Rural Prosperity Act One-Pager

Rural Prosperity Act
Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) and Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA)
Original cosponsors: Axne (D-IA), Smith (R-NE), O'Halleran (D-AZ), and Feenstra (R-IA)

Background
The federal government plays an important role in helping rural communities thrive. Yet federal assistance can be hard to navigate for many rural communities. There are more than 400 federal programs dedicated to helping rural communities, spread across 13 departments, and over 50 offices and sub-agencies. The challenge rural communities face is not always one of a lack of federal resources or support, but oftentimes one of an ineffective and distributed bureaucracy in which programs are siloed and inflexible, making it challenging for small communities in rural areas to identify and take advantage of programs that best meet their needs.

The Rural Prosperity Act
To ensure better coordination between federal programs and agencies that seek to serve the needs of rural America, the Rural Prosperity Act creates a White House Office of Rural Prosperity—a permanent office in the White House (similar to the Office of Science and Technology Policy)—tasked with coordinating federal efforts to address the social, economic, and community well-being of rural areas. The office would be led by a Chief Rural Advisor, who would be appointed by the President and would serve on the National Economic Council.

The Office of Rural Prosperity would:

• Develop a comprehensive Executive Branch strategy for rural economic development
• Engage with stakeholders including convening public hearings, to identify common challenges faced by rural areas
• Develop a common set of metrics to ensure that all rural development programs are meeting evidence-backed standards
• Coordinate Federal efforts directed toward the growth and development of rural America

The Rural Prosperity Act also establishes a White House Rural Council to serve as a forum to resolve interagency disputes and coordinate a whole-of-government effort to address the needs of rural areas in the United States. The bill also directs significant coordination between the newly created office and USDA Rural Development to prevent overlap and effectively leverage USDA Rural Development's expertise on the topic of rural economic prosperity.

State-driven Solutions

Numerous states have established Offices of Rural Prosperity, or similarly titled offices, with the goal of providing resources to and serving as an advocate for rural communities within state government. The structure and model of the Rural Prosperity Act reflects elements of the Kansas Office of Rural Prosperity and the Wisconsin Blue Ribbon Commission on Rural Prosperity.