PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Jul 27, 2000
Comprehensive Rural Telecommunications Act - Title I: Rural Telework - Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to direct the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Rural Utility Service, to establish a National Centers for Distance Working Program to provide grants to eligible organizations for the Federal share of establishing National Centers for Distance Working in rural areas.Directs a recipient Center to use grants for five-year projects to: (1) identify needed skills and provide training and employment-related services to persons in rural areas and Indian tribes to support the use of teleworking (the use of telecommunications to perform work functions over a distance) in technology fields; and (2) recruit employers and provide for high-speed employer-employee communications.Authorizes the Secretary to make limited grants for teleworking studies, including development of best practices for businesses that employ teleworkers.Authorizes appropriations.Title II: Rural Telecommunications Modernization - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish the rural telecommunications facilities investment tax credit.Title III: Rural Broadband Enhancement - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to direct the Federal Communications Commission to initiate a proceeding to provide Federal universal service support for the deployment of broadband telecommunications service (high speed voice, data, graphic, and video telecommunications) to eligible rural communities (communities not located in an area designated as a metropolitan area by the Office of Management and Budget).Amends the National Telecommunications and Information Administrative Organization Act to direct the Rural Utilities Service of the Department of Agriculture to make loans or other credit extensions to eligible telecommunications carrier providers, or to companies that accept the obligations of such carriers, to finance the deployment of broadband service to eligible rural communities.Authorizes appropriations for FY 2001 through 2005.
People & committees
Rep. Minge, David [D-MN-2] · D–MN
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection.
Referred to the Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities, Resource Conservation and Credit.
Executive Comment Requested from USDA.
Referred to the Committee on Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, and Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, and Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, and Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, and Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR E1388)
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Aug 20, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze H.R.5069 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine H.R.5069 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine H.R.5069 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine H.R.5069 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.