[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 125 (Wednesday, July 24, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H7287-H7290]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               DISCLOSING AID SPENT TO ENSURE RELIEF ACT

  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 1984) to amend chapter 11 of title 31, United States Code, 
to require the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to 
annually submit to Congress a report on all disaster-related assistance 
provided by the Federal Government.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.

[[Page H7288]]

  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 1984

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Disclosing Aid Spent to 
     Ensure Relief Act'' or the ``DISASTER Act''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds the following:
       (1) At a time of constrained budgets, it is fiscally 
     prudent to understand the amount and the scope of the Federal 
     Government's involvement in providing disaster-related 
     assistance to communities in need.
       (2) The Federal Government does not provide a single, 
     publicly available estimate of the amount it is spending on 
     disaster-related assistance.
       (3) Because recovery is a long-term process, providing 
     disaster-related assistance requires significant Federal 
     resources to support a multi-agency, multi-year restoration 
     of infrastructure and commerce in affected communities.
       (4) Understanding the expenditures of individual Federal 
     agencies for disaster-related assistance will help better 
     inform the congressional appropriations process, as well as 
     presidential budget requests.
       (5) Knowledge about disaster-related expenses will 
     illustrate opportunities for reducing these expenses through 
     efforts to reduce vulnerabilities to future natural 
     disasters.

     SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

       The purpose of this Act is to require the Director of the 
     Office of Management and Budget to annually submit to 
     Congress a report on all disaster-related assistance provided 
     by the Federal Government.

     SEC. 4. REPORTING OF DISASTER-RELATED ASSISTANCE.

       (a) In General.--Chapter 11 of title 31, United States 
     Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 
     section:

     ``Sec. 1127. Reporting of disaster-related assistance

       ``(a) In General.--On the same day that the President makes 
     the annual budget submission to the Congress under section 
     1105(a) for a fiscal year, the Director of the Office of 
     Management and Budget shall submit to Congress a report on 
     Federal disaster-related assistance for the fiscal year 
     ending in the calendar year immediately preceding the 
     calendar year in which the annual budget submission is made. 
     Disaster-related assistance encompasses Federal obligations 
     related to disaster response, recovery, and mitigation 
     efforts, as well as administrative costs associated with 
     these activities, including spending by the following 
     agencies and programs:
       ``(1) Department of Agriculture:
       ``(A) Agriculture Research Service.
       ``(B) Farm Service Agency.
       ``(C) Food and Nutrition Service.
       ``(D) Natural Resource Conservation Service.
       ``(E) Forest Service.
       ``(F) Rural Housing Service.
       ``(G) Rural Utilities Service.
       ``(2) Department of Commerce:
       ``(A) National Marine Fisheries Service of the National 
     Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
       ``(B) Economic Development Administration Economic 
     Adjustment Assistance.
       ``(3) Army Corps of Engineers of the Department of Defense 
     (Civil).
       ``(4) Department of Defense (Military):
       ``(A) Military Personnel.
       ``(B) Operations and Maintenance.
       ``(C) Procurement.
       ``(D) Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation.
       ``(E) Military Construction (MILCON) and Family Housing.
       ``(F) Management Funds.
       ``(G) Other Department of Defense Programs.
       ``(5) Department of Education:
       ``(A) Elementary and Secondary Education.
       ``(B) Higher Education.
       ``(6) Department of Health and Human Services:
       ``(A) Administration for Children and Families.
       ``(B) Public Health and Medical Assistance.
       ``(C) Public Health Emergency Fund.
       ``(7) Department of Homeland Security:
       ``(A) Federal Emergency Management Agency:
       ``(i) Emergency Declarations.
       ``(ii) Fire Management Assistance Grants.
       ``(iii) Major Disaster Declarations.
       ``(iv) Administrative Assistance.
       ``(B) FEMA Missions Assignments by Federal Agency.
       ``(C) Community Disaster Loan Program.
       ``(8) Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD):
       ``(A) Community Development Block Grants.
       ``(B) Rental Assistance/Section 8 Vouchers.
       ``(C) Supportive Housing.
       ``(D) Public Housing Repair.
       ``(E) Inspector General.
       ``(9) Department of the Interior:
       ``(A) Bureau of Indian Affairs.
       ``(B) United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
       ``(C) National Park Service.
       ``(D) Wildland Fire Management.
       ``(10) Department of Justice:
       ``(A) Legal Activities.
       ``(B) United States Marshals Service.
       ``(C) Federal Bureau of Investigation.
       ``(D) Drug Enforcement Administration.
       ``(E) Bureau of Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
       ``(F) Federal Prison System (Bureau of Prisons).
       ``(G) Office of Justice Programs.
       ``(11) Department of Labor:
       ``(A) National Emergency Grants for Dislocation Events.
       ``(B) Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Dislocated Worker 
     Program.
       ``(12) Department of Transportation:
       ``(A) Federal Highway Administration: Emergency Relief 
     Program (ER).
       ``(B) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
       ``(C) Federal Transit Administration (FTA).
       ``(13) Department of the Treasury: Internal Revenue 
     Service.
       ``(14) Department of Veterans Affairs.
       ``(15) Corporation for National and Community Service.
       ``(16) Environmental Protection Agency:
       ``(A) Hurricane Emergency Response Authorities.
       ``(B) EPA Hurricane Response.
       ``(C) EPA Regular Appropriations.
       ``(17) The Federal Judiciary.
       ``(18) Disaster Assistance Program of the Small Business 
     Administration.
       ``(19) Department of Energy:
       ``(A) Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and 
     Emergency Response.
       ``(B) Office of Petroleum Services.
       ``(20) General Services Administration.
       ``(21) Other authorities as appropriate.
       ``(b) Content.--The report shall detail the following:
       ``(1) Overall amount of disaster-related assistance 
     obligations during the fiscal year.
       ``(2) Disaster-related assistance obligations by agency and 
     account.
       ``(3) Disaster for which the spending was obligated.
       ``(4) Obligations by disaster.
       ``(5) Disaster-related assistance by disaster type.
       ``(6) Response and recovery spending.
       ``(7) Mitigation spending.
       ``(8) Spending in the form of loans.
       ``(9) Spending in the form of grants.
       ``(c) Availability of Report.--The report shall be made 
     publicly available on the website of the Office of Management 
     and Budget and should be searchable, sortable and 
     downloadable.''.
       (b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of chapters for 
     chapter 11 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by 
     adding at the end the following new item:

``1127. Reporting of disaster-related assistance.''.

     SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

       The reporting requirement under the amendment made by 
     section 3(a) shall take effect with the budget submission of 
     the President under section 1105(a) of title 31, United 
     States Code, for fiscal year 2022.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) and the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Graves) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Oregon.


                             General Leave

  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 1984.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Oregon?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1984, the Disclosing Aid Spent 
to Ensure Relief, or DISASTER Act, introduced by the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Peters).
  In 2018 alone, there were 14 natural disasters that each resulted in 
more than $1 billion in losses. Already in 2019, the President has 
granted over 50 major disaster emergency or fire management 
declarations under the authorities of the Stafford Act.
  While insurance partially covers the cost of disaster recovery, the 
Federal Government, along with State, local, Tribal, and territorial 
partners, is spending billions of dollars annually to respond to and 
recover from these events across more than three dozen departments and 
agencies. That results in the fact that there is no clear and 
consolidated information regarding Federal spending on disasters.
  The DISASTER Act would change that by requiring the Office of 
Management and Budget to annually compile and publicly release a report 
on disaster-related spending across the Federal Government.
  I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Peters) for introducing 
this bill so that we can obtain, in the future, this vital consolidated 
information and have it also be available to taxpayers of the United 
States.

[[Page H7289]]

  Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support this commonsense measure. 
It will do more to shed light on how limited taxpayer resources are 
being spent. Doing so will help better inform how we prioritize 
policies and spending to drive down disaster-related expenditures in 
the future and more effectively provide relief.
  Mr. Speaker, I strongly support this bill. I urge my colleagues to 
join me in support, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1984, the DISASTER Act, is a bipartisan piece of 
legislation that requires the Federal agencies across the government to 
report on how much they simply spend on disasters.
  I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Peters) and the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Meadows) for their work on this 
legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, you would think that we would know how much the Federal 
Government spends, actually spends, on disasters. We have estimates, 
but we simply don't know what the actual costs are across the Federal 
Government.
  This bill is going to help us get some real numbers. It is going to 
help us increase transparency for the taxpayer. It is going to help 
Congress make some much better-informed decisions.
  Mr. Speaker, I do support this legislation. I would encourage my 
colleagues to do the same, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Peters), the author of this excellent legislation.
  Mr. PETERS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. 
DeFazio) for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, as we in California and the West prepare for more 
scorching wildfires, the Southeast is in the heart of hurricane season, 
and the Midwest is still drying out from historic flooding. Across the 
country, natural disasters have taken the lives of loved ones, 
destroyed livelihoods, and caused irreparable damage to communities and 
businesses.
  Disasters are becoming larger, more dangerous and frequent, and 
significantly more expensive. According to the Federal Emergency 
Management Agency, there have been more than 2,400 federally declared 
disasters since 2000, totaling hundreds of billions of dollars in 
relief aid.
  However, when the Federal Government helps communities recover from 
these disasters, it does not calculate one comprehensive number of how 
much we spend on disasters per year. Those funds could come from 29 
different accounts across 11 different agencies, which exacerbates 
delays in disaster recovery and hinders future planning and future 
accountability. That is why I introduced the bipartisan Disclosing Aid 
Spent to Ensure Relief, or DISASTER Act with Representative Mark 
Meadows of North Carolina.
  This transparency bill is common sense. It requires the Office of 
Management and Budget, OMB, to publish an annual total of disaster-
related assistance categorized by disaster type, location, and purpose.
  With this and other smart reforms Congress is considering today, 
taxpayers will know where their dollars are going, and the Federal 
Government can be a better steward of those resources and will be 
better able to plan for the next disasters.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to pass this legislation today 
before the next big natural disaster hits.
  Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentlewoman from Puerto Rico (Miss Gonzalez-Colon).
  Miss GONZALEZ-COLON of Puerto Rico. Mr. Speaker, I thank the 
gentleman for yielding.
  I want to thank Representative Peters and Ranking Member Meadows of 
the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and 
Emergency Management for working on this critical legislation.
  As coming from one of those places that actually was impacted by a 
hurricane, I think this is one of the best ways to be accountable for 
the money that has been approved.
  I am a cosponsor of H.R. 1984, the DISASTER Act, which requires the 
Office of Management and Budget to submit an annual report to Congress 
on all disaster-related assistance provided by the Federal Government. 
The report must include all Federal obligations related to disaster 
response recovery, mitigation efforts, and administrative costs 
associated with these activities for specified agencies and programs.
  A lot has been said about how much money has been allocated to many 
jurisdictions across the different Federal agencies, so having this 
tool will help us understand how much in funds have been approved and 
where that money is going.
  To date, Puerto Rico has been appropriated $42 billion in disaster 
funding; $20.6 billion has been obligated; and only $13.6 billion has 
been outlaid or reached the island's needs.
  Having this information in a single report will help Congress and the 
public better understand the real cost of natural disasters and the 
benefits of investing in mitigation and adaptation efforts as well.
  This legislation will also provide transparency and accountability 
when it comes to disaster relief costs. That is the reason I am a proud 
cosponsor.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Peters and Ranking Member 
Meadows.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers at this time, 
and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GRAVES of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, again, you would think that we would have a better idea 
of what we actually spend on disasters. We obviously don't. This 
legislation is going to provide the transparency.
  Mr. Speaker, I think it is a good piece of legislation. I urge my 
colleagues to support it, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this excellent 
legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1984, 
the Disclosing Aid Spent to Ensure Relief Act'', or ``DISASTER Act'', 
which directs the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to 
submit to Congress a report on all disaster-related assistance provided 
by the Federal Government.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation is not only a reasonable exercise of 
Congress' power of oversight but it is also fiscally prudent.
  To understand the scope of disaster-related spending and expenditures 
by the Federal Government, Congress must have a comprehensive 
understanding of the various multi-agency and multiyear efforts in 
helping disaster-stricken areas recover.
  Additionally, having estimates of these expenditures for individual 
Federal agencies will also help inform the congressional appropriations 
process as well as presidential budget requests.
  Mr. Speaker, knowledge about disaster-related expenses will also 
yield opportunities for reducing these expenses through mitigative and 
preventative efforts.
  Because transparency and open government are important, it is 
essential that Congress has a single, publicly available estimate of 
spending on disaster-related assistance.
  The American people deserve to know how their tax dollars are being 
spent and how these dollars are being used to help them when disaster 
strikes.
  This report would also be crucial in helping educate the public about 
the numerous agencies involved in disaster relief efforts.
  While many would immediately recognize agencies such as FEMA and the 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, less conspicuous agencies such as NOAA, 
EPA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, play a crucial role in 
disaster relief.
  In short, H.R. 1984 will better inform both Congress and the public 
about what the Federal Government is doing to help those affected by 
disaster.
  I strongly urge all members to support this necessary and vital 
legislation.

                              {time}  1400

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 1984.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

[[Page H7290]]

  

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