American Ownership and Resilience Act

Each fund pays 1% of the loan when it is promised and 2% when it is drawn. A yearly charge of up to 1.38% is set to bring the program's cost to zero.

The government would promise to repay lenders if a fund cannot. No more than $5 billion in new guarantees could be issued in a year.

If a fund fails, its other lenders get paid first. Taxpayers would be paid last, unless the Commerce Secretary sets other terms.

Employees could not be asked to take a wage cut or hand over retirement money to help buy the company. They can still sell a stake they already own.

The deal only gets federal backing if workers end up owning more than half. They own it through a stock plan or a worker co-op.

An outside trustee must be hired before the sale. That trustee must get an outside opinion on whether the price is fair to workers.

Each worker could direct how the shares in their account are voted on a sale of the company. Shares nobody votes get cast in the same proportion.

The plan must hold at least as many shares at each year's end as it held on the deal date. The independent trustee can waive this rule.

If the company is later sold, the money is split as if every share were already in workers' accounts. Each worker's cut tracks their pay.

A licensed fund could borrow no more than its own private capital, and no more than $500 million. Funds under one owner are capped at $1 billion together.

A fund manager who agrees to coach a new 'Protege' fund raises its own borrowing cap. The increase is $17.5 million for one fund, $35 million for several.

Money put into U.S. manufacturing or critical-industry firms would not count against a fund's borrowing limit. The break stops at $75 million or 25% of the fund's own capital.

Commerce would report each year on money the government lost on the program, plus what it expects to lose. The report also covers where funds operate and who the worker-owners are.

Each licensed fund must be examined at least once every two years, and the fund can be billed for the cost. Funds must also value their investments twice a year.

A felony or a fraud finding would keep a person from helping run a fund. The Commerce Secretary can allow it in writing.

For two years after getting help, a fund could not hire or pay a former Commerce official who had a say over that help. The bar covers jobs, job offers, and paid professional work.

Twenty years after the first license, Commerce could not license any new fund. Funds already licensed could keep drawing money they were promised.

The SEC could exempt the securities these funds sell from registration and from trust indenture rules. It would first have to find those rules are not needed to protect investors.