H.R. 6779

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6779 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 6779

To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to expand 
eligibility for direct loans to individuals or entity members that hold 
at least a 50 percent interest and that are or will become bona fide 
operators of the farm real estate acquired, improved, or supported with 
farm ownership, operating, or emergency loans, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

December 17, 2025

Mr. Bost (for himself, Ms. Budzinski, and Mr. Rose) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to expand 
eligibility for direct loans to individuals or entity members that hold 
at least a 50 percent interest and that are or will become bona fide 
operators of the farm real estate acquired, improved, or supported with 
farm ownership, operating, or emergency loans, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``USDA Loan Modernization Act''.

SEC. 2. PERSONS ELIGIBLE FOR REAL ESTATE LOANS.

Section 302(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act 
(7 U.S.C. 1922(a)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1)--
(A) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by 
striking ``a majority'' and inserting ``at least a 50 
percent''; and
(B) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``a majority'' 
and inserting ``at least a 50 percent''; and
(2) in paragraph (2), by striking subparagraphs (A) and (B) 
and inserting the following:
``(A) Eligibility of qualified operators.--
Qualified operators, as defined by the Secretary, shall 
be considered to meet the operator requirement of 
paragraph (1).
``(B) Eligibility of certain operating-only 
entities.--An applicant that is or will become only the 
operator of farm real estate acquired, improved, or 
supported with funds under this subtitle shall be 
considered to meet the owner-operator requirements of 
paragraph (1) if 1 or more of the individuals who is an 
owner of the farm real estate owns at least 50 percent 
(or such other percentage as the Secretary determines 
is appropriate) of the applicant.
``(C) Eligibility of certain embedded entities.--An 
entity that is an owner-operator described in paragraph 
(1), or an operator described in subparagraph (B) of 
this paragraph that is owned, in whole or in part, by 1 
or more other entities, shall be considered to meet the 
direct ownership requirement imposed under paragraph 
(1) if at least 75 percent of the total ownership 
interests of the embedded entity, or of the other 
entities, is owned, directly or indirectly, by 
qualified operators of the farm acquired, improved, or 
supported with funds under this subtitle.''.

SEC. 3. PERSONS ELIGIBLE FOR OPERATING LOANS.

Section 311(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act 
(7 U.S.C. 1941) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1)--
(A) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by 
striking ``a majority'' and inserting ``at least a 50 
percent''; and
(B) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``a majority'' 
and inserting ``at least a 50 percent''; and
(2) by amending paragraph (2) to read as follows:
``(2) Special rules.--
``(A) Eligibility of qualified operators.--
Qualified operators, as defined by the Secretary, shall 
be considered to meet the operator requirement of 
paragraph (1).
``(B) Eligibility of certain operating-only 
entities.--An entity that is an operator described in 
paragraph (1) that is owned, in whole or in part, by 
other entities, shall be considered to meet the direct 
ownership requirement imposed under paragraph (1) if at 
least 75 percent of the total ownership interests of 
the embedded entity, or of the other entities, is 
owned, directly or indirectly, by qualified operators 
of the farm improved or supported with funds under this 
subtitle.''.

SEC. 4. PERSONS ELIGIBLE FOR EMERGENCY LOANS.

Section 321 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 
U.S.C. 1961) is amended--
(1) by striking all that precedes ``shall make and insure'' 
and inserting the following:

``SEC. 321. ELIGIBILITY FOR LOANS.

``(a) In General.--
``(1) Eligibility requirements.--The Secretary''; and
(2) in subsection (a)--
(A) in the 1st sentence--
(i) by striking ``(1)'' and inserting 
``(A)'';
(ii) by striking ``(2)'' and inserting 
``(B)'';
(iii) by striking ``(A)'' the 1st place it 
appears and inserting ``(i)'';
(iv) by striking ``(B)'' the 1st place it 
appears and inserting ``(ii)''; and
(v) by striking ``a majority'' each place 
it appears and inserting ``at least a 50 
percent'';
(B) by striking the 5th sentence; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(2) Special rules.--
``(A) Eligibility of qualified operators.--
Qualified operators, as defined by the Secretary, shall 
be considered to meet the operator requirement of 
paragraph (1).
``(B) Eligibility of certain operating-only 
entities.--An applicant that is or will become only the 
operator of farm real estate acquired, improved, or 
supported with funds under this subtitle shall be 
considered to meet the owner-operator requirements of 
paragraph (1) if 1 or more of the individuals who is an 
owner of the real estate owns at least 50 percent (or 
such other percentage as the Secretary determines is 
appropriate) of the applicant.
``(C) Eligibility of certain embedded entities.--An 
entity that is an owner-operator described in paragraph 
(1), or an operator described in subparagraph (B) of 
this paragraph that is owned, in whole or in part, by 1 
or more other entities, shall be considered to meet the 
direct ownership requirement imposed under paragraph 
(1) if at least 75 percent of the total ownership 
interests of the embedded entity, or of the other 
entities, is owned, directly or indirectly, by 
qualified operators of the farm acquired, improved, or 
supported with funds under this subtitle.''.
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