USDA expands rural workforce training to broadband, utilities, healthcare sectors
H.R. 291 — CAREERS Act · Filed by Nicholas Langworthy (R-NY) · 5 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 9, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends the USDA's Rural Innovation Stronger Economy (RISE) Grant Program to expand workforce training eligibility and focus. It adds career and technical education schools and workforce development boards as eligible partners alongside higher education institutions, introduces 'career pathway' and 'industry sector partnership' programs as new grant purposes, and specifies priority sectors (broadband, utilities, healthcare, childcare, manufacturing, agribusiness). The bill extends the program's authorization from 2019–2023 to 2025–2030 and requires grantees to report employment outcomes for program participants.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is expanding eligibility and scope of an existing USDA rural workforce grant program. It adds new partner types (career/technical schools, workforce boards), new program models (career pathways, sector partnerships), and new priority sectors, all aimed at rural economic resilience.
What the text implies
- Requirement for local workforce development board participation in career pathway programs may increase coordination between federal rural development and workforce systems, potentially improving program alignment but also adding administrative burden.
- Expansion to include broadband, utilities, and conservation as eligible sectors signals USDA pivot toward infrastructure and climate-adjacent workforce development, not just traditional agriculture.
- Reporting requirement on employment and earnings outcomes (tied to WIOA indicators) creates new data collection burden on grantees but enables outcome tracking across federal workforce programs.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Rural workers and communities gain expanded access to workforce training, career pathways, and skills development across multiple sectors. The bill does not restrict citizen rights or protections; it increases public investment in rural economic development and worker opportunity.
Who stands to gain
- rural educational institutions (higher education and career/technical schools)
- rural workforce development boards
- rural employers in specified sectors (broadband, utilities, healthcare, childcare, manufacturing, ag
Named in the bill
Department of Agriculture, Rural Innovation Stronger Economy (RISE) Grant Program, Section 379I, Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, Higher Education Act of 1965, Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), local workforce development boards
Where it stands
5 cosponsors: 5 Democrats.
- Jan 9, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 9, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Agriculture · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (5,892 characters) on Sep 7, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,398 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-23.
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