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Community Connect Grant Program Act of 2026
To amend the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to reauthorize the Community Connect Grant Program, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill reauthorizes the Community Connect Grant Program under the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 through 2031. It updates the minimum broadband speed requirements for eligible service areas to 100 megabits per second downstream and 20 megabits per second upstream. The bill also increases broadband speed standards for rural areas, requiring 25 megabits per second downstream and 3 megabits per second upstream, up from previous standards of 10 and 1 megabits per second respectively. Additionally, the bill allows eligible broadband services to include future service commitments made under other federal broadband funding programs.
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. Smith, Tina [D-MN] (D-MN)
Actions (2)
- Apr 27, 2026 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. · senate
- Apr 27, 2026 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
April 27, 2026
Ms. Smith introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
A BILL
To amend the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to reauthorize the Community Connect Grant Program, 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 “Community Connect Grant Program Act of 2026”.
SEC. 2. COMMUNITY CONNECT GRANT PROGRAM.
Section 604 of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 950bb-3) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a)—
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking “less than the” and all that follows through the period at the end and inserting the following: “less than—
“(A) a 100-Mbps downstream transmission capacity; and
“(B) a 20-Mbps upstream transmission capacity.”; and
(B) in paragraph (2)—
(i) in the matter preceding subparagraph
(A), by striking “an area” and inserting “a rural area”;
(ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking “10- Mbps” and inserting “25-Mbps”; and
(iii) in subparagraph (B), by striking “1- Mbps” and inserting “3-Mbps”;
(2) in subsection (d)(2)(A), by striking “area; or” and inserting “area (including any eligible broadband service that will be provided in the future in the eligible service area pursuant to enforceable commitments for network deployment applicable under another broadband funding program); or”; and
(3) in subsection (g), by striking “2023” and inserting “2031”. <all>
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