WASHINGTON, D.C.— U.S. Senators John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) introduced the USDA Grant Simplification Act to create a standardized “short form” grant application for United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) grants for rural municipalities and political subdivisions whose primary concern is management and maintenance of infrastructure. This would make it much easier for Wyoming communities to apply for federal funds.
“Washington’s overburdensome application process is holding Wyoming’s rural communities back from getting the important funding they need,” said Barrasso. “Wyoming and other rural states will benefit greatly from a shorter, more simplified process. This important bill I joined with Senator Lummis will streamline the application process and ensure Wyoming communities have better access to these vital grant programs.”
“The most rural portions of Wyoming are often the areas most in need of federal funding, yet few small communities have the manpower to sift through the federal government’s lengthy grant application process,” said Lummis. “In order to ensure Wyoming’s smallest communities have access to the federal funding they need, I have partnered with Senator Barrasso to streamline the grant application process and remove unnecessary roadblocks for the Cowboy State’s smallest communities.”
This legislation directs the Secretary of Agriculture to create a “short-form” version of grant applications for rural communities and entities no later than 180 days after enactment to be made available for incorporated municipalities, tribal areas and territories with populations under 10,000 residents.
This short-form application would also be available for local entities such as water districts, irrigation districts, road and bridge districts, and fire districts. It also directs the secretary to solicit input from a representative group of rural communities concerning issues such as length of grant applications, information requested for applications and applicability of questions and materials requested of rural communities and provides the secretary an additional 90 days to identify grants most in need of short-form applications.
Full text can be found here.