Farm bill quietly expands federal loans to propane storage
H.R. 1302 — GRAIN DRY Act · Filed by Brad Finstad (R-MN) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Feb 13, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends the 2008 farm law to allow propane storage facilities to qualify for federal agricultural storage loans. Previously, the loan program covered grain and other crop storage; this expands it to include propane tanks used on farms for heating, drying grain, or other agricultural operations. Farmers and agricultural producers become eligible to borrow federal funds for propane storage infrastructure.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative function is to expand an existing federal loan program to include a new category of eligible infrastructure (propane storage). It is a narrow technical amendment to farm lending law, not a broader policy shift.
What the text implies
- The bill references 7 CFR 4279.2 as the definition of 'agricultural production' — the scope of eligible propane uses depends on that regulation's current language and may shift if the regulation is later amended.
- No cap on loan amounts, terms, or interest rates is specified in the bill; those terms remain governed by the underlying 2008 farm law and USDA regulations, which are not quoted here.
- Propane storage eligibility may create demand for USDA loan servicing and underwriting capacity; if the program is not appropriated additional funds, existing crop-storage loans could face slower processing.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Farmers gain access to federal credit for propane storage, which may lower their capital costs and support agricultural operations. However, the bill does not specify loan terms, interest rates, or whether this expands total lending capacity or merely redirects existing funds; the net public benefit depends on implementation details not visible in the bill text.
Who stands to gain
- agricultural producers and farmers
- propane suppliers and distributors (indirect, via increased farm-level demand)
Named in the bill
USDA, Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, Section 1614(a), 7 CFR 4279.2, agricultural producers
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Feb 13, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 13, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Agriculture · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $380,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 9 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Brad Finstad, the sponsor, reported $981,433 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- National Propane Gas Association — $380,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (731 characters) on Aug 24, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Farm bill quietly expands federal loans to propane storage” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr1302 Report an error
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