II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5332 

To appropriate amounts to the Disaster Loans Program Account, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 14, 2024 

Mr. TILLIS (for himself, Mr. BUDD, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. WARNER, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina, and Ms. ERNST) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small 

Business and Entrepreneurship 

A BILL 

To appropriate amounts to the Disaster Loans Program 

Account, 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 ‘‘Restoring an Economic 

5 Lifeline with Immediate Emergency Funding Act’’ or the 

6 ‘‘RELIEF Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. SMALL BUSINESS DISASTER LOANS. 

8 (a) DIRECT APPROPRIATIONS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is appropriated, out 

2 of amounts in the Treasury not otherwise appro3 priated, for an additional amount for ‘‘Disaster 

4 Loans Program Account’’ for fiscal year 2025 for 

5 the cost of direct loans authorized by section 7(b) of 

6 the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)), 

7 $810,000,000, to remain available until expended, of 

8 which— 

9 (A) $10,000,000 shall be transferred to 

10 ‘‘Office of Inspector General’’ for audits and re11 views of disaster loans and the disaster loan 

12 programs; and 

13 (B) $250,000,000 may be transferred to 

14 ‘‘Salaries and Expenses’’ for administrative ex15 penses to carry out the disaster loan program 

16 authorized by such section 7(b). 

17 (2) PROHIBITION.—None of the funds appro18 priated under paragraph (1) may be used for indi19 rect administrative expenses. 

20 (3) EMERGENCY DESIGNATION.— 

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—The amounts provided 

22 by this subsection are designated as an emer23 gency requirement pursuant to section 4(g) of 

24 the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (2 

25 U.S.C. 933(g)). 


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1 (B) DESIGNATION IN HOUSE AND SEN2 ATE.—This subsection is designated as being 

3 for an emergency requirement pursuant to sec4 tion 4001(a)(1) of S. Con. Res. 14 (117th Con5 gress), the concurrent resolution on the budget 

6 for fiscal year 2022, and to legislation estab7 lishing fiscal year 2025 budget enforcement in 

8 the House of Representatives. 

9 (b) INSPECTOR GENERAL REVIEW.— 

10 (1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 

11 (A) the terms ‘‘Administration’’ and ‘‘Ad12 ministrator’’ mean the Small Business Adminis13 tration and the Administrator thereof, respec14 tively; 

15 (B) the term ‘‘appropriate committees of 

16 Congress’’ means the Committee on Small 

17 Business and Entrepreneurship and the Com18 mittee on Appropriations of the Senate and the 

19 Committee on Small Business and the Com20 mittee on Appropriations of the House of Rep21 resentatives; 

22 (C) the term ‘‘covered amounts’’ means 

23 amounts made available for the cost of direct 

24 loans authorized by section 7(b) of the Small 

25 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)); and 


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1 (D) the term ‘‘Inspector General’’ means 

2 the Inspector General of the Administration. 

3 (2) REVIEW.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Inspector General 

5 shall conduct a review of the circumstances and 

6 the underlying causes surrounding the funding 

7 shortfall with respect to covered amounts, as 

8 described in the letter from President Joseph 

9 R. Biden, Jr. entitled ‘‘Letter to Congress on 

10 Disaster Needs’’, dated October 4, 2024, and 

11 the letter from the Administrator submitted to 

12 the Chairs and Ranking Members of the Com13 mittees on Appropriations of the Senate and 

14 the House of Representatives, dated October 

15 10, 2024. 

16 (B) CONTENTS.—The review conducted 

17 under subparagraph (A) shall include, with re18 spect to the funding shortfall described in that 

19 subparagraph— 

20 (i) a comparison of monthly obliga21 tions of covered amounts against projected 

22 obligations of covered amounts; 

23 (ii) an analysis of the accuracy of pro24 jections and estimates related to projected 

25 obligations of covered amounts; 


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1 (iii) the identification and description 

2 of any internal controls in place to manage 

3 covered amounts; 

4 (iv) the identification of actions that 

5 the Administration can take to improve the 

6 accuracy of information submitted by the 

7 President under section 1105(a) of title 

8 31, United States Code, with respect to the 

9 Administration, prevent any future funding 

10 shortfall with respect to any account of the 

11 Administration, and improve the report 

12 submitted to the appropriate committees of 

13 Congress under section 12091(a) of the 

14 Small Business Disaster Response and 

15 Loan Improvements Act of 2008 (15 

16 U.S.C. 636k(a)); and 

17 (v) any other matter determined rel18 evant by the Inspector General. 

19 (C) REPORT ON FINDINGS.—Not later 

20 than 180 days after the date of enactment of 

21 this Act, the Inspector General shall submit to 

22 the appropriate committees of Congress a re23 port that contains the findings of the review 

24 conducted under subparagraph (A). 


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1 (3) REPORTS ON CORRECTIONS.—The Adminis2 trator shall submit to the appropriate committees of 

3 Congress— 

4 (A) not later than 30 days after the date 

5 of enactment of this Act, a report detailing cor6 rections the Administration will make to im7 prove forecasting, data quality, and budget as8 sumptions relating to budget submissions relat9 ing to amounts made available for the cost of 

10 direct loans authorized by section 7(b) of the 

11 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)); and 

12 (B) not later than 90 days after the date 

13 of enactment of this Act, and every 90 days 

14 thereafter until the date that is 90 days after 

15 the date on which all the corrections described 

16 in subparagraph (A) have been implemented, a 

17 report— 

18 (i) detailing the actions the Adminis19 tration has taken to implement the correc20 tions described in subparagraph (A); and 

21 (ii) explaining how each action de22 tailed under clause (i) is directly related to 

23 implementing 1 or more corrections de24 scribed in subparagraph (A). 

Æ 


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