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Streamlining Rural Broadband Act of 2025
To terminate the Community Connect Grant program of the Department of Agriculture, and for other purposes.
Summary
The bill terminates the Community Connect Grant program, which was established under the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to provide grants for rural broadband connectivity. The bill repeals the statutory authority for this grant program and removes references to it from other federal laws. Any unobligated balances remaining from the Community Connect Grant program on the date of enactment would be redirected to the ReConnect Program, a broadband loan and grant pilot program operated by the Department of Agriculture. The bill streamlines rural broadband funding by consolidating these programs into a single mechanism.
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)
- Sen. Ernst, Joni [R-IA] (R-IA)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Joni Ernst’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $57,653
- CAPITAL GROUP $40,000
- SOROBAN CAPITAL $13,200
- CAPITAL GROUP COMPANIES $7,500
- GOOGLE $6,800
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Joni Ernst → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Jul 31, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. · senate
- Jul 31, 2025 Introduced in Senate
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.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 31, 2025
Ms. Ernst introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
A BILL
To terminate the Community Connect Grant program of the Department of Agriculture, and for other purposes.
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 “Streamlining Rural Broadband Act of 2025”.
SEC. 2. REPEAL OF COMMUNITY CONNECT GRANT PROGRAM.
(a) In General.—Section 604 of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 950bb-3) is repealed.
(b) Conforming Amendments.—
(1) Office of internet connectivity and growth.—Section 903(g)(4)(B) of division FF of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (47 U.S.C. 1307(g)(4)(B)), is amended by striking “the Community Connect Grant Program established under section 604 of that Act (7 U.S.C. 950bb-3),”.
(2) Grants for broadband connectivity.—Section 905(d)(3)(D)(ii)(I) of division N of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (47 U.S.C. 1705(d)(3)(D)(ii)(I)), is amended—
(A) in item (aa), by striking “; and” and inserting “; or”;
(B) by striking item (bb); and
(C) by striking “including—” in the matter preceding item (aa) and all that follows through “any program” in item (aa) and inserting “including any program”.
SEC. 3. AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, there shall be available to the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out the broadband loan and grant pilot program known as the “ReConnect Program” authorized under section 779 of division A of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (Public Law 115-141; 132 Stat. 399), without further appropriation, the unobligated balances of amounts available on the date of enactment of this Act to carry out the Community Connect Grant program under section 604 of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 950bb-3) (as in effect on the day before the date of enactment of this Act). <all>
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