; and (2) loan guarantees to private lenders who make loans to ESOPs. (b) Staff (1) In general The Secretary of the Treasury may, without regard to the civil service laws (including regulations), appoint and terminate such personnel as may be necessary to enable the Secretary to carry out this section. (2) Compensation The Secretary of the Treasury may fix the compensation of personnel without regard to chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of title 5, United States Code, relating to classification of positions and General Schedule pay rates, except that the rate of pay for personnel may not exceed the rate payable for level V of the Executive Schedule under section 5316 of that title. (c) Authorization of appropriations There is authorized to be appropriated $1,000,000,000 to carry out this section. 4. Exclusion of interest on loans used to acquire employer securities for employee stock ownership plans (a) In general Part III of subchapter B of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after section 132 the following new section: 133. Interest on certain loans used to acquire employer securities (a) Allowance of exclusion (1) In general Except as provided in paragraph (2), gross income does not include the applicable percentage of the interest received by— (A) a bank (within the meaning of section 581), (B) an insurance company to which subchapter L applies, (C) a corporation actively engaged in the business of lending money, or (D) a regulated investment company (as defined in section 851), with respect to a securities acquisition loan. (2) Annual limitation The aggregate amount of interest which may be excluded by a taxpayer under paragraph (1) for any taxable year shall not exceed $20,000,000. (3) Applicable percentage For purposes of this section— (A) In general Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the applicable percentage of a taxpayer with respect to any securities acquisition loan is 50 percent. (B) Lower percentages for larger financial institutions If, for any