Empowering Rural Communities Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.R. 7579 Introduced in House (IH)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 7579 To improve access to Department of Agriculture Rural Development discretionary grant programs by establishing a technical assistance set-aside to support low-capacity rural communities, and for other purposes. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES February 13, 2026 Ms. Letlow introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To improve access to Department of Agriculture Rural Development discretionary grant programs by establishing a technical assistance set-aside to support low-capacity rural communities, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Empowering Rural Communities Act''. SEC. 2. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE SET-ASIDE FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT DISCRETIONARY GRANT PROGRAMS. (a) Set-Aside Established.--The Secretary shall reserve not less than 2.5 percent of the total amount made available in appropriations Acts for each Rural Development discretionary grant program, to support technical assistance activities under this Act. (b) Use of Funds.--The Secretary shall use funds reserved under subsection (a) for-- (1) technical assistance, including training, project scoping, application development support, pre-award planning, post-award compliance assistance, and long-term administrative capacity-building; (2) pre-development support, including engineering, environmental review preparation, and financial feasibility analysis necessary to prepare complete applications; (3) outreach activities, including workshops, webinars, and direct community engagement; or (4) the development of project-read