HR-9992-119
Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
Sponsored by Tim Moore (R-NC)
What it does
This bill would require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to enter into a memorandum of understanding with FEMA and the Small Business Administration to share disaster relief data, aiming to increase efficiency and reduce waste, fraud, and abuse in disaster recovery programs. It would also require HUD to submit a report to congressional committees within 180 days describing opportunities for greater interagency collaboration.
Who benefits
Disaster survivors applying for aid through HUD, FEMA, or SBA programs, who may experience faster or more consistent processing if agencies share data instead of requiring duplicate paperwork. HUD, FEMA, and SBA program administrators who would gain better data for fraud detection. Taxpayers generally, if improved coordination reduces duplicate or fraudulent payments.
Who is hurt
No group is meaningfully harmed by this bill; it imposes modest administrative burden on HUD, FEMA, and SBA staff who must negotiate the agreement and produce the report. Individuals or entities engaged in duplicate or fraudulent claims across programs could face increased scrutiny.
Supporters argue
Supporters argue that disaster survivors are often required to submit the same documentation separately to HUD, FEMA, and SBA, creating delays and confusion during already stressful recovery periods. They contend that formalizing data-sharing through a memorandum of understanding would reduce duplicate payments and fraud while speeding up legitimate claims, consistent with long-standing government efficiency goals identified in GAO reports on disaster recovery coordination.
Opponents argue
Opponents argue that interagency data-sharing agreements, while well-intentioned, could be established administratively without new legislation, making the bill largely symbolic. They contend that expanded data sharing across agencies raises privacy concerns for disaster survivors whose personal and financial information would be accessible to multiple federal entities, and that the 180-day reporting requirement adds bureaucratic overhead without guaranteed improvement in service delivery.
Constitutional context
This bill raises no constitutional question beyond Congress's Article I authority to organize and direct the operations of executive branch agencies it has created.
Checks and balances
Congress directs executive agencies (HUD, FEMA, SBA) to coordinate and report back, preserving legislative oversight while leaving implementation details to agency discretion.
Historical precedent
Congress has previously directed interagency coordination on disaster recovery, such as provisions in the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018, though this specific HUD-FEMA-SBA data-sharing mandate does not have a direct prior analogue.