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. CAPITO, 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 Secretary of Agriculture of loans for critical rural utility 

service providers, and for other purposes. 

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 Financing for 

5 Rural America Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. LOAN ADJUSTMENTS FOR CRITICAL RURAL UTILITY 

2 SERVICE PROVIDERS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

4 date of enactment of this Act, the borrower of a qualified 

5 loan described in subsection (b) may submit to the Sec6 retary of Agriculture (referred to in this section as the 

7 ‘‘Secretary’’) a request to adjust the interest rate or mod8 ify any other term of the qualified loan, which shall include 

9 a report summarizing how the adjustment or modification 

10 will assist the borrower in providing critical utility services 

11 to a rural community. 

12 (b) QUALIFIED LOAN DESCRIBED.—A qualified loan 

13 referred to in subsection (a) is a loan made or guaranteed 

14 on or before the date of enactment of this Act under— 

15 (1) section 4, 201, 305, 306, or 601 of the 

16 Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 904, 

17 922, 935, 936, 950bb); or 

18 (2) the program carried out under the matter 

19 under the heading ‘‘DISTANCE LEARNING, TELE20 MEDICINE, AND BROADBAND PROGRAM’’ in title I of 

21 division A of the American Recovery and Reinvest22 ment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111–5; 123 Stat. 

23 118) (commonly known as the ‘‘Broadband Initia24 tives Program’’). 

25 (c) ADJUSTMENT OF INTEREST RATE; MODIFICA26 TION OF LOAN TERMS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—On receipt by the Secretary 

2 of a request made under subsection (a) with respect 

3 to a loan, the Secretary, or the Secretary of the 

4 Treasury in the case of a loan owned by the Federal 

5 Financing Bank— 

6 (A) in the case of a request for an interest 

7 rate adjustment, shall adjust the interest rate 

8 on the loan to the cost of funds to the Depart9 ment of the Treasury for obligations of com10 parable maturity to the term remaining on the 

11 outstanding balance of the loan or other such 

12 higher rate as the borrower may request; and 

13 (B) in the case of a request for a modifica14 tion to a loan term other than the adjustment 

15 described in subparagraph (A), may use the au16 thorities provided in sections 2, 201, 306C, and 

17 703 of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 

18 U.S.C. 902, 922, 936c, 950cc–2) and section 

19 331(b)(4) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural 

20 Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1981(b)(4)) to 

21 make such other modifications to the loan 

22 terms that the Secretary, in consultation with 

23 the Secretary of the Treasury in the case of a 

24 loan owned by the Federal Financing Bank, de25 termines are necessary— 


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1 (i) to address changes in the financial 

2 position of the borrower due to the public 

3 health emergency declared by the Secretary 

4 of Health and Human Services under sec5 tion 319 of the Public Health Service Act 

6 (42 U.S.C. 247d) on January 31, 2020, 

7 with respect to COVID–19 (or any renewal 

8 of that declaration); and 

9 (ii) to promote the financial sustain10 ability of the borrower. 

11 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—An adjustment or 

12 modification under subparagraph (A) or (B), respec13 tively, of paragraph (1) shall apply— 

14 (A) beginning on the first calendar day 

15 after the payment date immediately following 

16 the request; but 

17 (B) not earlier than 30 days after the date 

18 of the request. 

19 (d) NO FEES OR PENALTIES.—In carrying out this 

20 section, the Secretary, or the Secretary of the Treasury 

21 in the case of a loan owned by the Federal Financing 

22 Bank, shall not impose or collect any fee from, or impose 

23 any penalty on, a borrower. 

24 (e) NOTICE.—Not later than 30 days after the date 

25 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in coordination 


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1 with the Secretary of the Treasury, shall publish in the 

2 Federal Register a notice of the benefits available to bor3 rowers under this section. 

4 (f) APPROPRIATIONS; REIMBURSEMENTS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Out of any amounts in the 

6 Treasury not otherwise appropriated— 

7 (A) there are appropriated to the Secretary 

8 such sums as are necessary, to remain available 

9 until December 31, 2021, for the cost of inter10 est rate adjustments under subsection 

11 (c)(1)(A); 

12 (B) there is appropriated to the Secretary 

13 $300,000,000, to remain available until Decem14 ber 31, 2021, for the cost of modifications 

15 under subsection (c)(1)(B); and 

16 (C) there are appropriated to the Federal 

17 Financing Bank such sums as are necessary, to 

18 remain available until December 31, 2023, for 

19 the liquidation of residual intragovernmental 

20 amounts owed by the Federal Financing Bank 

21 in connection with qualified loans described in 

22 subsection (b) modified after the date of enact23 ment of this Act. 

24 (2) CALCULATION.—For purposes of paragraph 

25 (1)(C), the calculation of the sums necessary for the 


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1 liquidation of residual intragovernmental amounts 

2 owed shall take into account all amounts otherwise 

3 transferred to the Federal Financing Bank for the 

4 qualified loans described in that paragraph. 

5 (3) EMERGENCY DESIGNATION.— 

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—The amounts provided 

7 by this Act are designated as an emergency re8 quirement pursuant to section 4(g) of the Stat9 utory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (2 U.S.C. 

10 933(g)). 

11 (B) DESIGNATION IN SENATE.—In the 

12 Senate, this Act is designated as an emergency 

13 requirement pursuant to section 4112(a) of H. 

14 Con. Res. 71 (115th Congress), the concurrent 

15 resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018. 

Æ 


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