[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 42 (Friday, March 5, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S1300]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 1032. Mr. WICKER (for himself, Mr. Lankford, and Mr. Daines) 
submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 891 
proposed by Mr. Schumer (for himself, Mr. Wyden, Mrs. Murray, Mr. 
Brown, Mr. Peters, Mr. Cardin, Ms. Cantwell, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Tester, 
Mr. Menendez, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Carper, Mr. Leahy, and Mr. Sanders) to 
the bill H.R. 1319, to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II 
of S. Con. Res. 5; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

        Strike section 1002 and insert the following:

     SEC. 1002. EMERGENCY RURAL DEVELOPMENT GRANTS FOR RURAL 
                   HEALTH CARE.

       Section 301 of division BB of the Consolidated 
     Appropriations Act, 2021 is amended by adding at the end the 
     following new subsection:
       ``(f) Emergency Grants for Rural Health Care.--Subtitle A 
     of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act is amended 
     by inserting after section 306E (7 U.S.C. 1926e) the 
     following:

     `` `SEC. 306F. EMERGENCY RURAL DEVELOPMENT GRANTS FOR RURAL 
                   HEALTH CARE.

       `` `(a) Grants.--The Secretary of Agriculture (in this 
     section referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall use the funds 
     made available by this section to establish an emergency 
     pilot program for rural development not later than 150 days 
     after the date of enactment of this section to provide grants 
     to eligible applicants (as defined in section 3570.61(a) of 
     title 7, Code of Federal Regulations) to be awarded by the 
     Secretary based on rural development needs related to the 
     COVID-19 pandemic.
       `` `(b) Uses.--An eligible applicant to whom a grant is 
     awarded under this section may use the grant funds for costs, 
     including those incurred prior to the issuance of the grant, 
     as determined by the Secretary, of facilities which primarily 
     serve rural areas (as defined in section 343(a)(13)(C)), 
     which are located in a rural area, the median household 
     income of the population to be served by which is less than 
     the greater of the poverty line or the applicable percentage 
     (determined under section 3570.63(b) of title 7, Code of 
     Federal Regulations) of the State nonmetropolitan median 
     household income, and for which the performance of any 
     construction work completed with grant funds shall meet the 
     condition set forth in section 9003(f) of the Farm Security 
     and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 8103(f)), to--
       `` `(1) increase capacity for vaccine distribution;
       `` `(2) provide medical supplies to increase medical surge 
     capacity;
       `` `(3) reimburse for revenue lost during the COVID-19 
     pandemic, including revenue losses incurred prior to the 
     awarding of the grant;
       `` `(4) increase telehealth capabilities, including 
     underlying health care information systems;
       `` `(5) construct temporary or permanent structures to 
     provide health care services, including vaccine 
     administration or testing;
       `` `(6) support staffing needs for vaccine administration 
     or testing; and
       `` `(7) engage in any other efforts to support rural 
     development determined to be critical to address the COVID-19 
     pandemic, including nutritional assistance to vulnerable 
     individuals, as approved by the Secretary.
       ``(c) Funding.--In addition to amounts otherwise available, 
     there is appropriated to the Secretary for fiscal year 2021, 
     out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 
     $500,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2023, 
     to carry out this section, of which not more than 3 percent 
     may be used by the Secretary for administrative purposes and 
     not more than 2 percent may be used by the Secretary for 
     technical assistance as defined in section 306(a)(26).''.
                                 ______