Rural electric cooperatives want Congress to include a provision in the COVID-19 aid plan that would end a prepayment penalty on their Rural Utility Service loans.
National Rural Electric Cooperatives CEO Jim Matheson said in a call to reporters that members are urging Congress to include a bill that would allow co-ops that have borrowed money from the Treasury Department to get a reduced interest rate without paying a prepayment penalty.
Matheson said the Flexible Financing for Rural America Act has been introduced in the House by Reps. Tom O'Halleran, D-Ariz., and Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., and in the Senate by Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Hoeven, R-N.D., and Sens. John Boozman, R-Ark., Tina Smith, D-Minn., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.
Cooperatives have experienced a loss of income due to businesses closing or operating at a lower level during the pandemic and the lower interest rates would make it easier for them to continue to provide service and also rebuild infrastructure.
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