I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2244 
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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 26, 2021 
Mr. O’HALLERAN (for himself and Mrs. HARTZLER) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition 
to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, and the Budget, for a pe-
riod to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for con-
sideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned 
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-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Flexible Financing for 
Rural America Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. LOAN ADJUSTMENTS FOR CRITICAL RURAL UTILITY 
SERVICE PROVIDERS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the borrower of a qualified 
loan described in subsection (b) may submit to the Sec-
retary of Agriculture (referred to in this section as the 
‘‘Secretary’’) a request to adjust the interest rate or mod-
ify any other term of the qualified loan, which shall include 
a report summarizing how the adjustment or modification 
will assist the borrower in providing critical utility services 
to a rural community. 
(b) QUALIFIED LOAN DESCRIBED.—A qualified loan 
referred to in subsection (a) is a loan made or guaranteed 
on or before the date of enactment of this Act under— 
(1) section 4, 201, 305, 306, or 601 of the 
Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 904, 
922, 935, 936, 950bb); or 
(2) the program carried out under the matter 
under the heading ‘‘DISTANCE
LEARNING, TELE-
MEDICINE, AND BROADBAND PROGRAM’’ in title I of 
division A of the American Recovery and Reinvest-
ment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111–5; 123 Stat. 
118) (commonly known as the ‘‘Broadband Initia-
tives Program’’). 
(c) ADJUSTMENT OF INTEREST RATE; MODIFICA-
TION OF LOAN TERMS.— 
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(1) IN GENERAL.—On receipt by the Secretary 
of a request made under subsection (a) with respect 
to a loan, the Secretary, or the Secretary of the 
Treasury in the case of a loan owned by the Federal 
Financing Bank— 
(A) in the case of a request for an interest 
rate adjustment, shall adjust the interest rate 
on the loan to the cost of funds to the Depart-
ment of the Treasury for obligations of com-
parable maturity to the term remaining on the 
outstanding balance of the loan or other such 
higher rate as the borrower may request; and 
(B) in the case of a request for a modifica-
tion to a loan term other than the adjustment 
described in subparagraph (A), may use the au-
thorities provided in sections 2, 201, 306C and 
703 of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 
U.S.C. 902, 922, 936c, 950cc–2) and section 
331(b)(4) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural 
Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1981(b)(4)) to 
make such other modifications to the loan 
terms that the Secretary, in consultation with 
the Secretary of the Treasury in the case of a 
loan owned by the Federal Financing Bank, de-
termines are necessary— 
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(i) to address changes in the financial 
position of the borrower due to the public 
health emergency declared by the Secretary 
of Health and Human Services under sec-
tion 319 of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 247d) on January 31, 2020, 
with respect to COVID–19 (or any renewal 
of that declaration); and 
(ii) to promote the financial sustain-
ability of the borrower. 
(2) EFFECTIVE
DATE.—An adjustment or 
modification under subparagraph (A) or (B), respec-
tively, of paragraph (1) shall apply— 
(A) beginning on the first calendar day 
after the payment date immediately following 
the request; but 
(B) not earlier than 30 days after the date 
of the request. 
(d) NO FEES OR PENALTIES.—In carrying out this 
section, the Secretary, or the Secretary of the Treasury 
in the case of a loan owned by the Federal Financing 
Bank, shall not impose or collect any fee from, or impose 
any penalty on, a borrower. 
(e) NOTICE.—Not later than 30 days after the date 
of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in coordination 
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with the Secretary of the Treasury, shall publish in the 
Federal Register a notice of the benefits available to bor-
rowers under this section. 
(f) APPROPRIATIONS; REIMBURSEMENTS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Out of any amounts in the 
Treasury not otherwise appropriated— 
(A) there are appropriated to the Secretary 
such sums as are necessary, to remain available 
until December 31, 2021, for the cost of inter-
est 
rate 
adjustments 
under 
subsection 
(c)(1)(A); 
(B) there is appropriated to the Secretary 
$300,000,000, to remain available until Decem-
ber 31, 2021, for the cost of modifications 
under subsection (c)(1)(B); and 
(C) there are appropriated to the Federal 
Financing Bank such sums as are necessary, to 
remain available until December 31, 2023, for 
the liquidation of residual intragovernmental 
amounts owed by the Federal Financing Bank 
in connection with qualified loans described in 
subsection (b) modified after the date of enact-
ment of this Act. 
(2) CALCULATION.—For purposes of paragraph 
(1)(C), the calculation of the sums necessary for the 
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liquidation of residual intragovernmental amounts 
owed shall take into account all amounts otherwise 
transferred to the Federal Financing Bank for the 
qualified loans described in that paragraph. 
(3) EMERGENCY DESIGNATION.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—The amounts provided 
by this Act are designated as an emergency re-
quirement pursuant to section 4(g) of the Stat-
utory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (2 U.S.C. 
933(g)). 
(B) DESIGNATION
IN
SENATE.—In the 
Senate, this Act is designated as an emergency 
requirement pursuant to section 4112(a) of H. 
Con. Res. 71 (115th Congress), the concurrent 
resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018. 
Æ 
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