[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6661 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 6661

To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to reauthorize 
                 rural cooperative development grants.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 7, 2023

  Ms. Caraveo (for herself and Mr. Valadao) introduced the following 
        bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to reauthorize 
                 rural cooperative development grants.

    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 ``Strengthening Rural Cooperatives and 
Communities Act''.

SEC. 2. REAUTHORIZATION OF RURAL COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT GRANTS.

    Section 310B(e) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act 
(7 U.S.C. 1932(e)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C) Cooperative development.--The term 
                `cooperative development' means activities including 
                outreach, education, training, and technical 
                assistance, to support the startup, expansion, or 
                ongoing sustainability of new and existing 
                cooperatives.'';
            (2) in paragraph (4), by inserting ``, and award maximum 
        points in scoring criteria to applicants that satisfy the 
        requirements of paragraph (5)(F),'' before ``if the plan'';
            (3) in paragraph (5), by striking subparagraph (D) and 
        inserting the following:
                    ``(D) commit to providing technical assistance and 
                other services to socially vulnerable, underserved, or 
                distressed communities;'';
            (4) in paragraph (6)(B), by striking ``If the Secretary 
        determines it to be in the best interest of the program, the'' 
        and inserting ``The'';
            (5) in paragraph (10), by adding at the end the following: 
        ``The Secretary shall analyze the data resulting from the 
        research, and include the data and the analysis in the annual 
        report submitted by the interagency working group under 
        paragraph (12).'';
            (6) in paragraph (12), by adding at the end the following: 
        ``Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of 
        this sentence and annually thereafter, the interagency working 
        group shall submit to the Congress a report describing the 
        activities carried out by the working group.''; and
            (7) in paragraph (13), by striking ``2014 through 2023'' 
        and inserting ``2024 through 2028''.
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