I 

119TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 291 

To amend the Rural Innovation Stronger Economy Grant Program of the 

Department of Agriculture. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 9, 2025 

Mr. LANGWORTHY (for himself and Ms. TOKUDA) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To amend the Rural Innovation Stronger Economy Grant 

Program of the Department of Agriculture. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Creating Access to 

5 Rural Employment and Education for Resilience and Suc6 cess Act’’ or the ‘‘CAREERS Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. WORKFORCE TRAINING PROGRAMS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 379I of the Consolidated 

9 Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 2008w) is 

10 amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (a)— 

2 (A) in paragraph (1)(A)— 

3 (i) in clause (iii)— 

4 (I) by striking subclause (I) and 

5 inserting the following: 

6 ‘‘(I) an institution of higher edu7 cation (as defined in section 101, and 

8 subparagraphs (A) and (B) of section 

9 102(a)(1), of the Higher Education 

10 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001, 

11 1002(a)(1)));’’; 

12 (II) by redesignating subclauses 

13 (II) and (III) as subclauses (III) and 

14 (IV), respectively, and inserting after 

15 subclause (I) the following: 

16 ‘‘(II) an area career and tech17 nical education school (as defined in 

18 section 3 of the Carl D. Perkins Ca19 reer and Technical Education Act of 

20 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2302);’’; and 

21 (III) in subclause (IV) (as so re22 designated by subclause (II) of this 

23 clause), by striking ‘‘and’’; 

24 (ii) in clause (iv)— 


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1 (I) by striking subclause (IV) 

2 and inserting the following: 

3 ‘‘(IV) an institution of higher 

4 education (as defined in section 101, 

5 and subparagraphs (A) and (B) of 

6 section 102(a)(1), of the Higher Edu7 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001, 

8 1002(a)(1)));’’; and 

9 (II) by redesignating subclause 

10 (V) as subclause (VI) and inserting 

11 after subclause (IV) the following: 

12 ‘‘(V) an area career and technical 

13 education school (as defined in section 

14 3 of the Carl D. Perkins Career and 

15 Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 

16 U.S.C. 2302); or’’; and 

17 (iii) by adding at the end the fol18 lowing: 

19 ‘‘(v) in the case of a career pathway 

20 program, includes 1 or more member of 

21 the local workforce development board es22 tablished under section 107 of the Work23 force Innovation and Opportunity Act and 

24 serving the region to ensure such program 

25 is integrated with the activities carried out 


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1 by the local workforce development board; 

2 and’’; and 

3 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(6) CAREER PATHWAY.—The term ‘career 

5 pathway’ has the meaning given the term in section 

6 3 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 

7 (29 U.S.C. 3102). 

8 ‘‘(7) INDUSTRY OR SECTOR PARTNERSHIP.— 

9 The term ‘industry or sector partnership’ has the 

10 meaning given the term in section 3 of the Work11 force Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 

12 3102).’’; 

13 (2) in subsection (b)— 

14 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

15 (i) in the matter preceding subpara16 graph (A), by inserting ‘‘carry out career 

17 pathway programs or industry or sector 

18 partnerships aligned with industry sectors 

19 in rural communities’’ before the 3rd 

20 comma; 

21 (ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

22 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

23 (iii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

24 the period and inserting a semicolon; and 


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1 (iv) by adding at the end the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(C) address workforce challenges faced by 

4 specific industry sectors in rural communities; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(D) promote targeted skills development 

7 initiatives to stimulate innovation and enhance 

8 economic development in rural regions.’’; 

9 (B) in paragraph (3)— 

10 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 

11 (I) in clause (i), by inserting ‘‘ca12 reer pathway program, or industry or 

13 sector partnerships’’ before the semi14 colon; and 

15 (II) in clause (ii)— 

16 (aa) by inserting ‘‘career 

17 pathway program, or industry or 

18 sector partnerships’’ before ‘‘to 

19 provide’’; and 

20 (bb) by inserting ‘‘leadership 

21 development,’’ before ‘‘cus22 tomized’’; 

23 (ii) in subparagraph (E), by striking 

24 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 


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1 (iii) in subparagraph (F), by striking 

2 the period and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

3 (iv) by adding at the end the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(G) the ability of the eligible entity to 

6 carry out activities to address the issues of 

7 worker displacement, an aging workforce, and 

8 youth migration.’’; and 

9 (C) by striking paragraph (5) and insert10 ing the following; 

11 ‘‘(5) GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.—The Sec12 retary shall ensure regional diversity of recipients of 

13 grants or participants in providing grants under 

14 paragraph (1) for jobs accelerators, career pathway 

15 programs, industry or sector partnerships, and re16 lated programming.’’; 

17 (3) in subsection (d)(1)— 

18 (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking the 

19 period and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

20 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(C) to support career pathway programs 

22 or industry or sector partnerships to be carried 

23 out in industries in rural communities, includ24 ing— 


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1 ‘‘(i) telecommunications or broadband 

2 services; 

3 ‘‘(ii) water, waste water, and disposal 

4 services; 

5 ‘‘(iii) electric supply services; 

6 ‘‘(iv) conservation practices and man7 agement; 

8 ‘‘(v) health care; 

9 ‘‘(vi) child care; 

10 ‘‘(vii) manufacturing; 

11 ‘‘(viii) agribusiness related to produc12 tion, processing, and distribution; and 

13 ‘‘(ix) any other sectors that are identi14 fied by the local workforce development 

15 board serving the region to be an in-de16 mand industry sector or occupation, as de17 fined in section 3 of the Workforce Innova18 tion and Opportunity Act.’’; 

19 (4) in subsection (e)— 

20 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

21 the end; 

22 (B) in paragraph (2)(B)— 

23 (i) in clause (xvii), by striking ‘‘or’’ at 

24 the end; and 


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1 (ii) by redesignating clause (xviii) as 

2 clause (xix) and inserting after clause 

3 (xvii) the following: 

4 ‘‘(xviii) the number of individuals who 

5 have completed skills development, recog6 nized postsecondary credentials, or gained 

7 specialized education through career path8 ways programs or industry or sector part9 nership; or’’; and 

10 (iii) in clause (xix) (as so redesignated 

11 by clause (ii) of this subparagraph), by 

12 striking the period and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 

13 and 

14 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(3) in the case of a career pathway program 

16 or industry or sector partnership, report to the Sec17 retary the employment and earnings outcomes for 

18 individuals who participate in the program on the in19 dicators described in subclauses (I) through (III) of 

20 section 116(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Workforce Innovation 

21 and Opportunity Act.’’; and 

22 (5) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘2019 through 

23 2023’’ and inserting ‘‘2025 through 2030’’. 

24 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

25 subsection (a) shall take effect on such date as the SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Feb 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H291.IH H291

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1 retary of Agriculture shall determine, which shall be not 

2 later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 

3 Act. 

Æ 


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