House Plans Procedural Vote on Broadband Amendments to FY24 USDA Funding Bill

The House was expected to vote Tuesday night on a rule for debate on the FY 2024 Agriculture Department appropriations measure (HR-4368), which would allow consideration of four broadband amendments. A proposal led by Reps. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, and Susan Davis, D-Calif., would revise the department’s ReConnect program rules to set minimum speed requirements at 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload in areas where at least 75% of households lack access to that level of service (see 2307240063). Reps. Marc Molinaro, R-N.Y., and Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-N.M., want to redirect $3 million from USDA’s Office of Chief Financial Officer to the Rural Utilities Service’s Distance Learning, Telemedicine and Broadband program. Two other amendments are largely symbolic. A proposal from Rep. Yadira Caraveo, D-Colo., would decrease and then immediately increase funding for USDA’s Distance Learning, Telemedicine and Broadband Program by $10 million to emphasize “the importance of increased opportunities for the expansion of telehealth services into rural communities.” Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, proposes decreasing and then increasing the Community Connect Grant Program’s funding by $30 million to call attention to the need for “broadband service in economically disadvantaged communities.”