II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 34
To require the Secretary of Energy to establish a program to provide loans
to manufacturers of energy grid products and components.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY24 (legislative day, JANUARY3), 2023
Mr. R
UBIOintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Energy to establish a program
to provide loans to manufacturers of energy grid prod-
ucts and components.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Facilitating the Re-4
shoring of Energy Grid Component Manufacturing Act of 5
2023’’. 6
SEC. 2. ENERGY GRID PRODUCT AND COMPONENT MANU-7
FACTURING IN THE UNITED STATES. 8
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 9
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(1) COMPONENT.—The term ‘‘component’’ 1
means any part or element of an energy grid prod-2
uct. 3
(2) E
LIGIBLE PROJECT.—The term ‘‘eligible 4
project’’ means a project to reequip, expand, or es-5
tablish (including through new construction) a man-6
ufacturing facility in the United States to produce 7
energy grid products or components. 8
(3) E
NERGY GRID PRODUCT .—The term ‘‘en-9
ergy grid product’’ means— 10
(A) a bulk-power system (as defined in sec-11
tion 215(a) of the Federal Power Act (16 12
U.S.C. 824o(a))); 13
(B) a large power transformer; 14
(C) a switchgear or breaker; 15
(D) a converter; 16
(E) a direct current filter; 17
(F) an alternating current switch or 18
switchyard; 19
(G) an insulated-gate bipolar transistor; 20
(H) a capacitor; 21
(I) an inductor; 22
(J) an arrestor; 23
(K) a resistor; 24
(L) a distribution transformer; 25
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(M) grain-oriented electrical steel; 1
(N) continuously transposed conduction 2
(CTC) copper wire; 3
(O) silicon steel; 4
(P) any insulating material; and 5
(Q) any other electrical equipment com-6
monly used for the transmission or distribution 7
of electric energy by public electric utilities. 8
(4) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 9
the Secretary of Energy. 10
(b) L
OANPROGRAM.— 11
(1) E
STABLISHMENT.— 12
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 13
days after the date of enactment of this Act, 14
and subject to the availability of appropriated 15
funds, the Secretary shall establish and carry 16
out a program to provide a total of not more 17
than $8,000,000,000 in loans to eligible individ-18
uals and entities (as determined by the Sec-19
retary) for the costs of activities relating to eli-20
gible projects. 21
(B) F
INANCING METHOD.— 22
(i) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided 23
in clause (ii), a loan under this subsection 24
shall be provided through the Federal Fi-25
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nancing Bank, with the full faith and cred-1
it of the United States Government on the 2
principal and interest. 3
(ii) C
OOPERATION WITH OTHER INSTI -4
TUTIONS.—A loan under this subsection 5
may be provided in cooperation with 1 or 6
more banks or other financial institutions 7
through agreements to participate on an 8
immediate or deferred (guaranteed) basis. 9
(C) C
REDIT SUBSIDY.—The full credit sub-10
sidy for each loan provided under this sub-11
section shall be paid by the Secretary using ap-12
propriated funds. 13
(2) A
PPLICATION.—An individual or entity de-14
siring a loan under this subsection shall submit to 15
the Secretary an application at such time, in such 16
manner, and containing such information as the Sec-17
retary may require, including a written assurance 18
that— 19
(A) all laborers and mechanics employed 20
by contractors or subcontractors during any 21
construction, alteration, or repair that is fi-22
nanced, in whole or in part, by a loan provided 23
under this subsection shall be paid wages at 24
rates not less than those prevailing on projects 25
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of a character similar in the locality, as deter-1
mined by the Secretary of Labor in accordance 2
with sections 3141 through 3144, 3146, and 3
3147 of title 40, United States Code; and 4
(B) the Secretary of Labor shall, with re-5
spect to the labor standards described in this 6
paragraph, have the authority and functions set 7
forth in Reorganization Plan Numbered 14 of 8
1950 (5 U.S.C. App.) and section 3145 of title 9
40, United States Code. 10
(3) S
ELECTION OF LOAN RECIPIENTS AND ELI -11
GIBLE PROJECTS.— 12
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary may 13
provide a loan under this subsection if the Sec-14
retary determines that— 15
(i) the loan recipient— 16
(I) has a reasonable prospect of 17
repaying the principal and interest on 18
the loan; 19
(II) will provide sufficient infor-20
mation to the Secretary for the Sec-21
retary to ensure that the loan pro-22
ceeds are expended efficiently and ef-23
fectively; and 24
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(III) has met such other criteria 1
as may be established and published 2
by the Secretary; and 3
(ii) the amount of the loan (when 4
combined with amounts available to the 5
loan recipient from other sources) will be 6
sufficient to carry out the eligible project 7
for which the loan is provided. 8
(B) R
EASONABLE PROSPECT OF REPAY -9
MENT.—The Secretary shall base a determina-10
tion of whether there is a reasonable prospect 11
of repayment of the principal and interest on a 12
loan under subparagraph (A)(i)(I) on a com-13
prehensive evaluation of whether the loan re-14
cipient has a reasonable prospect of repaying 15
the principal and interest, including, as applica-16
ble, an evaluation of— 17
(i) the strength of the contractual 18
terms of the applicable eligible project (if 19
commercially reasonably available); 20
(ii) the forecast of noncontractual 21
cash flows supported by market projections 22
from reputable sources, as determined by 23
the Secretary; 24
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(iii) cash sweeps and other structure 1
enhancements; 2
(iv) the projected financial strength of 3
the loan recipient— 4
(I) at the time of loan close; and 5
(II) throughout the loan term 6
after the applicable eligible project is 7
completed; 8
(v) the financial strength of the inves-9
tors and strategic partners of the loan re-10
cipient, if applicable; and 11
(vi) other financial metrics and anal-12
yses that are relied on by the private lend-13
ing community and nationally recognized 14
credit rating agencies, as determined to be 15
appropriate by the Secretary. 16
(4) R
ATES, TERMS, AND REPAYMENT OF 17
LOANS.—A loan provided under this subsection— 18
(A) shall have an interest rate that, as of 19
the date on which the loan is provided, is equal 20
to the cost of funds to the Department of the 21
Treasury for obligations of comparable matu-22
rity; 23
(B) shall have a term equal to the lesser 24
of— 25
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(i) the projected life, in years, of the 1
eligible project to be carried out using pro-2
ceeds from the loan, as determined by the 3
Secretary; and 4
(ii) 20 years; 5
(C) may be subject to a deferral in repay-6
ment for not more than 5 years after the date 7
on which the eligible project carried out using 8
proceeds from the loan first begins operations, 9
as determined by the Secretary; 10
(D) shall be made by the Federal Financ-11
ing Bank; and 12
(E) shall be subject to the condition that 13
the loan is not subordinate to other financing. 14
(5) C
ONFLICTS OF INTEREST .—For each loan 15
provided under this subsection, the Secretary shall 16
certify that political influence did not affect the pro-17
vision of the loan, including— 18
(A) selection of the eligible project for 19
which the loan was provided; and 20
(B) selection of the loan recipient. 21
(6) A
DMINISTRATIVE FEE.—The Secretary may 22
charge a fee for the administrative and closing costs 23
of a loan provided under this subsection, subject to 24
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the condition that the fee does not exceed the lesser 1
of— 2
(A) $100,000; and 3
(B) 10 basis points of the principal 4
amount of the loan. 5
(c) I
MPROVEMENT.—Not later than 90 days after the 6
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall promul-7
gate an interim final rule establishing regulations that the 8
Secretary determines to be necessary to administer this 9
section and any loans provided by the Secretary under 10
subsection (b). 11
(d) P
RIORITY.— 12
(1) I
N GENERAL.—In providing loans under 13
this section to manufacturers (including component 14
suppliers) that have existing facilities, the Secretary 15
shall give priority to manufacturers that are seeking 16
to expand manufacturing output through— 17
(A) the establishment of 1 or more new fa-18
cilities; or 19
(B) the reopening of 1 or more facilities. 20
(2) I
DLE FACILITIES.—A facility described in 21
subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1) may be 22
sitting idle as of the date on which the applicable 23
loan is provided under this section. 24
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(e) SETASIDE FORSMALLENERGYGRIDPRODUCT 1
M
ANUFACTURERS AND COMPONENTSUPPLIERS.— 2
(1) D
EFINITION OF COVERED FIRM .—In this 3
subsection, the term ‘‘covered firm’’ means a firm 4
that— 5
(A) employs fewer than 500 individuals; 6
and 7
(B) manufactures energy grid products or 8
components. 9
(2) S
ET ASIDE.—Of the amounts used to pro-10
vide loans each fiscal year under subsection (b), the 11
Secretary shall use not less than 5 percent to pro-12
vide loans to— 13
(A) covered firms; or 14
(B) consortia led by covered firms. 15
(f) A
PPOINTMENT AND PAY OFPERSONNEL.— 16
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary may use di-17
rect hiring authority pursuant to section 3304(a)(3) 18
of title 5, United States Code, to appoint such pro-19
fessional and administrative personnel as the Sec-20
retary determines to be necessary to carry out this 21
section and any functions of the Secretary under 22
this section. 23
(2) R
ATE OF PAY.—The rate of pay for a per-24
son appointed pursuant to paragraph (1) shall not 25
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exceed the maximum rate payable for GS–15 of the 1
General Schedule under chapter 53 of title 5, United 2
States Code. 3
(3) C
ONSULTANTS.—The Secretary may retain, 4
pursuant to section 1901 of title 41, United States 5
Code, such consultants as the Secretary determines 6
to be necessary to carry out this section and any 7
functions of the Secretary under this section. 8
(g) O
UTREACH.—In carrying out this section, the 9
Secretary shall— 10
(1) provide assistance with the completion of 11
applications for loans under this section; and 12
(2) conduct outreach, including through con-13
ferences and online programs, to disseminate infor-14
mation about loans under this section to potential 15
applicants. 16
(h) R
EPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date 17
of enactment of this Act, and every 2 years thereafter, 18
the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the 19
status of projects supported by a loan under this section, 20
including— 21
(1) a list of projects for which a loan was pro-22
vided under this section, including, with respect to 23
each project— 24
(A) the loan amount; and 25
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(B) the construction status of the project; 1
(2) the status of the loan repayment for each 2
project, including future repayment projections; 3
(3) data regarding the number of direct and in-4
direct jobs retained, restored, or created by financed 5
projects; 6
(4) a projection of the number of new projects 7
for which the Secretary expects to provide a loan 8
under this section during the 2-year period begin-9
ning on the date of the report, including the pro-10
jected aggregate loan amount over that 2-year pe-11
riod; 12
(5) an evaluation of ongoing compliance with 13
the assurances and commitments (and the accuracy 14
of any predictions) made by applicants pursuant to 15
paragraphs (2) and (3) of subsection (b); 16
(6) the total number of applications received by 17
the Secretary each year; and 18
(7) any other metrics that the Secretary deter-19
mines to be appropriate. 20
(i) F
UNDING.— 21
(1) R
ESCISSION.—Of the unobligated balance of 22
amounts made available by section 129 of division A 23
of the Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, 24
and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2009 (Public 25
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Law 110–329; 122 Stat. 3578), $2,400,000,000 are 1
rescinded. 2
(2) D
IRECT APPROPRIATION.—If sufficient un-3
obligated amounts made available by section 129 of 4
division A of the Consolidated Security, Disaster As-5
sistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2009 6
(Public Law 110–329; 122 Stat. 3578), are available 7
on the date of enactment of this Act to execute the 8
entire rescission described in paragraph (1), on the 9
day after the execution of the entire rescission, there 10
is appropriated to the Secretary, out of amounts in 11
the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 12
$2,400,000,000 to carry out this section, to remain 13
available until expended. 14
Æ
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