II
Calendar No. 22
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 300
To improve accountability in the disaster loan program of the Small Business
Administration, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY29, 2025
Mr. B
UDD(for himself, Ms. ERNST, Mr. SCOTTof South Carolina, Mr.
T
ILLIS, Mr. HUSTED, Mr. JUSTICE, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. RISCH, and Mrs.
S
HAHEEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re-
ferred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
M
ARCH4, 2025
Reported by Ms. E
RNST, with an amendment
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
A BILL
To improve accountability in the disaster loan program of
the Small Business Administration, 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
SECTION1.SHORTTITLE. 3
ThisActmaybecitedasthe‘‘DisasterLoanAc-4
countabilityandReformAct’’orthe‘‘DLARA’’. 5
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SEC.2.TABLEOFCONTENTS. 1
ThetableofcontentsforthisActisasfollows: 2
Sec.1.Shorttitle.
Sec.2.Tableofcontents.
Sec.3.Definitions.
Sec.4.Monthlydisasterloanreports.
Sec.5.Budgetrequestrelatingtodisasterloans.
Sec.6.Limitationsonloanforgiveness.
Sec.7.Limitsondisasterloans.
Sec.8.ProhibitionregardingSBArulesrelatingtodisasterloans.
Sec.9.GAOreportondisasterloanchanges.
Sec.10.SBAInspectorGeneralreview.
Sec.11.Budgetandforecastingreportregardingthecostofdirectdisaster
loans.
SEC.3.DEFINITIONS. 3
InthisAct— 4
(1)theterms‘‘Administration’’and‘‘Adminis-5
trator’’meantheSmallBusinessAdministration 6
andtheAdministratorthereof,respectively;and 7
(2)theterm‘‘appropriatecommitteesofCon-8
gress’’meanstheCommitteeonSmallBusinessand 9
EntrepreneurshipandtheCommitteeonAppropria-10
tionsoftheSenateandtheCommitteeonSmall 11
BusinessandtheCommitteeonAppropriationsof 12
theHouseofRepresentatives. 13
SEC.4.MONTHLY DISASTERLOANREPORTS. 14
Section12091(a)oftheSmallBusinessDisasterRe-15
sponseandLoanImprovementsActof2008(15U.S.C. 16
636k(a))isamended— 17
(1)inparagraph(1),bystriking‘‘duringthe 18
applicableperiodforamajordisaster’’; 19
(2)inparagraph(2)— 20
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(A)insubparagraph(E),bystriking‘‘how 1
longtheavailablefundingforsuchloanswill 2
last’’andinserting‘‘thedateatwhichavailable 3
fundingforsuchloanswillreach10percentof 4
themostrecentappropriationandthedateat 5
whichthefundswillbedepleted’’; 6
(B)insubparagraph(H),bystriking 7
‘‘and’’attheend; 8
(C)insubparagraph(I),bystrikingthe 9
periodattheendandinserting‘‘;and’’;and 10
(D)byaddingattheendthefollowing: 11
‘‘(J)asummarydetailinganychangesto 12
estimatesorassumptionsonobligationsandex-13
penditures,includingdatasupportingthese 14
changes.’’;and 15
(3)byaddingattheendthefollowing: 16
‘‘(3)PROHIBITIONONOFFICIALTRAVEL.—If 17
theAdministratordoesnotsubmitareportrequired 18
tobesubmittedunderparagraph(1)bytherequired 19
date,nofundsmaybeobligatedforofficialtravelby 20
theAdministratoruntiltheAdministratorsubmits 21
thereport.’’. 22
SEC.5.BUDGET REQUEST RELATING TODISASTER LOANS. 23
Section1105oftitle31,UnitedStatesCode,is 24
amended— 25
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(1)insubsection(a),byaddingattheendthe 1
following: 2
‘‘(39)separatestatementsof— 3
‘‘(A)theamountofappropriationsre-4
questedforthefiscalyearforwhichthebudget 5
issubmittedforthecostofSBAdisasterloans, 6
the10-yearaverageofthecostofSBAdisaster 7
loans,andanexplanationforanydifferencebe-8
tweentheamountrequestedandthe10-year 9
averagecost;and 10
‘‘(B)theamountofappropriationsre-11
questedforthefiscalyearforwhichthebudget 12
issubmittedforthecostofCOVID-EIDL 13
loans,the10-yearaverageofthecostof 14
COVID-EIDLloans,andanexplanationfor 15
anydifferencebetweentheamountrequested 16
andthe10-yearaveragecost. 17
‘‘(40)separatestatementsof— 18
‘‘(A)theamountofappropriationsre-19
questedforthefiscalyearforwhichthebudget 20
issubmittedforadministrativecostsrelatingto 21
SBAdisasterloans,the10-yearaverageofsuch 22
administrativecosts,andanexplanationforany 23
differencebetweentheamountrequestedand 24
the10-yearaveragecosts;and 25
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‘‘(B)theamountofappropriationsre-1
questedforthefiscalyearforwhichthebudget 2
issubmittedforadministrativecostsrelatingto 3
COVID-EIDLloans,the10-yearaverageof 4
suchadministrativecosts,andanexplanation 5
foranydifferencebetweentheamountre-6
questedandthe10-yearaveragecosts.’’;and 7
(2)byaddingattheendthefollowing: 8
‘‘(j)Inparagraphs(39)and(40)ofsubsection(a)— 9
‘‘(1)theterm‘COVID-EIDLloan’meansadi-10
rectloanundersection7(b)oftheSmallBusiness 11
Act(15U.S.C.636(b))thatwasauthorizedunder 12
section1110oftheCARESAct(15U.S.C.9009); 13
and 14
‘‘(2)theterm‘SBAdisasterloan’meansadi-15
rectloanauthorizedbysection7(b)oftheSmall 16
BusinessAct(15U.S.C.636(b)),otherthanaloan 17
thatwasauthorizedundersection1110ofthe 18
CARESAct(15U.S.C.9009).’’. 19
SEC.6.LIMITATIONS ONLOANFORGIVENESS. 20
Section7oftheSmallBusinessAct(15U.S.C.636) 21
isamendedbyaddingattheendthefollowing: 22
‘‘(o)LIMITATIONSONLOANFORGIVENESS.— 23
‘‘(1)INGENERAL.—TheAdministratormay 24
not— 25
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‘‘(A)forgiveanyloanunderthissection 1
unlessCongresshasauthorizedsuchforgive-2
ness;or 3
‘‘(B)compromiseon,suspend,orendcol-4
lectionsonadebtowedtotheAdministration 5
pursuanttoparagraph(2)or(3)ofsection 6
3711(a)oftitle31,UnitedStatesCode. 7
‘‘(2)REFERRAL OFDEBT.—IftheAdminis-8
tratorseekstodischargeadebtandthedischarge 9
ofsuchdebtislimitedunderparagraph(1),theAd-10
ministratorshallrefersuchdebttotheDepartment 11
oftheTreasuryforcollectionaction,includinga 12
finaldeterminationregardingwhethertosuspend, 13
end,orcontinuecollectionofthedebt.’’. 14
SEC.7.LIMITSONDISASTERLOANS. 15
(a)LOWFUNDING.—Section7(b)oftheSmallBusi-16
nessAct(15U.S.C.636(b))isamended— 17
(1)byredesignatingthesecondparagraphdes-18
ignatedasparagraph(16),relatingtostatuteoflim-19
itations,asaddedbytheCOVID–19EIDLFraud 20
StatuteofLimitationsActof2022(PublicLaw 21
117–165;136Stat.1363),asparagraph(18);and 22
(2)byinsertingafterparagraph(16),relating 23
todisasterdeclarationsinruralareas,asaddedby 24
theDisasterAssistanceforRuralCommunitiesAct 25
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(PublicLaw117–249;136Stat.2350),thefol-1
lowing: 2
‘‘(17)REQUIREMENTS WHEN FUNDING IS 3
LOW.— 4
‘‘(A)INGENERAL.—Notlaterthan24 5
hoursaftertheunobligatedbalanceofamounts 6
availableforthecostofdirectloansauthorized 7
bythissubsectionislessthan10percentofthe 8
mostrecentappropriationforsuchcosts,the 9
AdministratorshallnotifytheCommitteeon 10
AppropriationsandtheCommitteeonSmall 11
BusinessandEntrepreneurshipoftheSenate 12
andtheCommitteeonAppropriationsandthe 13
CommitteeonSmallBusinessoftheHouseof 14
Representatives. 15
‘‘(B)LIMITATION ON OBLIGATING 16
FUNDS.—Duringtheperiodbeginningonthe 17
firstbusinessdayoccurringonorafterthedate 18
bywhichtheAdministratorisrequiredtonotify 19
Congressundersubparagraph(A)andending 20
onthedateonwhichadditionalamountsare 21
appropriatedforsuchcosts,theAdministrator 22
maynotobligatefundsforadirectloanauthor-23
izedunderthissubsectioninanamountthatis 24
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morethantheamountofsuchaloanforwhich 1
collateralisrequired.’’. 2
(b)REPEALOFAUTHORITYTOINCREASEAMOUNT 3
OFLOANSFORWHICHCOLLATERAL ISNOTRE-4
QUIRED.—Section7(d)(6)oftheSmallBusinessActis 5
amendedbystriking‘‘(orsuchhigheramountastheAd-6
ministratordeterminesappropriateintheeventofamajor 7
disaster)’’. 8
SEC.8.PROHIBITION REGARDING SBARULESRELATING 9
TODISASTERLOANS. 10
(a)DEFINITIONS.—Inthissection: 11
(1)COST.—Theterm‘‘cost’’hasthemeaning 12
giventheterminsection502oftheFederalCredit 13
ReformActof1990(2U.S.C.661a). 14
(2)RULE.—Theterm‘‘rule’’hasthemeaning 15
giventheterminsection551oftitle5,United 16
StatesCode. 17
(b)PROHIBITION.—Notwithstandinganyotherprovi-18
sionoflaworregulation,beginningonthedateofenact-19
mentofthisAct,theAdministratoroftheSmallBusiness 20
Administrationmaynotissueanyrulethatwillresultin 21
anyincreasedcosttotheprogramcarriedoutundersec-22
tion7(b)oftheSmallBusinessAct(15U.S.C.636(b)). 23
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SEC.9.GAOREPORT ONDISASTERLOANCHANGES. 1
(a)DEFINITION.—Inthissection,theterm‘‘covered 2
finalrule’’means— 3
(1)thefinalruleentitled‘‘DisasterAssistance 4
LoanProgramChangestoMaximumLoanAmounts 5
andMiscellaneousUpdates’’(88Fed.Reg.39335 6
(June16,2023);RIN3245–AH91);or 7
(2)thefinalruleentitled‘‘DisasterAssistance 8
LoanProgramChangestoUnsecuredLoan 9
AmountsandCreditElsewhereCriteria’’(89Fed. 10
Reg.59826(July24,2024);RIN3245–AI08). 11
(b)REPORT.—Notlaterthan1yearafterthedate 12
ofenactmentofthisAct,theComptrollerGeneralofthe 13
UnitedStatesshallsubmittotheCommitteeonSmall 14
BusinessandEntrepreneurshipandtheCommitteeonAp-15
propriationsoftheSenateandtheCommitteeonSmall 16
BusinessandtheCommitteeonAppropriationsofthe 17
HouseofRepresentativesareporton— 18
(1)thecost(asdefinedinsection502ofthe 19
FederalCreditReformActof1990(2U.S.C. 20
661a))oftheincreaseinthehomeloanlendinglim-21
itsfor,theextensionofthedefermentperiodfor,the 22
expansionofmitigationoptionsfor,themodifica-23
tionstothecriteriafordeterminingwhetherappli-24
cantscanobtaincreditelsewherewithrespectto,the 25
changestocollateralrequirementsfor,andother 26
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changestothetermsandconditionsofloansunder 1
section7(b)(1)oftheSmallBusinessAct(15U.S.C. 2
636(b)(1))madebythecoveredfinalrules;and 3
(2)theeffectonthesubsidyforsuchloansof 4
thechangescontainedinthecoveredfinalrules. 5
SEC.10.SBAINSPECTOR GENERAL REVIEW. 6
(a)DEFINITIONS.—Inthissection— 7
(1)theterm‘‘coveredamounts’’means 8
amountsmadeavailableforthecostofdirectloans 9
authorizedbysection7(b)oftheSmallBusinessAct 10
(15U.S.C.636(b));and 11
(2)theterm‘‘InspectorGeneral’’meanstheIn-12
spectorGeneraloftheAdministration. 13
(b)REVIEW.— 14
(1)INGENERAL.—TheInspectorGeneralshall 15
conductareviewofthecircumstancessurrounding 16
thefundingshortfallwithrespecttocovered 17
amounts,asdescribedin— 18
(A)theletterfromPresidentJosephR. 19
Biden,Jr.entitled‘‘LettertoCongressonDis-20
asterNeeds’’,datedOctober4,2024;and 21
(B)theletterfromtheAdministratorsub-22
mittedtotheChairandRankingMembersof 23
theCommitteesonAppropriationsoftheSen-24
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ateandtheHouseofRepresentatives,dated 1
October10,2024. 2
(2)CONTENTS.—Thereviewrequiredunder 3
paragraph(1)shallincludethefollowingwithre-4
specttothefundingshortfalldescribedinthatpara-5
graph: 6
(A)Theidentificationofanyreportingor 7
notificationrequirementsinstatutethatthe 8
AdministrationfailedtoprovidetoCongress 9
withrespecttothefundingshortfall. 10
(B)Thereasonforanyobligationorex-11
penditureofcoveredamountsforapurpose 12
thatsignificantlydivergedfromthepurposefor 13
whichthecoveredamountsweremadeavailable. 14
(C)Ananalysisoftheaccuracyofprojec-15
tionsandestimatesrelevanttothedivergences 16
describedinsubparagraph(B). 17
(D)Theidentificationanddescriptionof 18
anyinternalcontrolsinplacetomanagecov-19
eredamounts. 20
(E)Ananalysisoftheimpactthatanyre-21
organizationoftheAdministration,including 22
thetransferofadministrativeauthorityforthe 23
programcarriedoutundersection7(b)ofthe 24
SmallBusinessAct(15U.S.C.636(b))tothe 25
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OfficeofCapitalAccessoftheAdministration, 1
mayhavehadwithrespecttothefunding 2
shortfall. 3
(F)Theidentificationofactionsthatthe 4
Administrationcantaketo— 5
(i)improvetheaccuracyofinforma-6
tionsubmittedbythePresidentundersec-7
tion1105(a)oftitle31,UnitedStates 8
Code,withrespecttotheAdministration; 9
(ii)preventanyfuturefundingshort-10
fallwithrespecttoanyaccountoftheAd-11
ministration;and 12
(iii)improvethereportsubmittedto 13
theappropriatecommitteesofCongress 14
undersection12091(a)oftheSmallBusi-15
nessDisasterResponseandLoanImprove-16
mentsActof2008(15U.S.C.636k(a)). 17
(G)Anyothermatterdeterminedrelevant 18
bytheInspectorGeneral. 19
(c)REPORT.—Notlaterthan180daysafterthedate 20
ofenactmentofthisAct,theInspectorGeneralshallsub-21
mittotheappropriatecommitteesofCongressareport 22
thatcontainsthefindingsofthereviewcarriedoutunder 23
subsection(b). 24
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SEC.11.BUDGET ANDFORECASTING REPORT REGARDING 1
THECOSTOFDIRECTDISASTERLOANS. 2
(a)BUDGETFORMULATION ANDFORECASTING.— 3
Notlaterthan30daysafterthedateofenactmentofthis 4
Act,theAdministratorshallsubmittotheappropriate 5
committeesofCongressareportdetailingcorrectionsthe 6
Administrationwillmaketoimproveforecasting,data 7
quality,andbudgetassumptionsrelatingtobudgetsub-8
missionsrelatingtoamountsmadeavailableforthecost 9
ofdirectloansauthorizedbysection7(b)oftheSmall 10
BusinessAct(15U.S.C.636(b)). 11
(b)UPDATES.—Notlaterthan90daysafterthedate 12
ofenactmentofthisAct,andevery90daysthereafter 13
untilthedatethatis90daysafterthedateonwhichall 14
thecorrectionsdescribedinsubsection(a)havebeenim-15
plemented,theAdministratorshallsubmittotheappro-16
priatecommitteesofCongressareport— 17
(1)detailingtheactionstheAdministrationhas 18
takentoimplementthecorrectionsdescribedinsub-19
section(a);and 20
(2)explaininghoweachactiondetailedunder 21
paragraph(1)isdirectlyrelatedtoimplementing1 22
ormorecorrectionsdescribedinsubsection(a). 23
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 24
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Disaster Loan Account-25
ability and Reform Act’’ or the ‘‘DLARA’’. 26
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SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1
The table of contents for this Act is as follows: 2
Sec. 1. Short title.
Sec. 2. Table of contents.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
Sec. 4. Monthly disaster loan reports.
Sec. 5. Budget request relating to disaster loans.
Sec. 6. Limitations on disaster loans.
Sec. 7. GAO report on SBA disaster loan account.
Sec. 8. GAO report on disaster loan changes.
Sec. 9. SBA Inspector General review.
Sec. 10. Budget and forecasting report regarding the cost of direct disaster loans.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
3
In this Act— 4
(1) the terms ‘‘Administration’’ and ‘‘Adminis-5
trator’’ mean the Small Business Administration and 6
the Administrator thereof, respectively; 7
(2) the term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con-8
gress’’ means the Committee on Small Business and 9
Entrepreneurship and the Committee on Appropria-10
tions of the Senate and the Committee on Small Busi-11
ness and the Committee on Appropriations of the 12
House of Representatives; and 13
(3) the term ‘‘SBA disaster loan’’ means a direct 14
loan authorized by section 7(b) of the Small Business 15
Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)), other than a loan that was 16
authorized under section 1110 of the CARES Act (15 17
U.S.C. 9009). 18
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SEC. 4. MONTHLY DISASTER LOAN REPORTS. 1
Section 12091(a) of the Small Business Disaster Re-2
sponse and Loan Improvements Act of 2008 (15 U.S.C. 3
636k(a)) is amended— 4
(1) in paragraph (1)— 5
(A) by striking ‘‘during the applicable pe-6
riod for a major disaster’’; and 7
(B) by striking ‘‘for that major disaster’’; 8
(2) in paragraph (2)— 9
(A) in subparagraph (E), by striking ‘‘how 10
long the available funding for such loans will 11
last’’ and inserting ‘‘the date at which available 12
funding for such loans will reach 10 percent of 13
the most recent appropriation and the date at 14
which the funds will be depleted’’; 15
(B) in subparagraph (H), by striking 16
‘‘and’’ at the end; 17
(C) in subparagraph (I), by striking the pe-18
riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 19
(D) by adding at the end the following: 20
‘‘(J) a summary detailing any changes to 21
estimates or assumptions on obligations and ex-22
penditures, including data supporting these 23
changes.’’; and 24
(3) by adding at the end the following: 25
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‘‘(3) PROHIBITION ON OFFICIAL TRAVEL .—If the 1
Administrator does not submit a report required to be 2
submitted under paragraph (1) by the required date, 3
no funds may be obligated for official travel by the 4
Administrator until the Administrator submits the 5
report.’’. 6
SEC. 5. BUDGET REQUEST RELATING TO DISASTER LOANS. 7
Section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, is amend-8
ed— 9
(1) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the 10
following: 11
‘‘(39) separate statements of— 12
‘‘(A) the amount of appropriations re-13
quested for the fiscal year for which the budget 14
is submitted for the cost of SBA disaster loans, 15
the 10-year average of the cost of SBA disaster 16
loans, and an explanation for any difference be-17
tween the amount requested and the 10-year av-18
erage cost; and 19
‘‘(B) the amount of appropriations re-20
quested for the fiscal year for which the budget 21
is submitted for the cost of COVID-EIDL loans, 22
the 10-year average of the cost of COVID-EIDL 23
loans, and an explanation for any difference be-24
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tween the amount requested and the 10-year av-1
erage cost. 2
‘‘(40) separate statements of— 3
‘‘(A) the amount of appropriations re-4
quested for the fiscal year for which the budget 5
is submitted for administrative costs relating to 6
SBA disaster loans, the 10-year average of such 7
administrative costs, and an explanation for any 8
difference between the amount requested and the 9
10-year average costs; and 10
‘‘(B) the amount of appropriations re-11
quested for the fiscal year for which the budget 12
is submitted for administrative costs relating to 13
COVID-EIDL loans, the 10-year average of such 14
administrative costs, and an explanation for any 15
difference between the amount requested and the 16
10-year average costs.’’; and 17
(2) by adding at the end the following: 18
‘‘(j) In paragraphs (39) and (40) of subsection (a)— 19
‘‘(1) the term ‘COVID-EIDL loan’ means a di-20
rect loan under section 7(b) of the Small Business Act 21
(15 U.S.C. 636(b)) that was authorized under section 22
1110 of the CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 9009); and 23
‘‘(2) the term ‘SBA disaster loan’ means a direct 24
loan authorized by section 7(b) of the Small Business 25
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Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)), other than a loan that was 1
authorized under section 1110 of the CARES Act (15 2
U.S.C. 9009).’’. 3
SEC. 6. LIMITATIONS ON DISASTER LOANS. 4
(a) L
OWFUNDING.—Section 7(b) of the Small Busi-5
ness Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)) is amended— 6
(1) by redesignating the second paragraph des-7
ignated as paragraph (16), relating to statute of limi-8
tations, as added by the COVID–19 EIDL Fraud 9
Statute of Limitations Act of 2022 (Public Law 117– 10
165; 136 Stat. 1363), as paragraph (18); and 11
(2) by inserting after paragraph (16), relating to 12
disaster declarations in rural areas, as added by the 13
Disaster Assistance for Rural Communities Act (Pub-14
lic Law 117–249; 136 Stat. 2350), the following: 15
‘‘(17) R
EQUIREMENTS WHEN FUNDING IS LOW .— 16
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 24 hours 17
after the unobligated balance of amounts avail-18
able for the cost of direct loans authorized by this 19
subsection is less than 10 percent of the 10-year 20
average annual cost provided in the most recent 21
Presidential budget request required under sec-22
tion 1105(a)(39)(A) of title 31, United States 23
Code, or, if unavailable, the 10-year average an-24
nual cost for the immediately preceding 10-year 25
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period of SBA disaster loans (as defined in sec-1
tion 1105(j) of such title), the Administrator 2
shall notify the Committee on Appropriations 3
and the Committee on Small Business and En-4
trepreneurship of the Senate and the Committee 5
on Appropriations and the Committee on Small 6
Business of the House of Representatives. 7
‘‘(B) L
IMITATION ON OBLIGATING FUNDS .— 8
During the period beginning on the first business 9
day occurring on or after the date by which the 10
Administrator is required to notify Congress 11
under subparagraph (A) and ending on the date 12
on which additional amounts are appropriated 13
for such costs, the Administrator may limit the 14
obligation of funds for a direct loan authorized 15
under this subsection to the amount of such a 16
loan for which collateral is required. 17
‘‘(C) A
UTHORITY TO LIMIT OBLIGATION OF 18
FUNDS.—In carrying out the authority to enact 19
a limitation under (B), the Administrator shall 20
apply that limitation with respect to amounts 21
obligated for all direct loans authorized under 22
this subsection during the period described in 23
subparagraph (B). 24
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‘‘(D) REQUIREMENT TO DISBURSE WITHIN 1
14 DAYS.—If the Administrator exercises the au-2
thority under (B), the Administrator shall, not 3
later than 14 days after the date on which addi-4
tional amounts are appropriated under subpara-5
graph (B), obligate and disburse on a regular 6
schedule any remaining amount outstanding on 7
a direct loan authorized under this subsection.’’. 8
(b) S
UNSET.—Effective on the date that is 4 years 9
after the date of enactment of this Act, section 7(b) of the 10
Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)) is amended— 11
(1) by striking paragraph (17); and 12
(2) by redesignating paragraph (18) as para-13
graph (17). 14
(c) R
EPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 15
enactment of this Act, in the event that the Administrator 16
exercises the authority described in paragraph (17)(B) of 17
section 7(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)), 18
as added by subsection (a), the Comptroller General of the 19
United States shall submit to the appropriate committees 20
of Congress a report assessing the actual and potential im-21
pact of the amendments made by subsection (a) during the 22
period covered by the report. 23
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SEC. 7. GAO REPORT ON SBA DISASTER LOAN ACCOUNT. 1
(a) R
EPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 2
of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 3
United States shall submit to the Administrator and the 4
appropriate committees of Congress a report on— 5
(1) the average weekly rate at which the Admin-6
istration obligates the unobligated balance of amounts 7
available for the cost of SBA disaster loans; 8
(2) the average amount, during the periods be-9
ginning on October 1, 2015 and ending on July 31, 10
2023 and beginning on July 31, 2023 and ending on 11
the date of enactment of this Act, respectively, dis-12
bursed to a borrower each week, during the initial 12- 13
week period in which a borrower receives amounts 14
from an SBA disaster loan, beginning the day after 15
the borrower accepts their loan, separated by home 16
SBA disaster loan borrowers, business SBA disaster 17
loan borrowers, and economic injury disaster loan 18
borrowers; and 19
(3) the average amount of fully disbursed SBA 20
disaster loans, originated during the period beginning 21
on July 31, 2023 and ending on the date of enact-22
ment of this Act, with separate averages for SBA dis-23
aster loans delineated by home, business, and eco-24
nomic injury disaster loans. 25
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(b) RESPONSE.—Not later than 90 days after the date 1
on which the Comptroller General of the United States sub-2
mits the report under subsection (a), the Administrator 3
shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a 4
response to the report, including an implementation plan 5
for any recommendations in the report. 6
SEC. 8. GAO REPORT ON DISASTER LOAN CHANGES. 7
(a) D
EFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘covered 8
final rule’’ means— 9
(1) the final rule entitled ‘‘Disaster Assistance 10
Loan Program Changes to Maximum Loan Amounts 11
and Miscellaneous Updates’’ (88 Fed. Reg. 39335 12
(June 16, 2023); RIN 3245–AH91); or 13
(2) the final rule entitled ‘‘Disaster Assistance 14
Loan Program Changes to Unsecured Loan Amounts 15
and Credit Elsewhere Criteria’’ (89 Fed. Reg. 59826 16
(July 24, 2024); RIN 3245–AI08). 17
(b) R
EPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 18
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 19
States shall submit to the appropriate committees of Con-20
gress a report on— 21
(1) the cost (as defined in section 502 of the Fed-22
eral Credit Reform Act of 1990 (2 U.S.C. 661a)) of 23
the increase in the home loan lending limits for, the 24
extension of the deferment period for, the expansion of 25
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mitigation options for, the modifications to the cri-1
teria for determining whether applicants can obtain 2
credit elsewhere with respect to, the changes to collat-3
eral requirements for, and other changes to the terms 4
and conditions of loans under section 7(b)(1) of the 5
Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)(1)) made by 6
the covered final rules; and 7
(2) the effect on the subsidy for such loans of the 8
changes contained in the covered final rules. 9
SEC. 9. SBA INSPECTOR GENERAL REVIEW. 10
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section— 11
(1) the term ‘‘covered amounts’’ means amounts 12
made available for the cost of direct loans authorized 13
by section 7(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 14
636(b)); and 15
(2) the term ‘‘Inspector General’’ means the In-16
spector General of the Administration. 17
(b) R
EVIEW.— 18
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Inspector General shall 19
conduct a review of the circumstances surrounding the 20
funding shortfall with respect to covered amounts, as 21
described in— 22
(A) the letter from President Joseph R. 23
Biden, Jr. entitled ‘‘Letter to Congress on Dis-24
aster Needs’’, dated October 4, 2024; and 25
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(B) the letter from the Administrator sub-1
mitted to the Chair and Ranking Members of the 2
Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and 3
the House of Representatives, dated October 10, 4
2024. 5
(2) C
ONTENTS.—The review required under 6
paragraph (1) shall include the following with respect 7
to the funding shortfall described in that paragraph: 8
(A) The identification of any report or noti-9
fication required by statute that the Administra-10
tion failed to provide to Congress with respect to 11
the funding shortfall. 12
(B) The reason for any obligation or ex-13
penditure of covered amounts for a purpose that 14
significantly diverged from the purpose for which 15
the covered amounts were made available. 16
(C) An analysis of the accuracy of projec-17
tions and estimates relevant to the divergences 18
described in subparagraph (B). 19
(D) The identification and description of 20
any internal controls in place to manage covered 21
amounts. 22
(E) An analysis of the impact that any re-23
organization of the Administration, including 24
the transfer of administrative authority for the 25
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program carried out under section 7(b) of the 1
Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)) to the Of-2
fice of Capital Access of the Administration, may 3
have had with respect to the funding shortfall. 4
(F) The identification of actions that the 5
Administration can take to— 6
(i) improve the accuracy of informa-7
tion submitted by the President under sec-8
tion 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, 9
with respect to the Administration; 10
(ii) prevent any future funding short-11
fall with respect to any account of the Ad-12
ministration; and 13
(iii) improve the reports submitted to 14
the appropriate committees of Congress 15
under section 12091(a) of the Small Busi-16
ness Disaster Response and Loan Improve-17
ments Act of 2008 (15 U.S.C. 636k(a)). 18
(G) Any other matter determined relevant 19
by the Inspector General. 20
(c) R
EPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 21
of enactment of this Act, the Inspector General shall submit 22
to the appropriate committees of Congress a report that con-23
tains the findings of the review carried out under subsection 24
(b). 25
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SEC. 10. BUDGET AND FORECASTING REPORT REGARDING 1
THE COST OF DIRECT DISASTER LOANS. 2
(a) B
UDGETFORMULATION AND FORECASTING.—Not 3
later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 4
the Administrator shall submit to the appropriate commit-5
tees of Congress a report detailing corrections the Adminis-6
tration will make to improve forecasting, data quality, and 7
budget assumptions relating to budget submissions relating 8
to amounts made available for the cost of SBA disaster 9
loans. 10
(b) U
PDATES.—Not later than 90 days after the date 11
of enactment of this Act, and every 90 days thereafter until 12
the date that is 90 days after the date on which all the 13
corrections described in subsection (a) have been imple-14
mented, the Administrator shall submit to the appropriate 15
committees of Congress a report— 16
(1) detailing the actions the Administration has 17
taken to implement the corrections described in sub-18
section (a); and 19
(2) explaining how each action detailed under 20
paragraph (1) is directly related to implementing 1 21
or more corrections described in subsection (a). 22
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22
119
TH
CONGRESS
1
ST
S
ESSION
S. 300 A BILL
To improve accountability in the disaster loan pro-
gram of the Small Business Administration, and
for other purposes.
M
ARCH
4, 2025
Reported with an amendment
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