Title: Rural Equal Aid Act of 2020
Policy area: Agriculture and Food

Summary:
Rural Equal Aid Act of 2020
This bill requires the Department of Agriculture to pay the principal, interest, and any associated fees owed on loans made under certain rural development loan programs for a six-month period.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4470 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4470

  To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to subsidize payments on 
loans made under certain rural development loan programs, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 6, 2020

Mr. Tester (for himself, Mr. King, Mr. Romney, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Coons, 
and Mr. Perdue) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to subsidize payments on 
loans made under certain rural development loan programs, 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 ``Rural Equal Aid Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. SUBSIDY FOR CERTAIN RURAL DEVELOPMENT LOAN PAYMENTS.

    (a) Definition of Covered Loan.--In this section, the term 
``covered loan'' means--
            (1) a community facilities guaranteed loan under section 
        306(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 
        U.S.C. 1926(a));
            (2) a business and industry guaranteed loan under section 
        310B(g) of that Act (7 U.S.C. 1932(g));
            (3) a loan that is made by an intermediary lender to an 
        ultimate recipient using a loan received under section 1323 of 
        the Food Security Act of 1985 (7 U.S.C. 1932 note; Public Law 
        99-198); and
            (4) a loan that is made by a microenterprise development 
        organization to a microentrepreneur under section 379E of the 
        Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 2008s).
    (b) Principal and Interest Payments.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of Agriculture (referred to 
        in this section as the ``Secretary'') shall pay the principal, 
        interest, and any associated fees that are owed on a covered 
        loan in a regular servicing status--
                    (A) with respect to a covered loan made before the 
                date of enactment of this Act and not on deferment, for 
                the 6-month period beginning with the next payment due 
                on the covered loan;
                    (B) with respect to a covered loan made before the 
                date of enactment of this Act and on deferment, for the 
                6-month period beginning with the next payment due on 
                the covered loan after the deferment period; and
                    (C) with respect to a covered loan made during the 
                period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act 
                and ending on the date that is 6 months after that date 
                of enactment, for the 6-month period beginning with the 
                first payment due on the covered loan.
            (2) Timing of payment.--The Secretary shall begin making 
        payments under paragraph (1) on a covered loan not later than 
        30 days after the date on which the first payment described in 
        that paragraph is due.
            (3) Application of payment.--Any payment made by the 
        Secretary under paragraph (1) shall be applied to the covered 
        loan such that the borrower is relieved of the obligation to 
        pay that amount.
    (c) Other Requirements.--The Secretary shall--
            (1) communicate and coordinate with the Federal Deposit 
        Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the 
        Currency, and State bank regulators to encourage those entities 
        to not require lenders to increase their reserves on account of 
        receiving payments made by the Secretary under subsection (b);
            (2) waive statutory limits on maximum loan maturities for 
        any covered loan durations where the lender provides a deferral 
        and extends the maturity of covered loans during the 1-year 
        period following the date of enactment of this Act; and
            (3) when necessary to provide more time because of the 
        potential of higher volumes, travel restrictions, and the 
        inability to access some properties during the COVID-19 
        pandemic, extend lender site visit requirements to--
                    (A) not more than 60 days (which may be extended at 
                the discretion of the Secretary) after the occurrence 
                of an adverse event, other than a payment default, 
                causing a loan to be classified as in liquidation; and
                    (B) not more than 90 days after a payment default.
    (d) Effect.--Nothing in this section limits the authority of the 
Secretary to make payments pursuant to subsection (b) with respect to a 
covered loan solely because the covered loan has been sold in the 
secondary market.
    (e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary such sums as are necessary to carry out 
this section.
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