Agency: Department of Agriculture – Rural Utilities Service
Description:
The ReConnect Program offers loans, grants, and loan-grant combinations to cover the costs of construction, improvement, or acquisition of facilities and equipment needed to provide broadband service capable of delivering at a minimum speeds of 100/20 Mbps and the acquisition of an existing system not currently providing sufficient access to broadband service (speeds of at least 25/3 Mbps), under certain circumstances and with restrictions.
10% of the funding for the ReConnect Program ($192.6 million) must be set aside for service areas where at least 90% of households are in a rural area without sufficient broadband access. The Secretary of Agriculture may allocate up to $50 million of ReConnect Program funds to projects in areas rural in character.
Up to 4% of funding may be used for administrative costs and up to 3% of the funding may be used for technical assistance to potential applicants. ReConnect projects that received IIJA funds have 5 years to completely build out the projects.
Bill Section:
Division J
New or Existing:
Existing
Potential Cost:
$1,926,000,000
Timeline:
Until expended.
Implementation Status/Rulemaking:
On August 4, 2022, USDA announced the availability of funds appropriated for ReConnect under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Applications were due November 2, 2022: Source
On December 26, 2023, USDA Office of Inspector General published a report on the IIJA ReConnect Program. More than $2.28 billion in program-level IIJA funds, including $1.71 billion in grants and $568 million in loans, were obligated in 2022 and 2023: Source
TCS Notes:
The IIJA defines eligible areas for ReConnect projects as rural areas where at least 50% of households lack sufficient broadband access (speeds of at least 25/3 Mbps). This definition of eligible areas is less restrictive than non-IIJA ReConnect Program requirements, which state that 90% of households served by projects must be without sufficient broadband access (determined by USDA annually, not to be lower than 10/1 Mbps).