I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 3119
To amend the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to establish the ReConnect
program under that Act, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL30, 2025
Mr. N
UNNof Iowa (for himself, Mr. VASQUEZ, Mr. SORENSEN, Mr. FINSTAD,
Ms. B
UDZINSKI, Mr. COSTA, Mr. MOOLENAAR, Mr. WITTMAN, Ms.
M
CDONALDRIVET, and Mr. STAUBER) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to
the Committees on Energy and Commerce, and Appropriations, for a pe-
riod to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for con-
sideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned
A BILL
To amend the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to establish
the ReConnect program under that Act, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘ReConnecting Rural 4
America Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. ACCESS TO BROADBAND TELECOMMUNICATIONS 1
SERVICES IN RURAL AREAS. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 601 of the Rural Elec-3
trification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 950bb) is amended— 4
(1) by striking subsections (a) through (f) and 5
inserting the following: 6
‘‘(a) P
URPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to 7
provide assistance in the form of grants, loans, and com-8
binations of grants and loans for the costs of the construc-9
tion, improvement, and acquisition of facilities and equip-10
ment for broadband service in rural areas. 11
‘‘(b) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 12
‘‘(1) B
ROADBAND SERVICE .—The term 13
‘broadband service’ means any technology identified 14
by the Secretary as having the capacity to transmit 15
data to enable a subscriber to the service to origi-16
nate and receive high-quality voice, data, graphics, 17
and video. 18
‘‘(2) R
URAL AREA.— 19
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘rural area’ 20
means any area other than— 21
‘‘(i) an area described in clause (i) or 22
(ii) of section 343(a)(13)(A) of the Con-23
solidated Farm and Rural Development 24
Act (7 U.S.C. 1991(a)(13)(A)); and 25
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‘‘(ii) a city, town, or incorporated area 1
that has a population of greater than 2
20,000 inhabitants. 3
‘‘(B) U
RBAN AREA GROWTH .—The Sec-4
retary may, by regulation only, consider an area 5
described in section 343(a)(13)(F)(i)(I) of that 6
Act to not be a rural area for purposes of this 7
section. 8
‘‘(C) E
XCLUSION OF CERTAIN POPU -9
LATIONS.—The term ‘rural area’ does not in-10
clude any population described in subparagraph 11
(H) or (I) of section 343(a)(13) of the Consoli-12
dated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 13
U.S.C. 1991(a)(13)). 14
‘‘(c) G
RANTS, LOANS, ANDCOMBINATIONS.— 15
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall make 16
grants, loans, and combinations of grants and loans 17
to eligible entities described in subsection (d) to pro-18
vide funds for the construction, improvement, or ac-19
quisition of facilities and equipment for the provision 20
of broadband service in rural areas. 21
‘‘(2) P
ROJECT ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible for 22
a grant, loan, or grant and loan combination under 23
paragraph (1), in addition to the requirements of 24
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subsection (d), the project that is the subject of the 1
grant, loan, or grant and loan combination shall— 2
‘‘(A) provide broadband service of at 3
least— 4
‘‘(i) a 100-Mbps downstream trans-5
mission capacity; and 6
‘‘(ii) a 100-Mbps upstream trans-7
mission capacity; and 8
‘‘(B) subject to paragraph (4), be carried 9
out in a proposed service territory in which at 10
least 75 percent of the households lack access 11
to broadband service of at least— 12
‘‘(i) a 100-Mbps downstream trans-13
mission capacity; and 14
‘‘(ii) a 20-Mbps upstream trans-15
mission capacity. 16
‘‘(3) P
RIORITY.—In making grants, loans, and 17
grant and loan combinations under paragraph (1), 18
the Secretary— 19
‘‘(A) shall give priority to applications for 20
projects to provide broadband service in a pro-21
posed service territory in which at least 90 per-22
cent of households lack access to broadband 23
service of at least— 24
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‘‘(i) a 100-Mbps downstream trans-1
mission capacity; and 2
‘‘(ii) a 20-Mbps upstream trans-3
mission capacity; and 4
‘‘(B) may give priority to applications for 5
projects to provide broadband service— 6
‘‘(i) in proposed service territories— 7
‘‘(I) with a population of less 8
than 10,000 permanent residents; 9
‘‘(II) that are experiencing out-10
migration and have adopted a stra-11
tegic community investment plan 12
under section 379H(d) of the Consoli-13
dated Farm and Rural Development 14
Act (7 U.S.C. 2008v(d)) that includes 15
considerations for improving and ex-16
panding broadband service; 17
‘‘(III) with a high percentage of 18
low income families or persons (as de-19
fined in section 501(b) of the Housing 20
Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1471(b))); or 21
‘‘(IV) that are isolated from 22
other significant population centers; 23
‘‘(ii) that would ensure that all labor-24
ers and mechanics employed by contractors 25
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or subcontractors on the construction work 1
performed on projects financed, in whole or 2
in part, with the grant, loan, or grant and 3
loan combination shall be paid wages at 4
rates not less than those prevailing on 5
similar construction in the immediate local-6
ity as determined by the Secretary of 7
Labor in accordance with sections 3141 8
through 3144, 3146, and 3147 of title 40, 9
United States Code; 10
‘‘(iii) that would provide rapid and ex-11
panded deployment of fixed and mobile 12
broadband service on cropland and ranch-13
land within the service territory for use in 14
various applications of precision agri-15
culture; or 16
‘‘(iv) submitted by an eligible entity 17
that has provided broadband service or 18
other utility service for not less than 5 19
years in rural areas in the State in which 20
the project would be carried out. 21
‘‘(4) A
DDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR GRANT - 22
ONLY AWARDS.—To be eligible for assistance under 23
paragraph (1) in the form of a grant only, in addi-24
tion to the requirements of subsection (d)— 25
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‘‘(A) an entity shall be— 1
‘‘(i) a Tribal organization (as defined 2
in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determina-3
tion and Education Assistance Act (25 4
U.S.C. 5304)); 5
‘‘(ii) a colonia; 6
‘‘(iii) a persistent poverty county, as 7
determined by the Secretary; or 8
‘‘(iv) a socially vulnerable community, 9
as determined by the Secretary; or 10
‘‘(B) the project that is the subject of the 11
grant shall be carried out in a proposed service 12
territory in which at least 90 percent of house-13
holds lack access to broadband service of at 14
least— 15
‘‘(i) a 100-Mbps downstream trans-16
mission capacity; and 17
‘‘(ii) a 20-Mbps upstream trans-18
mission capacity. 19
‘‘(d) E
LIGIBILITY.— 20
‘‘(1) E
LIGIBLE ENTITIES.— 21
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—To be eligible to ob-22
tain a grant, loan, or grant and loan combina-23
tion under subsection (c), an entity shall— 24
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‘‘(i) submit to the Secretary an appli-1
cation at such time, in such manner, and 2
containing such information as the Sec-3
retary may require; 4
‘‘(ii) agree to complete buildout of the 5
broadband infrastructure described in the 6
application by not later than 5 years after 7
the initial date on which assistance under 8
subsection (c) is made available; and 9
‘‘(iii) participate or agree to partici-10
pate in— 11
‘‘(I) the Affordable Connectivity 12
Program established under section 13
904(b) of division N of the Consoli-14
dated Appropriations Act, 2021 (47 15
U.S.C. 1752(b)); 16
‘‘(II) the Lifeline program under 17
subpart E of part 54 of title 47, Code 18
of Federal Regulations (or any suc-19
cessor regulation); or 20
‘‘(III) any successor Federal 21
internet affordability assistance pro-22
gram. 23
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‘‘(B) INCLUSIONS.—An entity eligible to 1
obtain a grant, loan, or grant and loan com-2
bination under subsection (c) may include— 3
‘‘(i) a State or local government, in-4
cluding any agency, subdivision, instru-5
mentality, or political subdivision of a 6
State or local government; 7
‘‘(ii) a territory or possession of the 8
United States; 9
‘‘(iii) an Indian Tribe (as defined in 10
section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination 11
and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 12
5304)); 13
‘‘(iv) a cooperative or mutual organi-14
zation; 15
‘‘(v) an organization of 2 or more in-16
corporated areas that have established an 17
intermunicipal legal agreement for the pur-18
pose of delivering communication services 19
to residents; 20
‘‘(vi) a corporation; and 21
‘‘(vii) a limited liability company or 22
limited liability partnership. 23
‘‘(C) I
NELIGIBLE ENTITIES .—An indi-24
vidual or legal general partnership that is 25
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formed with individuals shall not be eligible to 1
obtain a grant, loan, or grant and loan com-2
bination under subsection (c). 3
‘‘(D) L
IMITATION.— 4
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—An eligible entity 5
described in this paragraph that provides 6
telecommunications or broadband service 7
to at least 20 percent of the households in 8
the United States may not receive an 9
amount of funds under this section for a 10
fiscal year in excess of 15 percent of the 11
funds authorized and appropriated under 12
subsection (i) for the fiscal year. 13
‘‘(ii) S
TATES AND STATE AGENCIES 14
AND INSTRUMENTALITIES .—A State or an 15
agency or instrumentality of a State may 16
not, in total, receive an amount of funds 17
under this section for a fiscal year in ex-18
cess of 15 percent of the funds authorized 19
and appropriated under subsection (i) for 20
the fiscal year. 21
‘‘(E) P
REVIOUS AWARDS .—An entity to 22
which a grant, loan, or grant and loan combina-23
tion is made under subsection (c) shall not use 24
the grant, loan, or grant and loan combination 25
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to deploy broadband service in a service area in 1
which broadband service is deployed by any 2
other entity that has received a broadband 3
grant or loan from the Rural Utilities Service, 4
the National Telecommunications and Informa-5
tion Administration, the Department of the 6
Treasury, the Federal Communications Com-7
mission, or a State broadband grant program, 8
unless the service provided by the other entity 9
does not provide to at least 75 percent of the 10
households in the service area access to 11
broadband service of at least— 12
‘‘(i) a 100-Mbps downstream trans-13
mission capacity; and 14
‘‘(ii) a 20-Mbps upstream trans-15
mission capacity. 16
‘‘(2) E
QUITY REQUIREMENTS .— 17
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary may re-18
quire an entity to provide a cost share in an 19
amount not to exceed 25 percent of the amount 20
of the grant (including the grant in a grant and 21
loan combination) under subsection (c) re-22
quested in the application of the entity. 23
‘‘(B) W
AIVER.—The Secretary may waive 24
the cost share requirement under subparagraph 25
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(A) for entities or projects described in sub-1
section (c)(4). 2
‘‘(3) T
ECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING .— 3
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary may 4
provide to eligible entities described in para-5
graph (1) that are applying for assistance 6
under this section for a project described in 7
subsection (c)(3)(A) technical assistance and 8
training— 9
‘‘(i) to prepare reports and surveys 10
necessary to request grants, loans, and 11
grant and loan combinations under this 12
section for broadband deployment; 13
‘‘(ii) to improve management, includ-14
ing financial management, relating to the 15
proposed broadband deployment; 16
‘‘(iii) to prepare applications for 17
grants, loans, and grant and loan combina-18
tions under this section; or 19
‘‘(iv) to assist with other areas of 20
need identified by the Secretary. 21
‘‘(B) F
UNDING.—Not less than 3 percent 22
and not more than 5 percent of amounts appro-23
priated under subsection (i) to carry out this 24
section for a fiscal year shall be used for tech-25
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nical assistance and training under this para-1
graph. 2
‘‘(e) B
ROADBANDSERVICE.— 3
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 4
for purposes of this section, the minimum acceptable 5
level of broadband service for a rural area shall be 6
at least— 7
‘‘(A) a 100-Mbps downstream transmission 8
capacity; and 9
‘‘(B) a 100-Mbps upstream transmission 10
capacity. 11
‘‘(2) A
DJUSTMENTS.—At least once every 2 12
years, the Secretary shall review, and may adjust 13
through notice published in the Federal Register, 14
the minimum acceptable level of broadband service 15
established under paragraph (1) and broadband 16
buildout requirements under paragraph (3) to en-17
sure that high quality, cost-effective broadband serv-18
ice is provided to rural areas over time. 19
‘‘(3) B
ROADBAND BUILDOUT REQUIREMENTS .— 20
‘‘(A) D
EFINITION OF BROADBAND BUILD -21
OUT REQUIREMENT .—In this paragraph, the 22
term ‘broadband buildout requirement’ means 23
the level of internet service an applicant receiv-24
ing assistance under this section must agree, at 25
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the time the application is finalized, to provide 1
for the duration of any project-related agree-2
ment between the applicant and the Depart-3
ment. 4
‘‘(B) E
STABLISHMENT OF BROADBAND 5
BUILDOUT REQUIREMENTS .—The Secretary 6
shall establish broadband buildout requirements 7
that— 8
‘‘(i) utilize the same metrics used to 9
define the minimum acceptable level of 10
broadband service under paragraph (1); 11
and 12
‘‘(ii) reasonably ensure— 13
‘‘(I) the repayment of all loans; 14
and 15
‘‘(II) the financed network is 16
technically capable of providing 17
broadband service for the lifetime of 18
any project-related agreement. 19
‘‘(C) S
UBSTITUTE SERVICE STANDARDS 20
FOR UNIQUE SERVICE TERRITORIES .— 21
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—If an applicant 22
shows that it would be cost prohibitive to 23
meet the broadband buildout requirements 24
established under this paragraph for the 25
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entirety of a proposed service territory due 1
to the unique characteristics of the pro-2
posed service territory, the Secretary and 3
the applicant may agree to utilize sub-4
stitute standards for any unserved portion 5
of the project. 6
‘‘(ii) R
EQUIREMENT.—Any substitute 7
service standards described in clause (i) 8
should continue to consider the best tech-9
nology available to meet the needs of the 10
residents in the unserved area.’’; 11
(2) by redesignating subsections (g), (h), and 12
(i) as subsections (f), (g), and (h), respectively; 13
(3) in subsection (f) (as so redesignated)— 14
(A) in the subsection heading, by striking 15
‘‘L
OANS ANDLOANGUARANTEES.—’’ and in-16
serting ‘‘L
OANS.—’’; and 17
(B) in paragraph (1)— 18
(i) in the matter preceding subpara-19
graph (A), by striking ‘‘or loan guar-20
antee’’; and 21
(ii) in subparagraph (A)— 22
(I) by striking clause (ii); 23
(II) by striking ‘‘Secretary—’’ in 24
the matter preceding clause (i) and all 25
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that follows through ‘‘in the case’’ in 1
the matter preceding subclause (I) of 2
clause (i) and inserting ‘‘Secretary in 3
the case’’; and 4
(III) by redesignating subclauses 5
(I) and (II) as clauses (i) and (ii), re-6
spectively, and indenting appro-7
priately; 8
(4) in subsection (g) (as so redesignated), by 9
striking ‘‘or loan guarantee’’ each place it appears; 10
(5) in subsection (h) (as so redesignated), in 11
paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘1974)’’ and inserting 12
‘‘1974 (2 U.S.C. 661a))’’; and 13
(6) by striking subsections (j) and (k) and in-14
serting the following: 15
‘‘(i) F
UNDING.— 16
‘‘(1) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS .— 17
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec-18
retary to carry out subsections (a) through (h) 19
$650,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 20
2030, to remain available until expended. 21
‘‘(2) A
DMINISTRATION.—Not more than 5 per-22
cent of the amounts made available under para-23
graphs (1) and (3) shall be available to the Sec-24
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retary for the administration of subsections (a) 1
through (h). 2
‘‘(3) D
IRECT FUNDING.— 3
‘‘(A) R
ESCISSION.—There is rescinded the 4
unobligated balance of amounts made available 5
to carry out section 779 of division A of the 6
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (Public 7
Law 115–141; 132 Stat. 399). 8
‘‘(B) D
IRECT FUNDING.—On the day after 9
the execution of the rescission in subparagraph 10
(A), there is appropriated to the Secretary, out 11
of amounts in the Treasury not otherwise ap-12
propriated, an amount equal to the amount re-13
scinded in subparagraph (A), to carry out sub-14
sections (a) through (h), to remain available 15
until expended. 16
‘‘(j) A
DDITIONALRURALBROADBAND PROGRAM 17
L
OANS.— 18
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary may provide 19
direct loans in accordance with the requirements 20
under this section, as in effect on the day before the 21
date of enactment of the ReConnecting Rural Amer-22
ica Act of 2025. 23
‘‘(2) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS .— 24
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec-25
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retary to carry out this subsection $350,000,000 for 1
each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030, to remain 2
available until expended. 3
‘‘(k) T
ERMINATION OFAUTHORITY.—No grant, loan, 4
or grant and loan combination may be made under this 5
section after September 30, 2030.’’. 6
(b) S
UNSET.—Beginning on the date that is 120 days 7
after the date of enactment of this Act, section 779 of 8
division A of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 9
(Public Law 115–141; 132 Stat. 399), shall have no force 10
or effect. 11
Æ
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