PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Jul 31, 2017
Broadband Connections for Rural Opportunities Program Act or the B-CROP Act
This bill amends the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to include grants in the Department of Agriculture (USDA) program that provides loans and loan guarantees for broadband telecommunications services in rural areas.
In making grants, loans, or loan guarantees under the program, USDA must give the highest priority to applicants that offer to provide broadband service to the greatest proportion of unserved rural households or rural households that do not have the minimum acceptable level of residential broadband service.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
USDA must then give priority to projects to serve rural communities that:
have fewer than 10,000 permanent residents,
are experiencing out-migration,
have a high percentage of low-income residents, and
are isolated from other significant population centers.
A grant may not exceed 50% of the development cost of the project. USDA may increase the limit to 75% for projects that serve a remote or low-income area that does not have access to broadband service from any provider.
USDA must: (1) provide technical assistance and training to entities that are eligible for the loans, loan guarantees, or grants; and (2) use a specified portion of the appropriations provided for the program for this purpose.
The bill sets forth reporting requirements for recipients of the grants, loans, or loan guarantees.
People & committees
Sen. Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [D-NY] · D–NY
Legislative record
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Jan 10, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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