[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 130 (Friday, August 7, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Page S4547]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         DOUG LaMALFA FEDERAL DISASTER TAX RELIEF CERTAINTY ACT

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous 
consent that the Committee on Finance be discharged from further 
consideration of H.R. 5366 and the Senate proceed to its immediate 
consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 5366) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 
     1986 to codify and extend the rules for personal casualty 
     losses arising from major disasters and the rules for the 
     exclusion from gross income of compensation for losses or 
     damages resulting from certain wildfires.

  There being no objection, the committee was discharged, and the 
Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be 
considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to 
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (H.R. 5366) was ordered to a third reading, was read the 
third time, and passed.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President and those following the debate, what this is 
all about is when you lose your home in a wildfire, the last thing you 
ought to be worried about is being hit by a massive tax bill.
  The bipartisan disaster relief bill that we just passed would give 
Oregonians and westerners affected by these blazes some real peace of 
mind. It would lift the massive tax burden and deliver financial relief 
to each American impacted by a federally designated natural disaster. 
It is going to get rid of totally unfair taxes on settlement payments 
and ensure disaster victims can deduct losses after disasters. That is 
an issue the Republicans created under Donald Trump in 2017.
  So, this is an important day for my constituents at home in Oregon 
and folks in the West because we are taking away what really amounts to 
a wrecking ball that has been hitting them in terms of the form of a 
massive tax hit.
  I urge my colleagues to get the word out about the important relief 
that has just been passed.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.

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