HR-4238-119
Received in the Senate. Read twice. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 448.
Sponsored by Tim Moore (R-NC)
What it does
This bill would require the Small Business Administration (SBA) to submit more detailed monthly reports on disaster loan activity, including early warnings when funds drop below 10% of their 10-year average cost. It would require the President's annual budget to include separate, itemized statements comparing requested disaster loan funding to 10-year historical averages. It would also direct the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to produce two independent reports — one analyzing SBA disaster loan disbursement patterns and one examining the cost effects of two specific 2023–2024 rule changes — and require the SBA Administrator to submit a corrective action plan for improving budget forecasting.
Who benefits
Disaster survivors (homeowners, renters, and small business owners) who rely on SBA disaster loans and would benefit from better-managed, less likely to run dry loan funds. Members of Congress and their staff who would receive more timely and detailed data to conduct oversight. Taxpayers broadly, who could benefit from more accurate budget forecasting and reduced waste. Small businesses in disaster-prone regions that depend on predictable loan availability. Inspectors general and watchdog organizations that use GAO reports for accountability purposes.
Who is hurt
The SBA Administrator, whose official travel funds would be withheld if monthly reports are not submitted on time — a direct operational constraint. SBA administrative staff who would bear the workload of producing additional reports, forecasting analyses, and corrective action plans on tight deadlines. Borrowers who received loans under the 2023–2024 rule changes may face indirect scrutiny if the GAO report leads to rollbacks of expanded loan terms. Entities that benefited from looser collateral and credit-elsewhere criteria under those rules could see those terms tightened.
Supporters argue
Supporters argue that the SBA's disaster loan program has repeatedly run short of funds during active disaster seasons — most recently in 2023 — leaving survivors without access to promised relief. They contend that the existing monthly reporting requirements were too vague to give Congress meaningful early warning, and that the 2023–2024 rule changes expanded loan limits and relaxed collateral standards without a full accounting of their long-term cost to taxpayers. By requiring 10-year cost comparisons in the President's budget and mandating GAO review of those rule changes, the bill would give Congress the data it needs to prevent funding shortfalls before they harm disaster victims.
Opponents argue
Opponents argue that layering additional reporting mandates on the SBA diverts agency resources away from actually processing disaster loans for survivors in urgent need. They contend that the travel-funding penalty for late reports is a blunt instrument that could disrupt agency operations without meaningfully improving outcomes, and that the GAO review of the 2023–2024 rules — which expanded access for lower-income borrowers and relaxed collateral requirements — could be used to justify rolling back provisions that made the program more equitable. Critics may also argue that forecasting improvements are already within the SBA's existing authority and do not require new statutory mandates.
Constitutional context
No significant constitutional tension is present. Congress has broad authority under the Spending Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause (Art. I, §8) to impose reporting and oversight conditions on federal agencies and programs it funds. Directing the GAO — an arm of Congress — to conduct audits is a well-established exercise of legislative oversight authority.
Checks and balances
Congress gains additional oversight leverage over the executive branch SBA through mandatory reporting, GAO audits, and a travel-funding penalty; the SBA Administrator retains discretion over loan operations but faces new transparency and corrective-action obligations.
Historical precedent
The Small Business Disaster Response and Loan Improvements Act of 2008 previously established the monthly reporting framework this bill amends, following criticism of SBA's slow and opaque response to Hurricane Katrina disaster loan applications.