I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1542

To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 

Act to modify the terms of the community disaster loan program, to 

authorize assistance under that program for losses related to the terrorist 

attacks of September 11, 2001, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 1, 2003

Mrs. MALONEY (for herself, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. 

MCNULTY, Mr. OWENS, Mr. NADLER, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr. CROWLEY, and 

Mrs. LOWEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL

To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to modify the terms of the community disaster loan program, to authorize assistance under 

that program for losses related to the terrorist attacks 

of September 11, 2001, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘ ‘Whatever It Takes’ 

5 To Rebuild Act of 2003’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Major disasters, including disasters caused 

4 by terrorist acts, often result in a decline in eco5 nomic activity in areas affected by the disaster and 

6 a reduction in tax collections by State and local gov7 ernments serving those areas. 

8 (2) A report of the General Accounting Office 

9 entitled ‘‘Review of the Estimates for the Impact of 

10 the September 11, 2001, Terrorist Attacks on New 

11 York Tax Revenues’’, dated July 26, 2002, found 

12 the following estimates by the New York City and 

13 State budget offices to be reasonably approximate—

14 (A) for fiscal year 2002, tax revenue losses 

15 for New York City will be $1,600,000,000 and 

16 tax revenue losses for the State of New York 

17 will be $1,600,000,000; and 

18 (B) for fiscal year 2003, tax revenue losses 

19 for New York City will be $1,400,000,000 and 

20 tax revenue losses for the State of New York 

21 will be $4,200,000,000. 

22 (3) Under the community disaster loan program 

23 (in this section referred to as the ‘‘CDL program’’), 

24 as authorized by the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 

25 Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, the President 

26 may make loans to a local government suffering a 
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1 substantial loss of tax and other revenues as a result 

2 of a major disaster, if the local government dem3 onstrates a need for financial assistance in order to 

4 preform its governmental function. 

5 (4) The President may cancel the repayment of 

6 all or any part of a loan made to a local government 

7 under the CDL program if revenues following the 

8 disaster are insufficient to meet the operating budg9 et of that local government as a result of disaster10 related revenue losses and additional unreimbursed 

11 disaster-related municipal operating expenses. In the 

12 case of a major disaster resulting from a terrorist 

13 attack, repayment of interest or principal on a loan 

14 made under the CDL program should not be re15 quired. 

16 (5) Assistance provided under the CDL pro17 gram in the past has been instrumental in aiding the 

18 full recovery of local governments following a major 

19 disaster. 

20 (6) The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 estab21 lished a $5,000,000 limitation on loans made to a 

22 local government under the CDL program in connec23 tion with a major disaster. Before the date of enact24 ment of that Act, there was not any limitation on 

25 the amount of such loans. 
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1 (7) The $5,000,0000 limitation is inequitable 

2 when applied to a local government serving a largely 

3 populated area, such as New York City, and is in4 consistent with the objective of the CDL program to 

5 provide meaningful assistance to a local government 

6 recovering from a major disaster. 

7 (8) Following the terrorist attacks of September 

8 11, 2001, President George W. Bush has been fre9 quently quoted as directing the Federal Government 

10 to do ‘‘whatever it takes’’ to help New York City re11 cover and rebuild. In this spirit of resolve, assistance 

12 for should be provided to New York City and the 

13 State of New York for the loss of tax and other rev14 enues as a direct result of these attacks. 

15 SEC. 3. COMMUNITY DISASTER LOANS. 

16 (a) ELIGIBILITY OF STATES.—Section 417 of the 

17 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist18 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5184) is amended by striking ‘‘local 

19 government’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘State 

20 or local government’’. 

21 (b) AMOUNT.—Section 417(b) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

22 5184(b)) is amended—

23 (1) by striking ‘‘based on need, shall’’ and in24 serting ‘‘based on need and shall’’; and 
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1 (2) by striking ‘‘, and shall not exceed 

2 $5,000,000’’. 

3 (c) MAJOR DISASTERS CAUSED BY TERRORIST AT4 TACKS.—Section 417 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 5184) is 

5 amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(e) MAJOR DISASTERS CAUSED BY TERRORIST AT7 TACKS.—The President shall not require the payment of 

8 any interest or principal on a loan made under this section 

9 to a State or local government which may suffer a sub10 stantial loss of tax and other revenues as a result of a 

11 major disaster caused by a terrorist attack.’’. 

12 (d) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by this 

13 section shall apply with respect to any major disaster oc14 curring on or after October 30, 2000. 

15 SEC. 4. COMMUNITY DISASTER LOANS FOR LOSSES RE16 LATED TO TERRORIST ATTACKS OF SEP17 TEMBER 11, 2001. 

18 The President is authorized to make loans to New 

19 York City and the State of New York under section 417 

20 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 

21 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5184), as amended by this Act, 

22 for losses of tax and other revenues as a result of the 

23 major disaster caused by the terrorist attacks of Sep24 tember 11, 2002. Subject to the availability of appropria25 tions, the total amount of such loans shall be 
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1 $8,800,000,000 or such greater amount as is determined 

2 by the President to be necessary to cover such losses. In 

3 accordance with section 417(e) of such Act, as added by 

4 section 3(c) of this Act, the President shall not require 

5 the payment of any interest or principal on such loans.

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