I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2836 
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 
Act to provide for the authority to reimburse local governments or 
electric cooperatives for interest expenses, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 10, 2025 
Mr. DUNN of Florida (for himself, Mr. SOTO, Ms. LEE of Florida, Mr. CAR-
TER of Louisiana, Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana, Mr. MOORE of Alabama, 
Mr. WEBSTER
of Florida, Mr. GIMENEZ, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. 
MOSKOWITZ, Mr. DONALDS, and Mr. MILLS) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infra-
structure 
A BILL 
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-
gency Assistance Act to provide for the authority to 
reimburse local governments or electric cooperatives for 
interest expenses, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘FEMA Loan Interest 
Payment Relief Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. REIMBURSEMENT OF INTEREST PAYMENTS RE-
LATED TO PUBLIC ASSISTANCE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title IV of the Robert T. Stafford 
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 
5170 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘SEC. 431. REIMBURSEMENT OF INTEREST PAYMENTS RE-
LATED TO PUBLIC ASSISTANCE. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The President, acting through 
the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency, shall provide financial assistance to a local gov-
ernment or electric cooperative as reimbursement for 
qualifying interest. 
‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—In this section, the fol-
lowing definitions apply: 
‘‘(A) QUALIFYING
INTEREST.—The term 
‘qualifying interest’ means, with respect to a 
qualifying loan, the lesser of— 
‘‘(i) the actual interest paid to a lend-
er for such qualifying loan; and 
‘‘(ii) the interest that would have been 
paid to a lender if such qualifying loan had 
an interest rate equal to the prime rate 
most recently published on the Federal Re-
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serve Statistical Release on selected inter-
est rates. 
‘‘(B) QUALIFYING LOAN.—The term ‘quali-
fying loan’ means a loan— 
‘‘(i) obtained by a local government or 
electric cooperative; and 
‘‘(ii) of which not less than 90 percent 
of the proceeds are used to fund activities 
for which such local government or electric 
cooperative receives assistance under this 
Act after the date on which such loan is 
disbursed. 
‘‘(2) LOCAL
GOVERNMENT.—For purposes of 
this section, the term ‘local government’ includes the 
District of Columbia.’’. 
(b) RULES OF APPLICABILITY.— 
(1) ELIGIBILITY.—Any qualifying interest (as 
such term is defined in section 431 of the Robert T. 
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 
Act, as added by this Act) incurred by a local gov-
ernment or electric cooperative in the 9 years pre-
ceding the date of enactment of this Act shall be 
treated as eligible for financial assistance for pur-
poses of such section. 
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(2) APPROPRIATIONS.—Only amounts appro-
priated on or after the date of enactment of this Act 
may be made available to carry out the amendment 
made by this section. 
(c) ALTERNATIVE PROCEDURES FOR OUTSTANDING 
QUALIFYING INTEREST REIMBURSEMENT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, not later than 30 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the President, acting 
through the Administrator of the Federal Emer-
gency Management Agency, shall establish and pub-
lish in the Federal Register alternative procedures 
for States to obtain reimbursement for qualifying 
loan interest (as such term is defined in section 
431(b) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 
Emergency Assistance Act, as added by this Act) eli-
gible under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et. 
seq) for all projects pending obligation as of the date 
of enactment of this Act. 
(2) APPLICATION.—A State requesting reim-
bursement pursuant to paragraph (1) shall submit 
an application to the President, acting through the 
Administrator of the Federal Emergency Manage-
ment Agency, for outstanding qualifying interest re-
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