WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Rep. John Faso testified last week before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and related agencies in support of the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Circuit Rider program, which works through various state rural water associations to provide technical help to local utilities and their customers:

“The Circuit Rider program is critically important to support rural infrastructure because of the on-site services and expertise it offers to small local water utilities. Circuit Rider technicians are the first people on the scene to flush water systems in emergency situations. In 2015, circuit riders acted when Hoosick Falls community members raised concerns that their public water was contaminated. To support clean drinking water and more, I encouraged the Subcommittee to increase the Circuit Rider program’s budget to meet contractual obligations. If we lose this program, we lose the ability to safeguard the quality of our water. We cannot let that happen.”