Guarantees for bonds and notes issued for electrification or telephone purposes

Subject to subsection (b), the Secretary shall guarantee payments on bonds or notes issued by cooperative or other lenders organized on a not-for-profit basis, if the proceeds of the bonds or notes are used to make utility infrastructure loans, or refinance bonds or notes issued for those purposes, to a borrower that has at any time received, or is eligible to receive, a loan under this chapter. A bond or note guaranteed under this section shall, by agreement between the Secretary and the borrower— be repaid by the borrower— A lender shall not receive a guarantee under this section for a bond or note if, at the time of the guarantee, the total principal amount of such guaranteed bonds or notes outstanding of the lender would exceed the principal amount of outstanding loans of the lender for eligible purposes described in subsection (a)(1). The Secretary may deny the request of a lender for the guarantee of a bond or note under this section if the Secretary determines that— The total amount of guarantees provided by the Secretary under this section during a fiscal year shall not exceed $1,000,000,000, subject to the availability of funds under subsection (e). A lender that receives a guarantee issued under this section on a bond or note shall pay a fee to the Secretary. The amount of the annual fee paid for the guarantee of a bond or note under this section shall be equal to 30 basis points of the amount of the unpaid principal of the bond or note guaranteed under this section. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection and subsection (e)(2), no other fees shall be assessed. A lender shall pay the fees required under this subsection on a semiannual basis. The Secretary shall, with the consent of the lender, structure the schedule for payment of the fee to ensure that sufficient funds are available to pay the subsidy costs for note or bond guarantees as provided for in subsection (e)(2). Subject to subsection (e)(2), fees collected under this subsection shall be— A guarantee issued under this section shall— To ensure that the Secretary has the resources necessary to properly examine the proposed guarantees, the Secretary may limit the number of guarantees issued under this section to 5 per year. On the timely request of a lender, the General Counsel of the Department of Agriculture shall provide the Secretary with an opinion regarding the validity and authority of a guarantee issued to the lender under this section. There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out this section. To the extent that the amount of funds appropriated for a fiscal year under paragraph (1) are not sufficient to carry out this section, the Secretary may use up to ⅓ of the fees collected under subsection (c) for the cost of providing guarantees of bonds and notes under this section before depositing the remainder of the fees into the rural economic development subaccount required to be maintained by sections 940c(b)(2) and 940c–2(f) of this title. The authority provided under this section shall terminate on September 30, 2023.