[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 212 (Tuesday, December 16, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8762-S8763]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              THE CALENDAR

  Mr. PETERS. Mr. President, I am going to be asking shortly for 
unanimous consent on three bills.
  The first one is my bipartisan Disaster Assistance Simplification 
Act, which basically makes a commonsense change to create a universal 
application for disaster survivors to more easily navigate the 
available Federal assistance after they have been hit by a natural 
disaster.
  Currently, disaster survivors must complete separate and detailed 
applications, often with duplicative questions, which can take weeks 
and sometimes months to complete--something folks who are suffering 
from a natural disaster simply don't have the time for, and certainly 
they need immediate help. The separate processes can be overwhelming to 
disaster survivors who are just trying to piece their lives back 
together, causing many to give up on seeking the help they certainly 
are qualified for.
  My bill would simply ask Federal Agencies to design one combined 
application and work together to share information amongst themselves, 
with the necessary data-sharing protections in place, to make the 
obstacles to overcoming a disaster a bit less onerous for folks who are 
suffering.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in passing this bill, which passed 
through the Senate unanimously in the last Congress. I believe we must 
make this simple change so that when disaster strikes, disaster 
survivors can more easily access the assistance they certainly deserve.
  The second bill is my bipartisan U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
Officer Retirement Technical Corrections Act, which ensures that a 
number of DHS law enforcement officers will receive the retirement 
benefits that they were promised--that they were promised--when 
starting their service almost 20 years ago.
  In 2008, CBP incorrectly informed a group of newly hired officers 
that they would be eligible for an enhanced retirement benefit without 
having to hit a certain retirement age or reach 20 years of service to 
qualify. CBP realized this mistake a decade later--a full 10 years 
later--and in 2021, that group of officers abruptly lost access to the 
retirement package they were promised when they were hired.
  This bill directs CBP, along with the Office of Personnel Management, 
to provide those affected officers the benefits they were promised when 
they accepted those positions.
  None of us would stand for the government telling us after almost 20 
years of service that we were not going to receive the benefits we were 
promised when we began those positions. We shouldn't expect these law 
enforcement officers to do so either.
  This bill is necessary to fix an Agency error that upended the 
retirement plans of 1,400 officers, including 70 officers who live in 
my State of Michigan.
  Last Congress, the Senate unanimously passed this bill, and I urge my 
colleagues to support this bipartisan bill once again.
  The final bill, the third bill, is my bipartisan, commonsense bill, 
Helping Eliminate Limitations for Prompt Response and Recovery Act, and 
is going to repeal section 695 of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management 
Reform Act of 2006, which limits the length of certain contracts in the 
aftermath of a disaster.
  This bill aligns the Department of Homeland Security with more recent 
governmentwide rules. Matching DHS with governmentwide requirements 
will alleviate confusion and streamline the response to and recovery 
from disasters.

[[Page S8763]]

  This is a straightforward, good-governance step that will benefit 
disaster survivors; therefore, I urge my colleagues to join me in 
passing this bill, which the Senate previously passed by unanimous 
consent in the 118th Congress.
  Mr. President, notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent 
that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of the following 
bills en bloc: Calendar No. 252, S. 594; Calendar No. 253, S. 727; and 
Calendar No. 264, S. 861.
  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bills 
en bloc.
  Mr. PETERS. Mr. President, I further ask that the bills be considered 
read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be 
considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or 
debate, all en bloc.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill was passed, as follows:

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