Farm Service Agency Loan Flexibility Act

Bill: 115-s-2552
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Peters, Gary C. [D-MI]
Introduced: 2018-03-14
Policy area: Agriculture and Food
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures

Agricultural prices, subsidies, credit

Congressional oversight

Government lending and loan guarantees
Latest action: action_date: 2018-03-14
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

Summaries:
action_date: 2018-03-14
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><b>Farm Service Agency Loan Flexibility Act </b></p> <p>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. </p> <p>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. </p>

tv_txt: II 115th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 2552 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.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Farm Service Agency Loan Flexibility Act . 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. .