Sponsored By: Representative Feenstra
Introduced
A federal rural broadband program to fund buildout and upgrades. This bill would create a grant, loan, and loan‑guarantee program under the Rural Electrification Act to bring at least 100/20 Mbps service to rural households, with a five‑year buildout goal and technology‑neutral award rules.
*Would authorize up to $500 million per year for fiscal years 2026–2030 to fund grants, loans, and loan guarantees for rural broadband.*
Personalized for You
Sign up for a PRIA Policy Scan to see your personalized alignment score for this bill and every other piece of legislation we track. We analyze your financial profile against policy provisions to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.
7 provisions identified: 4 benefits, 0 costs, 3 mixed.
The bill would authorize up to $500 million each year for FY2026 through FY2030 for this program. Money would stay available until spent. Each year, 3% to 5% would fund technical help and training for priority applicants.
The bill would create a rural broadband program starting October 1, 2025. Projects would need to deliver at least 100 Mbps download and 100 Mbps upload to each rural home, unless the Secretary sets a higher target. Awardees would have 5 years to finish, and the Secretary could allow substitute standards where costs are too high. The program would be technology neutral and reviewed at least every 2 years. Top priority would go to places with no 25/3 service, then to projects that reach the most homes, and to experienced rural providers.
Loans or guarantees would be limited to projects where at least 50% of locations are unserved or below the minimum speed. The Secretary could require matching funds up to 10% of the request. If you expect more than 20% of the local market, you could be asked for a market survey. Loan funds would be reserved by State based on the number of very small communities (2,500 people or fewer), and unused State shares after April 1 would be available nationwide. The Secretary would consider recurring revenues and could reduce collateral needs in areas with no broadband.
Grants would go only to areas where at least 90% of households lack 100/20 Mbps service. Grants would usually cover no more than 75% of a project’s total cost. In very sparse areas (under 7 households per square mile), the Secretary could cover 100% of development costs. Projects could not receive these grants at the same time as other federal or State broadband grants.
Direct loans could carry either the Treasury borrowing rate for a similar term or 4%, as set by the Secretary. Guaranteed loans would use the market rate, and terms could be up to 35 years if the loan is secure. The Secretary could also offer loans that pause principal and interest while you meet agreed milestones, with small payments if required. You could not get that payment‑assistance loan if you also take a linked Title I or II loan tied to the same grant.
You could file one application that covers a grant and any linked loan. The Secretary would issue one decision. Applications would be approved or denied within 30 days after you submit them.
The Secretary would charge lender fees on guaranteed loans to reduce taxpayer subsidy costs. Fees would have to match market practice and not block participation, but lenders could pass some costs on to borrowers.
Free Policy Watch
Pick a topic. PRIA runs your household against live legislation and sends you a free personalized readout.
Pick a topic to get started
Feenstra
IA • R
Miller-Meeks
IA • R
Sponsored 5/8/2025
Bost
IL • R
Sponsored 5/8/2025
Rep. Stansbury, Melanie Ann [D-NM-1]
NM • D
Sponsored 5/8/2025
Rep. Case, Ed [D-HI-1]
HI • D
Sponsored 3/25/2026
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.govSurfaced from PRIA's policy knowledge graph — ranked by signal strength, connected by evidence.
Appropriations package that would fund Treasury and IRS while imposing rulemaking limits and detailed DC policy constraints, affecting taxpayers, community lenders, and DC residents.
The federal government runs two closely related conservation-workforce pipelines on public lands: the Youth Conservation Corps YCC and the Public Lands Corps PLC. YCC is a summer employment program fo
The Uruguay Round Agreements Act URAA of 1994 19 U.S.C. §§ 3501–3624 implemented U.S. membership in the World Trade Organization WTO and incorporated the Uruguay Round trade agreements — the broadest
The World Trade Center Health Program is a federally funded health benefits program that provides free medical monitoring and treatment to those who were exposed to the toxic dust, debris, and fumes f
Workers' compensation is the United States' primary workplace injury system — a no-fault insurance program where employees who are injured on the job receive medical coverage and partial wage replacem
Take It Personal
Take the PRIA Score to see how policy affects your household, then upgrade to PRIA Full Coverage for year-round monitoring.
Already have an account? Sign in
HR1262 — Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act
Speeds and strengthens pediatric cancer drug development. It expands which cancer products companies must study in children, reshapes organ transplant network governance and fees, and adds new FDA international and transparency steps. - Children with cancer and researchers: Requires pediatric studies that produce clinically meaningful data on dosing, safety, and early effectiveness and widens the kinds of drug combinations studied. It also sets aside $25 million for pediatric drug studies in each of fiscal years 2026, 2027, and 2028. - Transplant patients and transplant network members: Changes Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network governance and financing by allowing quarterly registration fees, requiring those fees fund OPTN operations, improving electronic health record integration, and calling for a GAO review within two years. - FDA partners and drug makers: Creates an Abraham Accords Office to boost regulatory coordination and technical assistance abroad, and forces more transparency during generic (ANDA) reviews about whether generics are qualitatively and quantitatively the same as listed drugs. It also raises the Medicare Improvement Fund amount from $1.4 billion to $2.6 billion. Increases federal outlays by roughly $1.3 billion, driven by a $1.2 billion boost to the Medicare Improvement Fund and $75 million for pediatric studies, adding to federal spending.
HR842 — Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act
Would expand Medicare to cover multi-cancer early detection screening tests. It defines eligible tests as certain FDA-cleared or approved genomic blood tests or comparable biological-sample tests and directs the Secretary to use the national coverage determinations process to decide when they are covered.
HR3514 — Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act of 2025
Standardize prior authorization in Medicare Advantage plans to make approvals faster and more transparent for beneficiaries and providers. The bill would require plans that use prior authorization to adopt a secure electronic PA program, publish plan-level PA data, and follow federal timeframes and enrollee protections.
HR979 — AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act of 2025
This bill would require AM broadcast capability to be installed as standard equipment in passenger motor vehicles. It focuses on driver-accessible AM reception, allows digital AM audio to count for compliance, and links vehicle AM capability to emergency alerting through IPAWS. - Drivers and households: Built-in, driver-accessible AM reception would make it easier for people to get local AM stations and emergency alerts from their vehicles. The bill allows devices that receive digital AM to meet the requirement. - Vehicle manufacturers: The Department of Transportation would need to issue a rule within 1 year, with a general compliance deadline no later than 2 years after the rule is issued. Small manufacturers that produced no more than 40,000 passenger vehicles in 2022 would get at least 4 years to comply. - Oversight and emergency systems: States would be barred from imposing their own AM-access rules. The bill mandates interim labels and pricing protections for cars without AM, authorizes civil penalties and DOJ injunctions for violations, requires a GAO study and a congressional briefing within 1 year, and includes an 8-year sunset for the authority.
HR879 — Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act of 2025
Temporarily boosts Medicare payments to physicians and other practitioners by 6.62% for services furnished on or after April 1, 2025 and before January 1, 2026. It also updates statute language so 2025 is included in the program’s payment‑update rules. - Physicians and other practitioners: Receives a temporary 6.62% increase to Medicare payments for covered services during the specified period. - Statutory alignment: Replaces listed years with the range "2021 through 2025" so the 2025 period is applied consistently in the law.
HR3816 — Weather Act Reauthorization Act of 2025
This bill would modernize NOAA by prioritizing and funding improvements to forecasting, observations, and warnings to better protect lives, property, and the economy. It would set program directions and multi‑year funding for weather research, tsunami/hurricane/tornado programs, data sharing, and new commercial data purchases. - Families and coastal communities: stronger tsunami, hurricane, and coastal‑flooding forecasting and updated inundation maps aim to give earlier, clearer warnings and decision support for evacuation and recovery. The tsunami title includes $30.0 million per year for 2026–2030. - Emergency managers and forecasters: directs cloud migration of AWIPS, upgrades to NOAA Weather Radio and alert tools, expanded forecaster training, and a VORTEX‑USA tornado program with at least $11.0 million per year for 2026–2030 to improve tornado lead times. - Researchers, the private sector, and local networks: creates a $100.0 million per year Commercial Data Program (FY2026–2030), a National Mesonet Program with rising annual authorizations, data standards, and requirements to make operational AI weather models and datasets accessible for testing. Authorizes multi‑year appropriations across NOAA programs, including explicit annual amounts for research, commercial data purchases, mesonet support, and tsunami activities for FY2026–2030.
