Rural Broadband Bill Eliminates Community Connect Program, Immediately Transfers Funds to ReConnect

The Streamlining Rural Broadband Act of 2025 is short, but it packs a punch for federal infrastructure funding. Its main move is simple: it completely wipes out the existing Community Connect Grant Program and immediately transfers all its unspent cash into the USDA’s ReConnect Program. Think of it as closing one bank account and moving the balance straight into another, all in the name of efficiency.

Closing the Community Connect Account

Section 2 of the bill is the demolition crew. It repeals Section 604 of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936, which is the legal backbone of the Community Connect Grant Program. This program is now officially history. For regular people, this means one specific flavor of federal broadband funding is gone. Community Connect was designed to fund projects that provided broadband in areas where it was least likely to be deployed commercially—often focusing on community centers, schools, and libraries as anchor institutions. The bill also cleans up the legislative books, striking out every mention of the defunct program from other federal laws so there’s no confusion down the road about where the money is supposed to go.

The Fast Track for Funding

The real action, and the reason this bill is called “Streamlining,” is found in Section 3. This section mandates that any money currently sitting unspent in the Community Connect Grant Program budget is automatically transferred to the ReConnect Program. This is a big deal because it means the Secretary of Agriculture can use those dollars right away to fund new ReConnect projects without having to go back to Congress for a new appropriation. For rural communities waiting on better internet, this could mean getting fiber laid months or even years faster, since the money is already authorized and ready to go.

What This Means for Your Internet Access

On the surface, this looks like a win for speed and efficiency. The federal government is consolidating two pots of money into one, which should cut down on administrative hassle and paperwork for internet providers applying for grants. If you live in a rural area, the consolidation means a larger, more robust ReConnect program, which is specifically designed to bring high-speed internet to underserved areas. For a small business owner in a remote town, this could translate into faster deployment of the infrastructure needed to run modern cloud-based software or handle large data transfers.

However, there’s a catch for some communities. The Community Connect program had unique eligibility criteria, often favoring smaller, more specific local projects linked to community institutions. By eliminating it and folding the funds into ReConnect, the specific focus and requirements of the old program are lost. If your local library or community health center was eyeing a grant tailored to the Community Connect criteria, that specific funding avenue is now closed. While the money is still going toward rural broadband, it will now be governed by the rules and priorities of the ReConnect program, which might have different geographic or population density requirements. It’s a trade-off: faster deployment through consolidation, but less variety in the types of projects being funded.