I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION 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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 28, 2019 

Mr. PETERS (for himself, Mr. MEADOWS, Mr. CISNEROS, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. 

GARAMENDI, Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana, Mr. HARDER of California, Ms. 

HILL of California, Mrs. MCBATH, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. 

ROUDA, Mr. TONKO, and Mr. WEBER of Texas) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

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. 

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 ‘‘Disclosing Aid Spent 

5 to Ensure Relief Act’’ or the ‘‘DISASTER Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) At a time of constrained budgets, it is fis4 cally prudent to understand the amount and the 

5 scope of the Federal Government’s involvement in 

6 providing disaster-related assistance to communities 

7 in need. 

8 (2) The Federal Government does not provide 

9 a single, publicly available estimate of the amount it 

10 is spending on disaster-related assistance. 

11 (3) Because recovery is a long-term process, 

12 providing disaster-related assistance requires signifi13 cant Federal resources to support a multi-agency, 

14 multi-year restoration of infrastructure and com15 merce in affected communities. 

16 (4) Understanding the expenditures of indi17 vidual Federal agencies for disaster-related assist18 ance will help better inform the congressional appro19 priations process, as well as presidential budget re20 quests. 

21 (5) Knowledge about disaster-related expenses 

22 will illustrate opportunities for reducing these ex23 penses through efforts to reduce vulnerabilities to 

24 future natural disasters. 


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1 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

2 The purpose of this Act is to require the Director 

3 of the Office of Management and Budget to annually sub4 mit to Congress a report on all disaster-related assistance 

5 provided by the Federal Government. 

6 SEC. 4. REPORTING OF DISASTER-RELATED ASSISTANCE. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 11 of title 31, United 

8 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing new section: 

10 ‘‘§ 1127. Reporting of disaster-related assistance 

11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—On the same day that the Presi12 dent makes the annual budget submission to the Congress 

13 under section 1105(a) for a fiscal year, the Director of 

14 the Office of Management and Budget shall submit to 

15 Congress a report on Federal disaster-related assistance 

16 for the fiscal year ending in the calendar year immediately 

17 preceding the calendar year in which the annual budget 

18 submission is made. Disaster-related assistance encom19 passes Federal obligations related to disaster response, re20 covery, and mitigation efforts, as well as administrative 

21 costs associated with these activities, including spending 

22 by the following agencies and programs: 

23 ‘‘(1) Department of Agriculture: 

24 ‘‘(A) Agriculture Research Service. 

25 ‘‘(B) Farm Service Agency. 

26 ‘‘(C) Food and Nutrition Service. 


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1 ‘‘(D) Natural Resource Conservation Serv2 ice. 

3 ‘‘(E) Forest Service. 

4 ‘‘(F) Rural Housing Service. 

5 ‘‘(G) Rural Utilities Service. 

6 ‘‘(2) Department of Commerce: 

7 ‘‘(A) National Marine Fisheries Service of 

8 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin9 istration. 

10 ‘‘(B) Economic Development Administra11 tion Economic Adjustment Assistance. 

12 ‘‘(3) Army Corps of Engineers of the Depart13 ment of Defense (Civil). 

14 ‘‘(4) Department of Defense (Military): 

15 ‘‘(A) Military Personnel. 

16 ‘‘(B) Operations and Maintenance. 

17 ‘‘(C) Procurement. 

18 ‘‘(D) Research, Development, Test, and 

19 Evaluation. 

20 ‘‘(E) Military Construction (MILCON) and 

21 Family Housing. 

22 ‘‘(F) Management Funds. 

23 ‘‘(G) Other Department of Defense Pro24 grams. 

25 ‘‘(5) Department of Education: 


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1 ‘‘(A) Elementary and Secondary Edu2 cation. 

3 ‘‘(B) Higher Education. 

4 ‘‘(6) Department of Health and Human Serv5 ices: 

6 ‘‘(A) Administration for Children and 

7 Families. 

8 ‘‘(B) Public Health and Medical Assist9 ance. 

10 ‘‘(C) Public Health Emergency Fund. 

11 ‘‘(7) Department of Homeland Security: 

12 ‘‘(A) Federal Emergency Management 

13 Agency: 

14 ‘‘(i) Emergency Declarations. 

15 ‘‘(ii) Fire Management Assistance 

16 Grants. 

17 ‘‘(iii) Major Disaster Declarations. 

18 ‘‘(iv) Administrative Assistance. 

19 ‘‘(B) FEMA Missions Assignments by 

20 Federal Agency. 

21 ‘‘(C) Community Disaster Loan Program. 

22 ‘‘(8) Department of Housing and Urban Devel23 opment (HUD): 

24 ‘‘(A) Community Development Block 

25 Grants. 


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1 ‘‘(B) Rental Assistance/Section 8 Vouch2 ers. 

3 ‘‘(C) Supportive Housing. 

4 ‘‘(D) Public Housing Repair. 

5 ‘‘(E) Inspector General. 

6 ‘‘(9) Department of the Interior: 

7 ‘‘(A) Bureau of Indian Affairs. 

8 ‘‘(B) United States Fish and Wildlife Serv9 ice. 

10 ‘‘(C) National Park Service. 

11 ‘‘(D) Wildland Fire Management. 

12 ‘‘(10) Department of Justice: 

13 ‘‘(A) Legal Activities. 

14 ‘‘(B) United States Marshals Service. 

15 ‘‘(C) Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

16 ‘‘(D) Drug Enforcement Administration. 

17 ‘‘(E) Bureau of Tobacco, Firearms, and 

18 Explosives. 

19 ‘‘(F) Federal Prison System (Bureau of 

20 Prisons). 

21 ‘‘(G) Office of Justice Programs. 

22 ‘‘(11) Department of Labor: 

23 ‘‘(A) National Emergency Grants for Dis24 location Events. 


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1 ‘‘(B) Workforce Investment Act (WIA) 

2 Dislocated Worker Program. 

3 ‘‘(12) Department of Transportation: 

4 ‘‘(A) Federal Highway Administration: 

5 Emergency Relief Program (ER). 

6 ‘‘(B) Federal Aviation Administration 

7 (FAA). 

8 ‘‘(C) Federal Transit Administration 

9 (FTA). 

10 ‘‘(13) Department of the Treasury: Internal 

11 Revenue Service. 

12 ‘‘(14) Department of Veterans Affairs. 

13 ‘‘(15) Corporation for National and Community 

14 Service. 

15 ‘‘(16) Environmental Protection Agency: 

16 ‘‘(A) Hurricane Emergency Response Au17 thorities. 

18 ‘‘(B) EPA Hurricane Response. 

19 ‘‘(C) EPA Regular Appropriations. 

20 ‘‘(17) The Federal Judiciary. 

21 ‘‘(18) Disaster Assistance Program of the Small 

22 Business Administration. 

23 ‘‘(19) Department of Energy: 

24 ‘‘(A) Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Secu25 rity, and Emergency Response. 


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1 ‘‘(B) Office of Petroleum Services. 

2 ‘‘(20) General Services Administration. 

3 ‘‘(21) Other authorities as appropriate. 

4 ‘‘(b) CONTENT.—The report shall detail the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘(1) Overall amount of disaster-related assist7 ance obligations during the fiscal year. 

8 ‘‘(2) Disaster-related assistance obligations by 

9 agency and account. 

10 ‘‘(3) Disaster for which the spending was obli11 gated. 

12 ‘‘(4) Obligations by disaster. 

13 ‘‘(5) Disaster-related assistance by disaster 

14 type. 

15 ‘‘(6) Response and recovery spending. 

16 ‘‘(7) Mitigation spending. 

17 ‘‘(8) Spending in the form of loans. 

18 ‘‘(9) Spending in the form of grants. 

19 ‘‘(c) AVAILABILITY OF REPORT.—The report shall be 

20 made publicly available on the website of the Office of 

21 Management and Budget and should be searchable, sort22 able and downloadable.’’. 

23 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of chap24 ters for chapter 11 of title 31, United States Code, is 

25 amended by adding at the end the following new item: 

‘‘1127. Reporting of disaster-related assistance.’’. 


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1 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

2 The reporting requirement under the amendment 

3 made by section 3(a) shall take effect with the budget sub4 mission of the President under section 1105(a) of title 31, 

5 United States Code, for fiscal year 2022. 

Æ 


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