Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB899 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 899
5	5	To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to modify
6	6	limitations on amounts of farm ownership loans and operating loans,
7	7	and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
9	9	MARCH6, 2025
10	10	Mr. H
11	11	OEVEN(for himself and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) introduced the following bill;
12	12	which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nu-
13	13	trition, and Forestry
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development
16	16	Act to modify limitations on amounts of farm ownership
17	17	loans and operating loans, and for other purposes.
18	18	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
19	19	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
20	20	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
21	21	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Producer and Agricul-4
22	22	tural Credit Enhancement Act of 2025’’. 5
23	23	SEC. 2. LIMITATIONS ON LOAN AMOUNTS. 6
24	24	(a) L
25	25	IMITATIONS ONAMOUNT OFFARMOWNERSHIP 7
26	26	L
27	27	OANS.—Section 305(a)(2) of the Consolidated Farm and 8
28	28	Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1925(a)(2)) is amended 9
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32	32	by striking ‘‘$600,000, or, in the case of a loan guaranteed 1
33	33	by the Secretary, $1,750,000 (increased, beginning with 2
34	34	fiscal year 2019’’ and inserting ‘‘$850,000, or, in the case 3
35	35	of a loan guaranteed by the Secretary, $3,000,000 (in-4
36	36	creased, beginning with fiscal year 2025’’. 5
37	37	(b) L
38	38	IMITATIONS ON AMOUNT OF OPERATING 6
39	39	L
40	40	OANS.—Section 313(a)(1) of the Consolidated Farm and 7
41	41	Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1943(a)(1)) is amended 8
42	42	by striking ‘‘$400,000, or, in the case of a loan guaranteed 9
43	43	by the Secretary, $1,750,000 (increased, beginning with 10
44	44	fiscal year 2019’’ and inserting ‘‘$750,000, or, in the case 11
45	45	of a loan guaranteed by the Secretary, $2,600,000 (in-12
46	46	creased, beginning with fiscal year 2025’’. 13
47	47	SEC. 3. INFLATION PERCENTAGE. 14
48	48	Section 305(c) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural 15
49	49	Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1925(c)) is amended— 16
50	50	(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘of the Prices 17
51	51	Paid By Farmers Index (as compiled by the Na-18
52	52	tional Agricultural Statistics Service of the Depart-19
53	53	ment of Agriculture) for the 12-month period ending 20
54	54	on July 31 of the immediately preceding fiscal year’’ 21
55	55	and inserting ‘‘of the per acre average United States 22
56	56	farm real estate value, the per acre average United 23
57	57	States cropland value, and the per acre average 24
58	58	United States pasture value for the preceding year 25
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62	62	(as published in the applicable Agricultural Land 1
63	63	Values report of the National Agricultural Statistics 2
64	64	Service of the Department of Agriculture), weighted 3
65	65	equally’’; and 4
66	66	(2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘of such index 5
67	67	(as so defined) for the 12-month period that imme-6
68	68	diately precedes the 12-month period described in 7
69	69	paragraph (1)’’ and inserting ‘‘of the per acre aver-8
70	70	age United States farm real estate value, the per 9
71	71	acre average United States cropland value, and the 10
72	72	per acre average United States pasture value for the 11
73	73	year immediately preceding the year described in 12
74	74	paragraph (1) (as so published), weighted equally’’. 13
75	75	SEC. 4. DOWN PAYMENT LOAN PROGRAM. 14
76	76	Section 310E(b)(1) of the Consolidated Farm and 15
77	77	Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1935(b)(1)) is amend-16
78	78	ed— 17
79	79	(1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), 18
80	80	by striking ‘‘exceed 45 percent of the least’’ and in-19
81	81	serting ‘‘exceed, subject to section 305(a), 45 per-20
82	82	cent of the lesser’’; 21
83	83	(2) in subparagraph (A), by adding ‘‘or’’ after 22
84	84	the semicolon; 23
85	85	(3) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘; or’’ and 24
86	86	inserting a period; and 25
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90	90	(4) by striking subparagraph (C). 1
91	91	SEC. 5. LIMITATION ON MICROLOAN AMOUNTS. 2
92	92	Section 313(c)(2) of the Consolidated Farm and 3
93	93	Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1943(c)(2)) is amended 4
94	94	by striking ‘‘$50,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$100,000’’. 5
95	95	SEC. 6. REFINANCING OF GUARANTEED LOANS INTO DI-6
96	96	RECT LOANS. 7
97	97	(a) I
98	98	NGENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 8
99	99	date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agri-9
100	100	culture, acting through the Administrator of the Farm 10
101	101	Service Agency (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec-11
102	102	retary’’), shall promulgate regulations allowing certain 12
103	103	loans guaranteed by the Farm Service Agency to be refi-13
104	104	nanced into direct loans issued by the Farm Service Agen-14
105	105	cy, in accordance with this section. 15
106	106	(b) R
107	107	EQUIREMENTS.— 16
108	108	(1) I
109	109	N GENERAL.—The regulations promulgated 17
110	110	under subsection (a) shall provide that a guaranteed 18
111	111	loan described in that subsection may be refinanced 19
112	112	into a direct loan described in that subsection only 20
113	113	if the Secretary determines that— 21
114	114	(A) the guaranteed loan is distressed; 22
115	115	(B) the borrower on that guaranteed loan 23
116	116	has attempted to work with the lender and has 24
117	117	been unsuccessful; 25
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121	121	(C) a reasonable chance for the success of 1
122	122	the operation financed by the guaranteed loan 2
123	123	exists; and 3
124	124	(D) all other criteria established by the 4
125	125	Secretary for purposes of this section to protect 5
126	126	taxpayer funds and the loan programs of the 6
127	127	Farm Service Agency have been satisfied. 7
128	128	(2) R
129	129	EASONABLE CHANCE OF SUCCESS .—For 8
130	130	purposes of paragraph (1)(C), the Secretary may de-9
131	131	termine that a reasonable chance for the success of 10
132	132	an operation exists if the Secretary determines 11
133	133	that— 12
134	134	(A) all relevant problems with the oper-13
135	135	ation financed by the guaranteed loan— 14
136	136	(i) have been identified; and 15
137	137	(ii) can be corrected; and 16
138	138	(B) on correction of those problems, the 17
139	139	operation can achieve, or be returned to, a 18
140	140	sound financial basis. 19
141	141	(c) N
142	142	OEFFECT ONSUBSIDIES.—In carrying out this 20
143	143	section, the Secretary shall ensure that the refinancing of 21
144	144	guaranteed loans into direct loans has no impact on the 22
145	145	subsidy rate of— 23
146	146	(1) loans guaranteed by the Farm Service 24
147	147	Agency; or 25
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151	151	(2) direct loans issued by the Farm Service 1
152	152	Agency. 2
153	153	(d) L
154	154	OANPROGRAMS.—In making direct loans pur-3
155	155	suant to the regulations promulgated under subsection 4
156	156	(a), the Secretary may refinance a loan guaranteed under 5
157	157	1 program of the Farm Service Agency into a direct loan 6
158	158	issued under another program of the Farm Service Agen-7
159	159	cy, as the Secretary determines to be appropriate and in 8
160	160	accordance with the laws applicable to the program under 9
161	161	which the new direct loan is issued. 10
162	162	(e) M
163	163	AXIMUMAMOUNT OF DIRECTREFINANCING 11
164	164	L
165	165	OANS.—A direct loan issued by the Farm Service Agency 12
166	166	pursuant to the regulations promulgated under subsection 13
167	167	(a) shall be subject to any otherwise applicable limitation 14
168	168	on the maximum amount of a direct loan issued by the 15
169	169	Farm Service Agency, including, if applicable, the limita-16
170	170	tions described in— 17
171	171	(1) section 305 of the Consolidated Farm and 18
172	172	Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1925); and 19
173	173	(2) section 313 of that Act (7 U.S.C. 1943). 20
174	174	SEC. 7. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 21
175	175	It is the sense of Congress that— 22
176	176	(1) access to credit is essential to the success 23
177	177	of farmers and ranchers; and 24
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181	181	(2) microloans, direct loans, and guaranteed 1
182	182	loans provided by the Farm Service Agency should 2
183	183	be fully funded to meet producer demand, help be-3
184	184	ginning farmers and ranchers, and support family 4
185	185	farms. 5
186	186	Æ
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