Dive summary:

• A Democratic senator from South Dakota and a Republican from Kansas are sponsoring legislation that would extend the ability of communities that grown to a 35,000 population to stay in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Housing Service.
• The service is a loan, grant and loan-guarantee program that tries to keep housing affordable so that people who grew up in small, rural towns can stay there.
• The continuing resolution last month that averted a government shutdown keeps the towns in the program through Sept. 30, and Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota and Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas are proposing a seven-year extension of grandfathering communities that have grown enough to fall out of the service.

From the article:

A similar measure was passed with bipartisan support in the Senate last year as an amendment to the Farm Bill, but did not ultimately become law after the bill stalled in the House of Representatives. ...