Witnesses warn rural hospitals, water and childcare face crisis; Community Facilities program cited as key tool
Summary
At a House Agriculture subcommittee hearing witnesses raised alarms about rural hospital and maternity‑care closures, aging water and wastewater systems, and lack of childcare. They said USDA's Community Facilities program and targeted grant funding are often the only practical federal tools for saving local services.
Multiple witnesses at a House subcommittee hearing told members that rural hospitals, water systems and childcare capacities are under strain, and that USDA Rural Development's Community Facilities and related programs are often the practical mechanism to preserve local services.
Ranking Member Craig described recent clinic and hospital closures in Minnesota, and several witnesses described specific local impacts. A Potter County commissioner said his region has become a "seven‑county maternity desert" after a hospital stopped providing childbirth services. He also said a local nursing home closure had forced residents to move.
Witnesses pointed to the Community Facilities program as the main federal tool for financing hospitals, emergency departments and long‑term care facilities, but they said most Community Facilities assistance is structured as loans and that grant funding has been limited. "Community facilities funding is loans and especially as hospitals face the dire impacts of Medicaid cuts they're not going to have the resources for those loans," Torres Small said.
Water and wastewater needs surfaced repeatedly. Lynn Keller Forbes and other regional development leaders described projects ranging from rehabilitating lime drying beds after a storm to major regional rural water projects that require high federal investments. They urged Congress to preserve grant eligibility for predevelopment and to consider regionalization strategies that can reduce per‑customer costs.
Childcare was raised as a workforce and recruitment issue: committee members and witnesses said lack of affordable, available childcare limits the ability of hospitals and other employers to retain staff. Witnesses recommended using Community Facilities and related RD programs to finance childcare centers where eligible and argued for technical assistance to help small towns manage project development and ongoing operations.
Members asked for more detail on grant levels and how to speed projects; witnesses said restoring field staff and increasing non‑earmarked grant funding would help. The subcommittee kept the record open for written materials and technical follow‑ups.
