicated to the Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS) through the Federal Highway Administration, and $3 million to ARC through the US Department of Agriculture’s Rural Business-Cooperative Service.