[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 520 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 520

To amend the Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee Act of 1999 to provide for 
 increased loan guarantees for steel companies under that Act, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 7, 2001

Mr. Traficant introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee Act of 1999 to provide for 
 increased loan guarantees for steel companies under that Act, 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. AMENDMENTS TO EMERGENCY STEEL LOAN GUARANTEE ACT OF 1999.

    (a) Permissible Use of Loan.--Section 101(f)(1) of the Emergency 
Steel Loan Guarantee Act of 1999 (Public Law 106-51) is amended by 
adding at the end the following: ``Amounts received from a loan with 
respect to which a guarantee is issued under this section may be used 
to repay outstanding debts of the qualified steel company.''.
    (b) Guarantee Level.--Section 101(h)(4) of the Emergency Steel Loan 
Guarantee Act of 1999 is amended--
            (1) by striking ``No loan guarantee'' and inserting the 
        following:
                    ``(A) In general.--Except as provided in 
                subparagraph (B), no loan guarantee''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) Exception.--A loan guarantee provided under 
                this section may exceed 85 percent of the amount of the 
                principal of the loan, but may not exceed 95 percent of 
                such amount, if the Board determines that the aggregate 
                amount of steel imported into the United States during 
                the prior year exceeds 30 percent of the aggregate 
                amount of steel produced in the United States during 
                that year.''.
    (c) Conversion of Loan Guarantee to Grant.--
            (1) In general.--Section 101(h) of the Emergency Steel Loan 
        Guarantee Act of 1999 is amended by adding at the end the 
        following:
            ``(5) Conversion of loan guarantee to grant.--
                    ``(A) In general.--If the Board determines that a 
                qualified steel company is unable to repay, in whole or 
                in part, a loan guaranteed under this section, the 
                Board may provide a grant to the company for the 
                purpose of repaying the loan if the Board further 
                determines that--
                            ``(i) the inability of the company to repay 
                        the loan is due to reasons of financial 
                        hardship beyond the control of the company;
                            ``(ii) the company has demonstrated a good 
                        faith effort to be cost efficient in its 
                        business practices; and
                            ``(iii) the grant is in the national 
                        security interests of the United States.
                    ``(B) Authorization of appropriations.--
                            ``(i) In general.--There is authorized to 
                        be appropriated to carry out this paragraph 
                        $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2002.
                            ``(ii) Availability.--Amounts appropriated 
                        pursuant to the authorization of appropriations 
                        under clause (i) are authorized to remain 
                        available until expended.''.
            (2) Conforming amendment.--Section 101(h)(1) of the 
        Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee Act of 1999 is amended by 
        striking ``All loans'' and inserting ``Except as provided in 
        paragraph (5), all loans''.
    (d) Prohibition on Limitation of Authority of Board.--Section 101 
of the Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee Act of 1999 is amended by adding 
at the end the following:
    ``(n) Prohibition on Limitation of Authority of Board.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of law (other than subsection 
(g)(4)), the authority of the Board to provide loan guarantees to 
qualified steel companies in accordance with this section shall not be 
subject to the authority of any other Federal department or agency, 
including the Office of Management and Budget.''.
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