I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2364
To provide for a waiver of duplication of benefits for certain assistance
under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance
Act as a result of a major disaster or emergency, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH26, 2025
Mr. E
DWARDS(for himself, Mr. DAVISof North Carolina, and Ms. FOXX) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure
A BILL
To provide for a waiver of duplication of benefits for certain
assistance under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief
and Emergency Assistance Act as a result of a major
disaster or emergency, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘Helene Small Business 4
Recovery Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. WAIVER OF DUPLICATION OF BENEFITS. 6
(a) W
AIVER OFGENERALPROHIBITION.— 7
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(1) IN GENERAL.—The President may waive 1
the general prohibition provided in section 312(a) of 2
the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emer-3
gency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5155(a)) upon re-4
quest of a Governor on behalf of the State or on be-5
half of a person, business concern, or any other enti-6
ty suffering losses as a result of a major disaster or 7
emergency, if the President finds such waiver is in 8
the public interest and will not result in waste, 9
fraud, or abuse. In making this decision, the Presi-10
dent may consider the following: 11
(A) The recommendations of the Adminis-12
tration of the Federal Emergency Management 13
Agency made in consultation with the Federal 14
agency or agencies administering the duplicative 15
program. 16
(B) If a wavier is granted, the assistance 17
to be funded is cost effective. 18
(C) Equity and good conscience. 19
(D) Other matters of public policy consid-20
ered appropriate by the President. 21
(2) G
RANT OR DENIAL OF WAIVER .—A request 22
under paragraph (1) shall be granted or denied not 23
later than 45 days after submission of such request. 24
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(3) PROHIBITION ON DETERMINATION THAT 1
LOAN IS A DUPLICATION .—Notwithstanding section 2
312(c) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 3
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5155(c)), in 4
carrying out paragraph (1), the President may not 5
determine that a loan is a duplication of assistance, 6
provided that all Federal assistance is used toward 7
a loss suffered as a result of the major disaster or 8
emergency. 9
(4) P
ROHIBITION ON INCOME THRESHOLD .—In 10
carrying out this subsection, no income threshold 11
may be applied to limit the eligibility of a recipient 12
from qualifying for a waiver. 13
(b) A
PPLICABILITY.—Subsection (a) shall apply to 14
the provision of assistance in response to a major disaster 15
declared by the President under the Robert T. Stafford 16
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act that oc-17
curred in calendar year 2023 or 2024. 18
Æ
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