Wicker, Capito introduce bipartisan, bicameral bill to help rural U.S. communities thrive

U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) on June 27 unveiled a bipartisan, bicameral bill to bolster investment and create jobs in America’s rural and poor communities.

Sen. Wicker sponsored the Rural Jobs Act, S. 2028, with lead cosponsors Sens. Capito and Mark Warner (D-VA) to build on the success of the New Market Tax Credit (NMTC), which provides a tax incentive to private investors to invest in low-income communities.

“The legislation we have introduced today would help boost these investments in rural areas and ensure that every community is receiving a proportionate share of the benefits of the NMTC,” Sen. Wicker said. 

NMTC projects thus far have spurred some $42 billion in private investment and generated over one million jobs since 2000, but fewer than one in four NMTC jobs have been created in rural communities, according to information from Sen. Wicker’s office. 

The proposal would help close this job creation gap by designating $500 million in NMTC investments for Rural Job Zones, which are low-income communities that have a population less than 50,000 people and are not adjacent to an urban area, according to a summary provided by Sen. Wicker’s office. 

Under this new definition, Rural Job Zones would be established in 342 out of the 435 congressional districts across the country, the summary said.

Sen. Capito said that the measure expands upon an “already powerful tool” to ensure the investments flow to where they’re needed most. 

The bill also would require that at least 25 percent of the new investment be targeted to the nation’s roughly 400 persistent poverty counties and high migration counties, according to the summary, which noted that 85 percent of them are in non-metro or rural areas.

The same-named H.R. 3538 also was introduced on June 27 by U.S. Reps. Jason Smith (R-MO) and Terri Sewell (D-AL) in their chamber.