Congress quietly cuts taxes for rural lenders—not borrowers
H.R. 1822 — ACRE Act of 2025 · Filed by Randy Feenstra (R-IA) · 63 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 4, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill excludes from federal income tax the interest that certain lenders (banks, insurance companies, and farm credit agencies) receive on loans secured by rural or agricultural property, including single-family homes in rural areas (up to $750,000 principal). The tax break applies only to loans made after the bill's enactment and does not cover loans to entities tied to designated foreign adversaries (China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Venezuela).
Why we flagged it
The operative mechanism is a direct exclusion of lender interest income from federal taxation. Although framed as rural economic access, the tax benefit flows to qualified lenders (banks, insurance companies, farm credit agencies), not to borrowers or farmers. The bill does not cap lending rates, mandate rate reductions, or tie the subsidy to borrower outcomes.
What the text implies
- The bill does not require lenders to pass savings to borrowers; interest-income exclusion may simply increase lender profit margins without lowering rural borrowing costs.
- The $750,000 cap on single-family rural residences is substantially higher than typical rural home prices, potentially benefiting wealthier rural property owners and investors over subsistence farmers.
- Foreign adversary carve-out (China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela) is a national-security filter on lender eligibility, but does not restrict borrower nationality—a U.S. citizen borrowing from a U.S. bank qualifies regardless of personal ties.
- The 5-year reporting requirement to Congress on whether rates actually declined is advisory only; no enforcement mechanism or sunset clause ties the tax break to demonstrated rate reduction.
- Refinancing language preserves the tax break for loans refinanced after enactment if the original loan predates enactment, potentially extending the subsidy indefinitely through serial refinancings.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill creates a tax subsidy for lenders' interest income on agricultural and rural real estate loans, reducing federal revenue without a corresponding public benefit. Ordinary citizens do not receive the tax break—lenders do—and there is no mechanism ensuring lower borrowing costs for farmers or rural homeowners, making this a transfer of public revenue to financial institutions.
Who stands to gain
- FDIC-insured banks and savings associations
- State- and federally-regulated insurance companies
- Bank holding companies and their subsidiaries
- Insurance holding company subsidiaries
- Farm Credit System entities (federally chartered instrumentalities)
Named in the bill
FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), Farm Credit System, Bank holding companies, Insurance holding companies, People's Republic of China, Russian Federation, Islamic Republic of Iran, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Cuba, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Internal Revenue Code Section 139J, Agricultural Credit Act of 1987
Where it stands
63 cosponsors: 40 Republicans, 23 Democrats.
- Mar 4, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Mar 4, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
7 lobbying clients named this bill on 11 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $8,410,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 11 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 86% of bills with at least one filing.
Randy Feenstra, the sponsor, reported $570,750 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Bankers Association — $5,210,000 on 2 filings
- Independent Community Bankers of America — $2,170,000 on 1 filing
- Cobank Acb — $580,000 on 2 filings
- Farm Credit Council — $250,000 on 2 filings
- New York Bankers Association — $90,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 21, 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 (5,678 characters) on Aug 20, 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 21, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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