S3126-119

Introduced

To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to reform farm loans, to amend the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to reform the National Appeals Division process, and for other purposes.

119th Congress Introduced Nov 6, 2025

Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.

Summary

What This Bill Does

The bill exempts defers principal and interest payments on direct farm loans for delinquent/distressed borrowers for 2 years, reduces interest to 0.125%, extends maturity dates by 2 years, and requires guarantee fee waivers, requires comprehensive reform of USDA farmer program loans: (1) requires detailed determination letters for adverse decisions with all known reasons, (2) limits collateralization of loans to 100% of loan value, and requires new Section 375 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act: establishes farmer program loan reform rules including (1) detailed determination letters with all known adverse decision reasons. It relies on loan guarantees, exemptions, compliance mandates, and definition changes. The main policy areas are Agriculture and Finance.

Who Benefits and How

Beginning farmers and ranchers would be affected, Small and mid-size farmers and ranchers (AGI under ,000) would be affected, and Farmers whose principal residences secure loans would be affected.

Who Bears the Burden and How

USDA Farm Service Agency would be affected, USDA agencies would be affected, and USDA Secretary of Agriculture would be affected.

Key Provisions

  • Exempts defers principal and interest payments on direct farm loans for delinquent/distressed borrowers for 2 years, reduces interest to 0.125%, extends maturity dates by 2 years, and requires guarantee fee waivers...
  • Requires comprehensive reform of USDA farmer program loans: (1) requires detailed determination letters for adverse decisions with all known reasons, (2) limits collateralization of loans to 100% of loan value...
  • Requires new Section 375 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act: establishes farmer program loan reform rules including (1) detailed determination letters with all known adverse decision reasons...
  • Requires reforms the National Appeals Division process: (1) shifts burden of proof to the agency for appellants with adjusted gross income at or below ,000 (annual or 5-year average), requiring the agency to prove...

Evidence Chain:

This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.

At a Glance

What This Bill Does

The bill exempts defers principal and interest payments on direct farm loans for delinquent/distressed borrowers for 2 years, reduces interest to 0.125%, extends maturity dates by 2 years, and requires guarantee fee waivers, requires comprehensive reform of USDA farmer program loans: (1) requires detailed determination letters for adverse decisions with all known reasons, (2) limits collateralization of loans to 100% of loan value, and requires new Section 375 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act: establishes farmer program loan reform rules including (1) detailed determination letters with all known adverse decision reasons.

Key Policy Areas

Agriculture, Finance

Primary Purpose

The bill exempts defers principal and interest payments on direct farm loans for delinquent/distressed borrowers for 2 years, reduces interest to 0.125%, extends maturity dates by 2 years, and requires guarantee fee waivers, requires comprehensive reform of USDA farmer program loans: (1) requires detailed determination letters for adverse decisions with all known reasons, (2) limits collateralization of loans to 100% of loan value, and requires new Section 375 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act: establishes farmer program loan reform rules including (1) detailed determination letters with all known adverse decision reasons.

Policy Domains

Agriculture Finance

Whole bill

Identified Gains
  • Beginning farmers and ranchers
  • Small and mid-size farmers and ranchers (AGI under ,000)
  • Farmers whose principal residences secure loans
  • Farmers whose homes are used as loan collateral
  • Farmer program loan borrowers
Model: codex-gpt-5:bulk-repair | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: is
Farmer program loan borrowers:
Beginning farmers and ranchers: ,
Farmers whose homes are used as loan collateral:
Farmers whose principal residences secure loans:
Small and mid-size farmers and ranchers (AGI under ,000):
Identified Costs
  • USDA Farm Service Agency
  • USDA agencies
  • USDA Secretary of Agriculture
  • USDA agency heads
  • Farm Service Agency
Model: codex-gpt-5:bulk-repair | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: is
USDA agencies:
USDA agency heads:
Farm Service Agency:
USDA Farm Service Agency: ,
USDA Secretary of Agriculture:

Legislative Progress

Introduced
Introduced Committee Passed
Nov 6, 2025

Mr. Welch (for himself and Mrs. Gillibrand) introduced the following …

Stakeholder Effects

cui bono?

How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.

Agriculture
17 mentions across 5 clauses
+15 positive

Beginning farmers and ranchers, Delinquent and financially distressed farmers and ranchers, Delinquent farmer program loan borrowers

Government
8 mentions across 4 clauses
+1 positive -7 negative

Farm Service Agency, Federal government (Treasury), National Appeals Division hearing officers

Positive-direction: National Appeals Division hearing officers

Negative-direction: Farm Service Agency, Federal government (Treasury), USDA Farm Service Agency, USDA Secretary of Agriculture, USDA agencies, USDA agency heads

Financial Services
1 mention across 1 clause
-1 negative

Guaranteed farm loan lenders

5/5
sections analyzed
Full impact breakdown

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Agriculture Finance

We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.

Learn more about our methodology