DISASTER Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2052 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 Gov- ernment. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 18, 2021 Mr. PETERS (for himself and Miss GONZA´LEZ-COLO´N) introduced the fol- lowing 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 Gov- ernment. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Disclosing Aid Spent 4 to Ensure Relief Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘DISASTER Act 5 of 2021’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 May 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2052.IH H2052 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2052 IH SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 Congress finds the following: 2 (1) At a time of constrained budgets, it is fis- 3 cally prudent to understand the amount and the 4 scope of the Federal Government’s involvement in 5 providing disaster-related assistance to communities 6 in need. 7 (2) The Federal Government does not provide 8 a single, publicly available estimate of the amount it 9 is spending on disaster-related assistance. 10 (3) Because recovery is a long-term process, 11 providing disaster-related assistance requires signifi- 12 cant Federal resources to support a multi-agency, 13 multi-year restoration of infrastructure and com- 14 merce in affected communities. 15 (4) Understanding the expenditures of indi- 16 vidual Federal agencies for disaster-related assist- 17 ance will help better inform the congressional appro- 18 priations process, as well as presidential budget re- 19 quests. 20 (5) Knowledge about disaster-related expenses 21 will illustrate opportunities for reducing these ex- 22 penses through efforts to reduce vulnerabilities to 23 future natural disasters. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 May 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2052.IH H2052 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2052 IH SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 1 The purpose of this Act is to require the Director 2 of the Office of Management and Budget to annually sub- 3 mit to Congress a report on all disaster-related assistance 4 provided by the Federal Government. 5 SEC. 4. REPORTING OF DISASTER-RELATED ASSISTANCE. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 11 of title 31, United 7 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 8 lowing new section: 9 ‘‘§ 1127. Reporting of disaster-related assistance 10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—On the same day that the Presi- 11 dent makes the annual budget submission to the Congress 12 under section 1105(a) for a fiscal year, the Director of 13 the Office of Management and Budget shall submit to 14 Congress a report on Federal disaster-related assistance 15 for the fiscal year ending in the calendar year immediately 16 preceding the calendar year in which the annual budget 17 submission is made. Disaster-related assistance encom- 18 passes Federal obligations related to disaster response, re- 19 covery, and mitigation efforts, as well as administrative 20 costs associated with these activities, including spending 21 by the following agencies and programs: 22 ‘‘(1) Department of Agriculture: 23 ‘‘(A) Agriculture Research Service. 24 ‘‘(B) Farm Service Agency. 25 ‘‘(C) Food and Nutrition Service. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 May 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2052.IH H2052 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2052 IH ‘‘(D) Natural Resource Conservation Serv- 1 ice. 2 ‘‘(E) Forest Service. 3 ‘‘(F) Rural Housing Service. 4 ‘‘(G) Rural Utilities Service. 5 ‘‘(2) Department of Commerce: 6 ‘‘(A) National Marine Fisheries Service of 7 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin- 8 istration. 9 ‘‘(B) Economic Development Administra- 10 tion Economic Adjustment Assistance. 11 ‘‘(3) Army Corps of Engineers of the Depart- 12 ment of Defense (Civil). 13 ‘‘(4) Department of Defense (Military): 14 ‘‘(A) Military Personnel. 15 ‘‘(B) Operations and Maintenance. 16 ‘‘(C) Procurement. 17 ‘‘(D) Research, Development, Test, and 18 Evaluation. 19 ‘‘(E) Military Construction (MILCON) and 20 Family Housing. 21 ‘‘(F) Management Funds. 22 ‘‘(G) Other Department of Defense Pro- 23 grams. 24 ‘‘(5) Department of Education: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 May 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2052.IH H2052 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2052 IH ‘‘(A) Elementary and Secondary Edu- 1 cation. 2 ‘‘(B) Higher Education. 3 ‘‘(6) Department of Health and Human Serv- 4 ices: 5 ‘‘(A) Administration for Children and 6 Families. 7 ‘‘(B) Public Health and Medical Assist- 8 ance. 9 ‘‘(C) Public Health Emergency Fund. 10 ‘‘(7) Department of Homeland Security: 11 ‘‘(A) Federal Emergency Management 12 Agency: 13 ‘‘(i) Emergency Declarations. 14 ‘‘(ii) Fire Management Assistance 15 Grants. 16 ‘‘(iii) Major Disaster Declarations. 17 ‘‘(iv) Administrative Assistance. 18 ‘‘(B) FEMA Missions Assignments by 19 Federal Agency. 20 ‘‘(C) Community Disaster Loan Program. 21 ‘‘(8) Department of Housing and Urban Devel- 22 opment (HUD): 23 ‘‘(A) Community Development Block 24 Grants. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 May 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2052.IH H2052 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2052 IH ‘‘(B) Rental Assistance/Section 8 Vouch- 1 ers. 2 ‘‘(C) Supportive Housing. 3 ‘‘(D) Public Housing Repair. 4 ‘‘(E) Inspector General. 5 ‘‘(9) Department of the Interior: 6 ‘‘(A) Bureau of Indian Affairs. 7 ‘‘(B) United States Fish and Wildlife Serv- 8 ice. 9 ‘‘(C) National Park Service. 10 ‘‘(D) Wildland Fire Management. 11 ‘‘(10) Department of Justice: 12 ‘‘(A) Legal Activities. 13 ‘‘(B) United States Marshals Service. 14 ‘‘(C) Federal Bureau of Investigation. 15 ‘‘(D) Drug Enforcement Administration. 16 ‘‘(E) Bureau of Tobacco, Firearms, and 17 Explosives. 18 ‘‘(F) Federal Prison System (Bureau of 19 Prisons). 20 ‘‘(G) Office of Justice Programs. 21 ‘‘(11) Department of Labor: 22 ‘‘(A) National Emergency Grants for Dis- 23 location Events. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 May 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2052.IH H2052 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2052 IH ‘‘(B) Workforce Investment Act (WIA) 1 Dislocated Worker Program. 2 ‘‘(12) Department of Transportation: 3 ‘‘(A) Federal Highway Administration: 4 Emergency Relief Program (ER). 5 ‘‘(B) Federal Aviation Administration 6 (FAA). 7 ‘‘(C) Federal Transit Administration 8 (FTA). 9 ‘‘(13) Department of the Treasury: Internal 10 Revenue Service. 11 ‘‘(14) Department of Veterans Affairs. 12 ‘‘(15) Corporation for National and Community 13 Service. 14 ‘‘(16) Environmental Protection Agency: 15 ‘‘(A) Hurricane Emergency Response Au- 16 thorities. 17 ‘‘(B) EPA Hurricane Response. 18 ‘‘(C) EPA Regular Appropriations. 19 ‘‘(17) The Federal Judiciary. 20 ‘‘(18) Disaster Assistance Program of the Small 21 Business Administration. 22 ‘‘(19) Department of Energy: 23 ‘‘(A) Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Secu- 24 rity, and Emergency Response. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 May 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2052.IH H2052 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2052 IH ‘‘(B) Office of Petroleum Services. 1 ‘‘(20) General Services Administration. 2 ‘‘(21) Other authorities as appropriate. 3 ‘‘(b) CONTENT.—The report shall detail the fol- 4 lowing: 5 ‘‘(1) Overall amount of disaster-related assist- 6 ance obligations during the fiscal year. 7 ‘‘(2) Disaster-related assistance obligations by 8 agency and account. 9 ‘‘(3) Disaster for which the spending was obli- 10 gated. 11 ‘‘(4) Obligations by disaster. 12 ‘‘(5) Disaster-related assistance by disaster 13 type. 14 ‘‘(6) Response and recovery spending. 15 ‘‘(7) Mitigation spending. 16 ‘‘(8) Spending in the form of loans. 17 ‘‘(9) Spending in the form of grants. 18 ‘‘(c) AVAILABILITY OF REPORT.—The report shall be 19 made publicly available on the website of the Office of 20 Management and Budget and should be searchable, sort- 21 able and downloadable.’’. 22 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of chap- 23 ters for chapter 11 of title 31, United States Code, is 24 amended by adding at the end the following new item: 25 ‘‘1127. Reporting of disaster-related assistance.’’. VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 May 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H2052.IH H2052 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2052 IH SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 1 The reporting requirement under the amendment 2 made by section 3(a) shall take effect with the budget sub- 3 mission of the President under section 1105(a) of title 31, 4 United States Code, for fiscal year 2023. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:15 May 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2052.IH H2052 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS