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H.R. 1838 119th Congress House

Broadband Internet for Small Ports Act

Official title: To amend the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to improve access to broadband telecommunications services in rural areas, including by encouraging the provisio… Show full official titleShow less

Official title: To amend the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to improve access to broadband telecommunications services in rural areas, including by encouraging the provision of broadband loans and grants to increase broadband service in rural ports, and for other purposes.

Introduced: March 4, 2025 Introduced by: Stacey E. Plaskett Democratic · Virgin Islands See on congress.gov
Science, Technology, Communications
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 Everywhere this bill has been 3 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Mar 28, 2025
Referred to the Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development.
Mar 4, 2025
Referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Mar 4, 2025
Introduced in House
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What's happening now March 28, 2025

Referred to the Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development.

 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Broadband Internet for Small Ports Act

This bill establishes priority for broadband projects near rural maritime ports under the Department of Agriculture (USDA) rural broadband grant and loan program, and makes other specified changes to the program’s structure and available support. 

Under current law, the rural broadband program provides grants, loans, and loan guarantees for the construction, improvement, and acquisition of broadband facilities and equipment in rural areas. The bill adjusts the level of priority given to certain categories of projects, including through the establishment of a new priority for projects that would increase broadband service in ports and shore-side facilities in rural areas. 

The bill also makes changes to the program’s parameters, including by changing available grant amounts and increasing the percentage of households in a community that must be unserved or underserved with broadband in order for projects in the community to qualify for loans or loan guarantees. Further, as a condition of receiving support, recipients must share with USDA geolocation information on new or upgraded broadband service established under the program. 

For proposed projects given high priority, the bill requires USDA to confirm that the relevant communities are currently unserved by conferring with relevant federal agencies and other broadband service data sources, and by performing site-specific testing to verify the unavailability of residential broadband service. 

Finally, the bill requires USDA to provide feedback and decisions to applicants in a timely manner, and to use certain program funds for oversight and accountability measures. 

 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 3
 Lobbying activity 7

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

Bodies those filers lobbied

A filing lists the bills it worked on and the parts of government it contacted in separate sections, so these are the bodies those filers named anywhere in the filing, not a per-bill breakdown.

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 Cosponsors 1
All 1 Republican 1
R
Moore, Barry
Alabama · Mar 4, 2025
Cite this page click to expand
APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 1838: Broadband Internet for Small Ports Act. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-1838/
MLA
"H.R. 1838: Broadband Internet for Small Ports Act." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-1838/.
Bluebook (legal)
H.R. 1838, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-1838/.
Markdown link
[H.R. 1838: Broadband Internet for Small Ports Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-1838/)
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