Lincoln Introduces Bill to Provide Arkansans Greater Access to Rural Development Funding

Press Release

U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., Chairman of the U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, recently introduced legislation that would provide rural communities throughout Arkansas expanded access funds from the US Department of Agriculture. Current regulations have created barriers for many rural communities in need. The result has been a lack of critical funding for rural water and community infrastructure projects in many Arkansas communities. Chairman Lincoln's legislation would help low-income states like Arkansas to compete for these funds.

"The current bureaucratic regulations for several USDA Rural Development programs have disadvantaged many low-income states like Arkansas," Lincoln said. "My legislation will allow small towns such as Harrison, Lonoke, Batesville and a number of rural communities across Arkansas to compete for these funds on a level playing field. With greater access to these funds, Arkansas's rural communities will be able to make the key infrastructure improvements that are essential to retaining and creating new jobs."

The Rural Infrastructure Improvement Act (S. 3745) will readjust the median income requirements to help level the playing field for communities that presently do not meet eligibility requirements for Rural Development funding programs. Some rural communities have median household incomes well below the national average, yet they are ineligible for any grant funding because USDA applies the state's non-metropolitan median household income to funding formulas instead of the national median household income.

"Eight communities in the Lonoke-White region would benefit greatly from this legislation," said Woody Bryant of the Lonoke White Public Water Authority. "These communities currently do not qualify for grant funding, so the impact of this legislation would be significant to their efforts to address local water needs."

"When we began trying to work with USDA Rural Development to secure federal funds for our project, we were disappointed to learn that we were ineligible for grant funding through the Rural Water programs," said John Richardson of the Southside Public Water and Wastewater Authority. "We appreciate Senator Lincoln's interest in our project, and as Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, she is well-positioned to help us and other Arkansas communities have the same access to grant funding that other states have."

"The legislation introduced by Senator Lincoln will help rural communities in Arkansas, like Harrison, to compete with other communities across the country for federal funding," said Judith Stroope, chairman of the Boone County Library Board. "Senator Lincoln visited with us earlier this year and understands the need we have to make renovations and energy upgrades to the Boone County Library. We appreciate Senator Lincoln's responsiveness to our needs."

Specifically, the legislation will require that eligibility requirements for States where the nonmetropolitan median income is equal to or lesser than 90 percent of the national average's shall be adjusted to use an amount equal to 95 percent of the national average nonmetropolitan median income.

The full text of the legislation can be accessed from the Library of Congress's website at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:S.3745:

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