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Bill to increase FSA loan cap expected

 

New legislation is expected to be introduced in the U.S. Senate to ensure the USDA Farm Service Agency can fulfill its commitments to already approved loan applications.

Introduced by Michigan Senator Gary Peters and David Perdue of Georgia, The Farm Service Agency Loan Flexibility Act would allow USDA to make loans up to 25 percent above the loan cap set in annual appropriations and allow FSA to use stopgap funding from the Commodity Credit Corporation.

Peters says the bill will ensure the FSA can continue to meet higher demands on the loan program.

In June of 2016, more than 3,000 loans had been approved by FSA but weren’t funded for several months because of a shortfall in funding which was approved in emergency appropriations that December.