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son or entity or circumstance is held to
be invalid by a court of competent juris-
diction, the remainder of this Act, or the
application of such provision to such per-
son or entity or circumstance other than
those as to which it is held invalid, shall
not be affected thereby.
(c) AUTHORITY LIMITED BY APPROPRIATIONS
ACTS.—The Board may approve loan guaran-
tees under this Act only to the extent pro-
vided for in advance in appropriations Acts.
(d) REQUIREMENTS AND CRITERIA APPLICA-
BLE TO APPROVAL.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Board shall uti-
lize the underwriting criteria developed
under subsection (g), and any relevant in-
formation provided by the departments
and agencies with which the Board
consults under section 3, to determine
which loans may be eligible for a loan
guarantee under this Act.
(2) PREREQUISITES.—In addition to
meeting the underwriting criteria under
paragraph (1), a loan may not be guaran-
teed under this Act unless—
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(A) the loan is made to finance
the 
acquisition, 
improvement, 
en-
hancement, 
construction, 
deploy-
ment, launch, or rehabilitation of the
means 
by 
which 
local 
television
broadcast signals will be delivered
principally to an unserved area;
(B) the proceeds of the loan will
not be used for operating, adver-
tising, or promotion expenses;
(C) the proposed project, as deter-
mined by the National Telecommuni-
cations and Information Administra-
tion, is not likely to have a substan-
tial adverse impact on competition
that outweighs the benefits of im-
proving access to the signals of a
local television station in an unserved
area, and is commercially viable;
(D) the loan is provided by—
(i) an insured depository in-
stitution (as that term is defined
in section 3 of the Federal De-
posit Insurance Act) that is ac-
ceptable to the Board; or
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(ii) a lender that is acceptable
to the Board, and—
(I) has not fewer than one
issue of outstanding debt that
is related within the highest
three rating categories of a
nationally recognized statis-
tical rating agency; or
(II) has provided financ-
ing 
to 
entities 
with 
out-
standing debt from the Rural
Utilities Service and which
possess, in the judgment of
the Board, the expertise, ca-
pacity, and capital strength to
provide financing pursuant to
this Act;
(E) the loan has terms, in the
judgment of the Board, that are con-
sistent in material respects with the
terms of similar obligations in the
private capital market;
(F) repayment of the loan is re-
quired to be made within a term of
the lesser of—
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(i) 25 years from the date of
the execution of the loan; or
(ii) the economically useful
life, as determined by the Board
or in consultation with persons or
entities deemed appropriate by
the Board, of the primary assets
to be used in the delivery of the
signals concerned; and
(G) the loan meets any additional
criteria developed under subsection
(g).
(3) PROTECTION OF UNITED STATES FI-
NANCIAL INTERESTS.—The Board may not
approve the guarantee of a loan under
this Act unless—
(A) the Board has been given doc-
umentation, assurances, and access to
information, 
persons, 
and 
entities
necessary, 
as 
determined 
by 
the
Board, to address issues relevant to
the review of the loan by the Board
for purposes of this Act; and
(B) the Board makes a determina-
tion in writing that—
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(i) to the best of its knowledge
upon due inquiry, the assets, fa-
cilities, or equipment covered by
the loan will be utilized economi-
cally and efficiently;
(ii) the terms, conditions, se-
curity, and schedule and amount
of repayments of principal and
the payment of interest with re-
spect to the loan protect the fi-
nancial interests of the United
States and are reasonable;
(iii) to the extent possible, the
value of collateral provided by an
applicant is at least equal to the
unpaid 
balance 
of 
the 
loan
amount covered by the loan guar-
antee (the ‘‘Amount’’ for purposes
of this clause); and if the value of
collateral provided by an appli-
cant is less than the Amount, the
additional required collateral is
provided by any affiliate of the
applicant; and if the combined
value of collateral provided by an