Flexible Financing for Rural America Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 978 To provide for the adjustment or modification by the Secretary of Agriculture of loans for critical rural utility service providers, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 25, 2021 Ms. SMITH (for herself, Mr. HOEVEN, Ms. SINEMA, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mrs. CAP- ITO, Mr. SCHATZ, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. KELLY, Mr. CRAMER, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. DAINES, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Ms. ERNST, Mr. TESTER, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. PETERS, Mr. MORAN, Mr. ROUNDS, Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. MARSHALL, and Ms. BALDWIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry A BILL To provide for the adjustment or modification by the Sec- retary of Agriculture of loans for critical rural utility service providers, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Flexible Financing for 4 Rural America Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:08 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S978.IS S978 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 978 IS SEC. 2. LOAN ADJUSTMENTS FOR CRITICAL RURAL UTILITY 1 SERVICE PROVIDERS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 3 date of enactment of this Act, the borrower of a qualified 4 loan described in subsection (b) may submit to the Sec- 5 retary of Agriculture (referred to in this section as the 6 ‘‘Secretary’’) a request to adjust the interest rate or mod- 7 ify any other term of the qualified loan, which shall include 8 a report summarizing how the adjustment or modification 9 will assist the borrower in providing critical utility services 10 to a rural community. 11 (b) QUALIFIED LOAN DESCRIBED.—A qualified loan 12 referred to in subsection (a) is a loan made or guaranteed 13 on or before the date of enactment of this Act under— 14 (1) section 4, 201, 305, 306, or 601 of the 15 Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 904, 16 922, 935, 936, 950bb); or 17 (2) the program carried out under the matter 18 under the heading ‘‘DISTANCE LEARNING, TELE- 19 MEDICINE, AND BROADBAND PROGRAM’’ in title I of 20 division A of the American Recovery and Reinvest- 21 ment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111–5; 123 Stat. 22 118) (commonly known as the ‘‘Broadband Initia- 23 tives Program’’). 24 (c) ADJUSTMENT OF INTEREST RATE; MODIFICA- 25 TION OF LOAN TERMS.— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:08 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S978.IS S978 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 978 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—On receipt by the Secretary 1 of a request made under subsection (a) with respect 2 to a loan, the Secretary, or the Secretary of the 3 Treasury in the case of a loan owned by the Federal 4 Financing Bank— 5 (A) in the case of a request for an interest 6 rate adjustment, shall adjust the interest rate 7 on the loan to the cost of funds to the Depart- 8 ment of the Treasury for obligations of com- 9 parable maturity to the term remaining on the 10 outstanding balance of the loan or other such 11 higher rate as the borrower may request; and 12 (B) in the case of a request for a modifica- 13 tion to a loan term other than the adjustment 14 described in subparagraph (A), may use the au- 15 thorities provided in sections 2, 201, 306C, and 16 703 of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 17 U.S.C. 902, 922, 936c, 950cc–2) and section 18 331(b)(4) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural 19 Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1981(b)(4)) to 20 make such other modifications to the loan 21 terms that the Secretary, in consultation with 22 the Secretary of the Treasury in the case of a 23 loan owned by the Federal Financing Bank, de- 24 termines are necessary— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:19 Apr 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S978.IS S978 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 978 IS (i) to address changes in the financial 1 position of the borrower due to the public 2 health emergency declared by the Secretary 3 of Health and Human Services under sec- 4 tion 319 of the Public Health Service Act 5 (42 U.S.C. 247d) on January 31, 2020, 6 with respect to COVID–19 (or any renewal 7 of that declaration); and 8 (ii) to promote the financial sustain- 9 ability of the borrower. 10 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—An adjustment or 11 modification under subparagraph (A) or (B), respec- 12 tively, of paragraph (1) shall apply— 13 (A) beginning on the first calendar day 14 after the payment date immediately following 15 the request; but 16 (B) not earlier than 30 days after the date 17 of the request. 18 (d) NO FEES OR PENALTIES.—In carrying out this 19 section, the Secretary, or the Secretary of the Treasury 20 in the case of a loan owned by the Federal Financing 21 Bank, shall not impose or collect any fee from, or impose 22 any penalty on, a borrower. 23 (e) NOTICE.—Not later than 30 days after the date 24 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in coordination 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:08 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S978.IS S978 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 978 IS with the Secretary of the Treasury, shall publish in the 1 Federal Register a notice of the benefits available to bor- 2 rowers under this section. 3 (f) APPROPRIATIONS; REIMBURSEMENTS.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Out of any amounts in the 5 Treasury not otherwise appropriated— 6 (A) there are appropriated to the Secretary 7 such sums as are necessary, to remain available 8 until December 31, 2021, for the cost of inter- 9 est rate adjustments under subsection 10 (c)(1)(A); 11 (B) there is appropriated to the Secretary 12 $300,000,000, to remain available until Decem- 13 ber 31, 2021, for the cost of modifications 14 under subsection (c)(1)(B); and 15 (C) there are appropriated to the Federal 16 Financing Bank such sums as are necessary, to 17 remain available until December 31, 2023, for 18 the liquidation of residual intragovernmental 19 amounts owed by the Federal Financing Bank 20 in connection with qualified loans described in 21 subsection (b) modified after the date of enact- 22 ment of this Act. 23 (2) CALCULATION.—For purposes of paragraph 24 (1)(C), the calculation of the sums necessary for the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:08 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S978.IS S978 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 978 IS liquidation of residual intragovernmental amounts 1 owed shall take into account all amounts otherwise 2 transferred to the Federal Financing Bank for the 3 qualified loans described in that paragraph. 4 (3) EMERGENCY DESIGNATION.— 5 (A) IN GENERAL.—The amounts provided 6 by this Act are designated as an emergency re- 7 quirement pursuant to section 4(g) of the Stat- 8 utory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (2 U.S.C. 9 933(g)). 10 (B) DESIGNATION IN SENATE.—In the 11 Senate, this Act is designated as an emergency 12 requirement pursuant to section 4112(a) of H. 13 Con. Res. 71 (115th Congress), the concurrent 14 resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:08 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S978.IS S978 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS