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Prioritizing Rural Hospitals Act
To prioritize health care facilities and mental or behavioral health facilities in the Community Facilities program for fiscal years 2026 through 2031, and allow loans and grants under the program to be used for medical supplies, increasing telehealth capabilities, supporting staffing needs, or renovating and remodeling closed facilities.
Summary
This bill gives priority to health care and mental health facilities in the Agriculture Department's Community Facilities loan and grant program for fiscal years 2026 through 2031. Eligible recipients may use the funds for medical supplies, expanding telehealth capabilities, supporting staffing needs (limited to 25 percent of funds), or renovating closed health care facilities. During this period, the Agriculture Secretary is prohibited from making other national reprioritizations within the Community Facilities program.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
2 cosponsors
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Lauren Underwood’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO $33,465
- NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY $26,150
- BLUE SHIELD OF CALIFORNIA $18,100
- CORNERSTONE GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS $16,800
- CLIFFORD LAW OFFICES $13,200
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Lauren Underwood → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Jul 2, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture. · house
- Jul 2, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 2, 2025
Ms. Underwood (for herself and Mr. Mann) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To prioritize health care facilities and mental or behavioral health facilities in the Community Facilities program for fiscal years 2026 through 2031, and allow loans and grants under the program to be used for medical supplies, increasing telehealth capabilities, supporting staffing needs, or renovating and remodeling closed facilities.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Prioritizing Rural Hospitals Act”.
SEC. 2. IMPROVING RURAL HEALTH CARE ACCESS.
(a) In General.—For fiscal years 2026 through 2031, in selecting recipients of direct loans or grants for the development of essential community facilities under section 306(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1926(a)), the Secretary of Agriculture shall give priority to entities eligible for the direct loans or grants to develop—
(1) health care facilities; or
(2) mental or behavioral health facilities, including certified community behavioral health clinics described in section 223 of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (42 U.S.C. 1396a note; Public Law 113-93).
(b) Use of Funds.—An eligible entity referred to in subsection (a) that receives a direct loan or grant pursuant to this section may use the direct loan or grant funds to—
(1) provide medical supplies;
(2) increase telehealth capabilities, including underlying health care information systems;
(3) support staffing needs, subject to the condition that the eligible entity shall not use more than 25 percent of the direct loan or grant funds for this purpose; or
(4) renovate or remodel closed health care facilities.
(c) Limitation on Other Reprioritizations.—For fiscal years 2026 through 2031, the Secretary of Agriculture shall not make any national reprioritizations within the Community Facilities direct loan and grant programs under section 608 of the Rural Development Act of 1972 (7 U.S.C. 2204b-2). <all>
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