04.30.20

Hoeven Statement on Expansion of Main Street Lending Program

Senator Continues to Work with Energy & Treasury Secretaries to Ensure Access to Credit for Energy Producers

BISMARCK, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven today issued the following statement after the Federal Reserve announced an expansion of its Main Street Lending program, which operates under Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act. Under today’s announcement, the Federal Reserve will begin offering three loan options through the Main Street Loan Program, which was established under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, to help provide access to credit for small and medium-sized businesses that were in sound financial condition before the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic:

  • Main Street New Loan Facility.
  • Main Street Priority Loan Facility.
  • Main Street Expanded Loan Facility. 

Further, the Federal Reserve has made a number of changes to better facilitate loans to small and medium-sized businesses and expand the range of businesses able to benefit from the program: 

  • The minimum loan size for new and priority loans has been decreased to $500,000.
  • The maximum business size has been increased to 15,000 employees, up from 10,000.
  • Existing loans are eligible to be refinanced under the priority loan option.

“This expansion of the Main Street Lending Program is welcome news for businesses across our economy, including our oil and gas producers, who we’ve been working to support through unprecedented challenges,” said Hoeven. “We will continue working with the administration and industry to ensure that our energy industry has access to credit. At the same time, we are advancing further efforts, like my bipartisan SPR legislation, to support domestic oil and gas production, which is critical to our national and economic security.”

Principal and interest payments are deferred for one year across all loan options. Full details of the announced expansion may be found on the Federal Reserve’s website, here.

MAINTAINING DOMESTIC OIL & GAS INDUSTRY

Hoeven continues to work with the administration, including Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to advance aid for the oil and gas industry as it faces supply and demand impacts due to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as excessive production by OPEC+.

To this end, Hoeven led a group of his colleagues in urging the administration to ensure access to credit under the 13(3) lending program. The senator has repeatedly raised the issue, including in a call with Secretary Brouillette yesterday, and he continues working to ensure the 13(3) program works for oil and gas producers.

Hoeven’s plan to maintain the nation’s oil and gas production capacity includes:

  • PPP Funding – Replenishing funding for the Paycheck Protection Program to provide assistance to smaller companies.
  • Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) Funding – Leading bipartisan, bicameral legislation to provide $3 billion to purchase domestic oil for the SPR.
  • Ensuring Access to Credit – Working with the Administration, including Secretary Brouillette, Secretary Mnuchin and Chair Powell, to provide independent producers with access to credit under the 13(3) lending program.
  • Stopping Foreign Crude Dumping – Investigating Saudi Arabia, Russia and other oil-producing countries for flooding the market under Section 232 to stop crude dumping and address oversupply issues.
  • Opening the Economy – Defeating COVID-19 and safely getting the economy going again.

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