ARLINGTON, Virginia, Oct. 26 -- The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association issued the following news release on Oct. 25, 2024: National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Jim Matheson today welcomed the U.S. Department of Agriculture's second round of awards for electric cooperatives under its Empowering Rural America (New ERA) Program. The roughly $1 billion in new funding was announced by Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Xochitl Torres Small today in Colorado, along with $2.5 more PR