Title: Farm Service Agency Loan Flexibility Act
Policy area: Agriculture and Food

Summary:
Farm Service Agency Loan Flexibility Act
This bill amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to authorize the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to make or guarantee certain farm loans that exceed the aggregate principal amount authorized for the year by up to 25% if the need for loans exceeds the authorized limit.
For any year in which USDA uses the authority provided by this bill, USDA may use funds from the Commodity Credit Corporation that are equal to the difference between: (1) the cost of making or guaranteeing the farm loans for that year, and (2) the appropriations provided for the loans for that year.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2552 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2552

 To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to authorize 
 the Secretary of Agriculture to increase the maximum amounts of Farm 
   Service Agency loans for years in which those maximum amounts are 
        insufficient to satisfy demand, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 14, 2018

Mr. Peters (for himself and Mr. Perdue) introduced the following bill; 
  which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, 
                        Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to authorize 
 the Secretary of Agriculture to increase the maximum amounts of Farm 
   Service Agency loans for years in which those maximum amounts are 
        insufficient to satisfy demand, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Farm Service Agency Loan Flexibility 
Act''.

SEC. 2. INCREASE IN MAXIMUM AMOUNTS FOR LOANS AUTHORIZED.

    Section 346(b) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act 
(7 U.S.C. 1994(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(5) Increase in authorized amounts.--
                    ``(A) In general.--If the Secretary determines that 
                the amount needed for a fiscal year for loans under 
                subtitles A and B is greater than the aggregate 
                principal amount authorized for that fiscal year by 
                this Act, an appropriations Act, or any other provision 
                of law, the Secretary may make or guarantee loans under 
                subtitles A and B from the Agricultural Credit 
                Insurance Fund for that fiscal year in an amount that 
                is not more than 125 percent of that aggregate 
                principal amount.
                    ``(B) Commodity credit corporation.--
                            ``(i) In general.--For a fiscal year for 
                        which the Secretary uses the authority under 
                        subparagraph (A), the Secretary may use of the 
                        funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation an 
                        amount equal to the difference between--
                                    ``(I) the amount of the cost of 
                                making or guaranteeing loans under 
                                subtitles A and B for that fiscal year; 
                                and
                                    ``(II) the amount of discretionary 
                                appropriations for those loans for that 
                                fiscal year under an appropriations Act 
                                or any other provision of law.
                            ``(ii) Applicability.--Clause (i) applies 
                        for a fiscal year only if the amount described 
                        in subclause (I) of that clause is greater than 
                        the amount described in subclause (II) of that 
                        clause.
                    ``(C) Notice.--Not later than 15 days before the 
                date on which the Secretary uses the authority under 
                subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall submit a notice 
                of the use of that authority to--
                            ``(i) the Committee on Appropriations of 
                        the House of Representatives;
                            ``(ii) the Committee on Appropriations of 
                        the Senate;
                            ``(iii) the Committee on Agriculture of the 
                        House of Representatives; and
                            ``(iv) the Committee on Agriculture, 
                        Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate.''.
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