| Title XI: Crop Insurance | |||
Title VI: Rural Development
What it does: Authorizes USDA programs tailored toward fostering growth and services for residents of rural areas and includes the Rural Utilities Service, which oversees rural power and telecommunications programs. Other energy programs, including the Rural Energy for America Program, are in the energy title.
Other programs in this title authorize grant and loan programs for rural businesses, health care, and water and wastewater systems.
Most programs in the rural development title are funded through the annual appropriations process based on authorization levels set in the farm bill.
What’s in play: While the rural development title contains programs that deal with broadband programs, the USDA’s ReConnect program has not been one of them. It was first authorized as a pilot program in 2018 and has been funded through subsequent appropriations bills and the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law.
Some lawmakers are proposing reauthorizing ReConnect in the farm bill and merging it with the existing Rural Broadband Program. Among other things, the bipartisan Rural Internet Improvement Act would also limit funding to areas where at least 90% of households lack access to broadband service.
Notable marker bills:
H.R.3216 and S.130 — Rural Internet Improvement Act of 2023, a bipartisan proposal led by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Kat Cammack, R-Fla., to reauthorize the ReConnect program.
H.R.4227 and S. 1642 — Bills proposed by Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, and Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., establishing ReConnect Program under the Rural Electrification Act.
S.1079 — Assistance for Rural Water Systems Act, led by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., to provide low- and zero-interest loans, loan forgiveness and loan refinancing for rural water and wastewater systems.
H.R. 922 — Proposal by Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., intended to restrict RUS grants or loans that would overbuild or duplicate existing broadband networks.
H.R.3595 and S.1580 — Bipartisan proposal led by Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., to make it easier for rural communities in areas with significant amounts of public lands to compete for grants.
S.1867 and H.R.3922 — The bipartisan Expanding Childcare in Rural America Act, which would authorize USDA to carry out an initiative to develop, expand, and improve rural child care.
