Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 3/21/22

Members of the Senate Agriculture Committee will hear from USDA Rural Development Undersecretary Xochitl Torres Small on Tuesday during a hearing on the rural care economy and quality of life.

It’s not all food and ag: Many forget that USDA is essentially the main department for rural America, providing assistance for energy, housing, health care and broadband access.

Earlier this year, Deputy Secretary Jewel Bronaugh announced the rollout of a $1 billion program to help build and upgrade infrastructure in rural areas with an emphasis on health care facilities. The money is expected to fund 730 projects that range from building or expanding hospitals to buying medical or firefighting equipment.

Torres Small’s Senate appearance follows a House Ag hearing last week on rural development, where broadband expansion was among the top items discussed . That’s likely to be a major topic this week as well, given the importance of steady internet access to rural health care, education, ag and industrial production, among other areas.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has previously pleaded with Congress to focus on strengthening rural development programs in the 2023 farm bill and helping create “circular economies” in rural communities.

“For some time, rural America has been at the mercy of an extraction economy, where resources are taken from rural lands only to create jobs and economic opportunity in urban and suburban areas,” Vilsack said. “That’s why USDA is committed to doing what we can to change that extraction economy into a circular economy.”

What we’re watching: Lawmakers are poised to question Torres Small on the funding that USDA has recently unveiled for rural development. In addition to the health care facilities program, the department is also offering $1.4 billion for grants and loans that support nonprofits, utilities and small businesses in rural areas, among other efforts.

Now that the omnibus has arrived: Regular MA readers may recall that Vilsack previously argued that Congress’ failure to pass a final appropriations package for fiscal 2022 was holding back funding for rural development. Indeed, the newly signed $1.5 trillion spending package did include a major boost for rural development, as your host and Meredith Lee reported.