II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2684 

To establish a Federal student loan restructured repayment schedule for 

certain borrowers who are agricultural producers. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 17, 2018 

Mr. UDALL (for himself and Mr. INHOFE) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To establish a Federal student loan restructured repayment 

schedule for certain borrowers who are agricultural producers. 

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 ‘‘Flexible Agricultural 

5 Repayments and Modifying Schedules Act’’ or ‘‘FARMS 

6 Act’’. 


SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 2684 IS

1 SEC. 2. REPAYMENT FOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCERS. 

2 (a) AMENDMENT TO THE HEA.—Part D of title IV 

3 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087a 

4 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 460A. RESTRUCTURED REPAYMENT FOR AGRICUL6 TURAL PRODUCERS. 

7 ‘‘(a) RESTRUCTURED REPAYMENT.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consulta9 tion with the Secretary of Agriculture, shall provide 

10 the option for a restructured repayment schedule as 

11 described in paragraph (3) to an eligible borrower. 

12 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE BORROWER.—In this subsection, 

13 the term ‘eligible borrower’ means a borrower of a 

14 loan made under this part who, at the time of appli15 cation for entrance in the restructured repayment 

16 schedule, is— 

17 ‘‘(A) an agricultural producer; and 

18 ‘‘(B)(i) a beginning farmer or rancher (as 

19 defined under section 343(a) of the Consoli20 dated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 

21 U.S.C. 1991(a))); 

22 ‘‘(ii) a socially disadvantaged farmer or 

23 rancher (as defined in section 355(e) of the 

24 Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act 

25 (7 U.S.C. 2003(e))); or 


SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 2684 IS

1 ‘‘(iii) a veteran farmer or rancher (as de2 fined in section 2501(e) of the Food, Agri3 culture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 

4 (7 U.S.C. 2279(e)). 

5 ‘‘(3) RESTRUCTURING OPTIONS.—After enter6 ing into an agreement with the Secretary to pay ac7 cording to one of the schedules described in subpara8 graph (B), and submitting any supporting docu9 mentation that the Secretary may reasonably re10 quire, an eligible borrower— 

11 ‘‘(A) shall not be required to make pay12 ments for a loan under this part on a monthly 

13 basis; and 

14 ‘‘(B) may make those payments on a quar15 terly, biannual, or annual basis. 

16 ‘‘(4) FEES, COSTS, AND INTEREST.—In car17 rying out restructured repayment schedules under 

18 this subsection, the Secretary— 

19 ‘‘(A) shall ensure that such schedules do 

20 not exceed the cost to the Federal Government, 

21 as determined on the basis of the present value 

22 of future payments by such borrowers, of loans 

23 made using repayment schedules that require 

24 monthly payments; 


SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 2684 IS

1 ‘‘(B) shall not charge a fee to eligible bor2 rowers for participation in the restructured re3 payment schedule; and 

4 ‘‘(C) shall not charge the eligible borrower 

5 a higher interest rate than the eligible borrower 

6 would otherwise be charged if the borrower was 

7 not on a restructured repayment schedule.’’. 

8 (b) REGULATIONS.—Not more than 180 days after 

9 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Edu10 cation, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, 

11 shall promulgate final regulations to carry out this section. 

Æ 


SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS