Strengthening Rural Cooperatives and Communities Act
Introduced Oct 30, 2025 by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto
It's waiting on a committee vote to reach the full chamber. Most bills never leave this stage.
This bill reauthorizes through FY2029 and modifies the Rural Cooperative Development Grant (RCDG) Program. This Department of Agriculture (USDA) program provides grants to nonprofit institutions to help individuals and businesses start, expand, or improve rural cooperatives and other mutually-owned businesses through Rural Cooperative Development Centers.
USDA may give an additional preference to grant applications that commit to providing a 25% matching contribution for the center with private funds and in-kind contributions. Specifically, USDA may award the maximum points in application scoring criteria to applicants that satisfy this requirement.
Under the bill, cooperative development includes activities (e.g., outreach, education, training, and technical assistance) to support the startup, expansion, or ongoing sustainability of new and existing cooperatives. Current law does not define cooperative development.
The bill directs the RCDG interagency working group to submit an annual report to Congress on its activities.
Read the full summary on Congress.govSummary by the Congressional Research Service.
No floor votes yet — it hasn't reached the floor of either chamber.