Sponsors (7)
The bill secures a recurring 10% program carve-out to improve farm-to-market roads and supply-chain reliability for farmers and rural counties, at the trade-off of reducing flexible funds for other rural needs, risking exclusion of near-threshold counties, and adding administrative work for agencies.
Farmers and rural counties will receive a dedicated annual 10% reserve of program funds for farm-to-market road projects, prioritizing roads that move crops and livestock and likely reducing transport delays and costs.
Local and state governments get a predictable, annually updated list of eligible counties developed in consultation with USDA, improving planning, grant application certainty, and transparency.
Taxpayers and other rural projects face reduced available funding because 10% of the program is carved out for farm-to-market roads, lowering flexibility for other eligible rural investments.
Rural counties that narrowly miss the high-production thresholds receive no benefit, which could exacerbate regional disparities and leave some needy communities without support.
DOT, USDA, and state agencies face added administrative burden to compute, consult on, and annually update the covered-county lists, which could increase costs or slow grant processing.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Reserves 10% of rural surface transportation grant funds for projects on roads in counties with very high agricultural production and requires an annual list of qualifying counties.
Introduced May 21, 2025 by David G. Valadao · Last progress May 21, 2025
Creates a new “farm-to-market road” category within the rural surface transportation grant program and requires the Secretary of Transportation to reserve 10% of that program’s annual funds for projects on those roads. It defines which counties qualify (high agricultural production per year and per square mile), adjusts the dollar thresholds for inflation each year, and directs the Secretary (in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture) to publish and update a list of qualified counties annually.