S.Amdt. 1032

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).''.
______