| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 2364 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To provide for a waiver of duplication of benefits for certain assistance |
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| 6 | 6 | | under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance |
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| 7 | 7 | | Act as a result of a major disaster or emergency, and for other purposes. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 9 | 9 | | MARCH26, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Mr. E |
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| 11 | 11 | | DWARDS(for himself, Mr. DAVISof North Carolina, and Ms. FOXX) in- |
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| 12 | 12 | | troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on |
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| 13 | 13 | | Transportation and Infrastructure |
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| 14 | 14 | | A BILL |
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| 15 | 15 | | To provide for a waiver of duplication of benefits for certain |
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| 16 | 16 | | assistance under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief |
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| 17 | 17 | | and Emergency Assistance Act as a result of a major |
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| 18 | 18 | | disaster or emergency, and for other purposes. |
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| 19 | 19 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 20 | 20 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 21 | 21 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 22 | 22 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Helene Small Business 4 |
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| 23 | 23 | | Recovery Act’’. 5 |
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| 24 | 24 | | SEC. 2. WAIVER OF DUPLICATION OF BENEFITS. 6 |
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| 25 | 25 | | (a) W |
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| 26 | 26 | | AIVER OFGENERALPROHIBITION.— 7 |
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| 28 | 28 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 29 | 29 | | •HR 2364 IH |
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| 30 | 30 | | (1) IN GENERAL.—The President may waive 1 |
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| 31 | 31 | | the general prohibition provided in section 312(a) of 2 |
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| 32 | 32 | | the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-3 |
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| 33 | 33 | | gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5155(a)) upon re-4 |
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| 34 | 34 | | quest of a Governor on behalf of the State or on be-5 |
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| 35 | 35 | | half of a person, business concern, or any other enti-6 |
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| 36 | 36 | | ty suffering losses as a result of a major disaster or 7 |
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| 37 | 37 | | emergency, if the President finds such waiver is in 8 |
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| 38 | 38 | | the public interest and will not result in waste, 9 |
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| 39 | 39 | | fraud, or abuse. In making this decision, the Presi-10 |
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| 40 | 40 | | dent may consider the following: 11 |
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| 41 | 41 | | (A) The recommendations of the Adminis-12 |
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| 42 | 42 | | tration of the Federal Emergency Management 13 |
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| 43 | 43 | | Agency made in consultation with the Federal 14 |
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| 44 | 44 | | agency or agencies administering the duplicative 15 |
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| 45 | 45 | | program. 16 |
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| 46 | 46 | | (B) If a wavier is granted, the assistance 17 |
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| 47 | 47 | | to be funded is cost effective. 18 |
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| 48 | 48 | | (C) Equity and good conscience. 19 |
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| 49 | 49 | | (D) Other matters of public policy consid-20 |
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| 50 | 50 | | ered appropriate by the President. 21 |
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| 51 | 51 | | (2) G |
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| 52 | 52 | | RANT OR DENIAL OF WAIVER .—A request 22 |
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| 53 | 53 | | under paragraph (1) shall be granted or denied not 23 |
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| 54 | 54 | | later than 45 days after submission of such request. 24 |
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| 56 | 56 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 57 | 57 | | •HR 2364 IH |
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| 58 | 58 | | (3) PROHIBITION ON DETERMINATION THAT 1 |
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| 59 | 59 | | LOAN IS A DUPLICATION .—Notwithstanding section 2 |
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| 60 | 60 | | 312(c) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 3 |
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| 61 | 61 | | Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5155(c)), in 4 |
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| 62 | 62 | | carrying out paragraph (1), the President may not 5 |
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| 63 | 63 | | determine that a loan is a duplication of assistance, 6 |
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| 64 | 64 | | provided that all Federal assistance is used toward 7 |
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| 65 | 65 | | a loss suffered as a result of the major disaster or 8 |
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| 66 | 66 | | emergency. 9 |
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| 67 | 67 | | (4) P |
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| 68 | 68 | | ROHIBITION ON INCOME THRESHOLD .—In 10 |
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| 69 | 69 | | carrying out this subsection, no income threshold 11 |
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| 70 | 70 | | may be applied to limit the eligibility of a recipient 12 |
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| 71 | 71 | | from qualifying for a waiver. 13 |
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| 72 | 72 | | (b) A |
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| 73 | 73 | | PPLICABILITY.—Subsection (a) shall apply to 14 |
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| 74 | 74 | | the provision of assistance in response to a major disaster 15 |
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| 75 | 75 | | declared by the President under the Robert T. Stafford 16 |
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| 76 | 76 | | Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act that oc-17 |
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| 77 | 77 | | curred in calendar year 2023 or 2024. 18 |
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| 78 | 78 | | Æ |
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| 80 | 80 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
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