The Farm Bill Fight That Will Shape Rural Broadband

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman's Farm Bill markup failed on a 10-11 vote Thursday after Republicans Tommy Tuberville and Mitch McConnell were absent and Democrats held together. Buried in the rural development title is the fate of USDA's ReConnect broadband program, which has issued more than $4.4 billion in loans and grants since 2018.

The House version, passed in April, would make ReConnect permanent but set minimum speeds of just 50/25 Mbps, with critics warning it echoes older, now-inadequate federal standards. The Senate version pushes higher speeds and broader eligibility instead.

Meanwhile USDA's own fiscal year 2027 budget request proposed canceling $40 million in unused ReConnect funds, only for House appropriators to restore it in June. Separately, BEAD's $42.5 billion rollout is hitting friction over pole-attachment costs, with at least two electric co-ops turning down awards entirely, even as NTIA insists the rules are necessary.

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