YourVoice.Now Summary
Average Household ImpactCuts federal matching requirements in half and eases grant rules for small rural counties surrounded by federal land.
Average Household Impact
- Local matching-fund requirement — Cut in half for rural counties where most land is federally owned
- Grant priority for underserved rural counties — Added for counties that haven't received DOT grants in 10 years
The details
Small rural counties where the federal government owns most of the land often struggle to win federal transportation grants. This bill would make that process easier for them. It covers counties under 100,000 people where more than half the land is federally owned or managed. For those counties and their local and Tribal governments, local matching-fund requirements would drop by half. The Transportation Department would offer extra technical help and give priority to applicants that haven't won a grant in 10 years. The bill also tells the department to ease scoring and application rules that disadvantage small, isolated communities. It applies across many DOT grant programs, from road and transit funding to airport improvements.
Congressional Summary
More Opportunities for Rural Economies from DOT Grants Act or the MORE DOT Grants Act This bill revises the process for awarding grants to high-density public land counties and any units of tribal or local governments within such counties under certain Department of Transportation (DOT) programs. Examples of qualifying grant programs include the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant program, the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant program, and the Airport Improvement Program (AIP).The bill defines a high-density public land county as a county that has a population of not more than 100,000 people and in which the federal government owns or manages more than 50% of the land.For these jurisdictions, any requirement for local matching funds under a qualifying grant program must be reduced by 50%.On request, DOT must provide additional technical assistance to such jurisdictions before and during the annual application period for each qualifying grant program.DOT must also prioritize grant applications from such jurisdictions that have not received support under the qualifying grant program during the 10-year period preceding the date of the application.In approving applications for a qualifying grant program that includes a designated rural-set aside, DOT must give special consideration to an application from a high-density public land county or unit of local government within such a county.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in Senate
- Action Date
- 2025-07-31
- Date Added
- 2026-07-21
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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