A bipartisan bill recently proposed by U.S. Rep. Tom Rice (R-SC) would revise the eligibility standards for the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Program, which provides flexible grants to help cities, counties and states recover from presidentially declared disasters, especially in low-income areas.
Rep. Rice on Nov. 30 sponsored H.R. 6092 with lead original cosponsor U.S. Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) to revise the eligibility standards for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) CDBG-DR grants, which following major disasters would consider an area as having suffered sufficient concentrated damages from a minimum threshold dollar amount to any ZIP code for which the median household income is less than 75 percent of the national median household income, according to a bill summary provided by the congressman’s office.
“South Carolina faced challenges with how the CDBG-DR allocations were weighted during past disasters, such as after Hurricane Florence. Currently, the HUD formulas favor large counties and discriminate against small counties, regardless of damages sustained during a major disaster,” Rep. Rice said. “I’m proud to work across the aisle with Congressman Clyburn on this important correction that will better help disadvantaged areas of South Carolina receive our due federal disaster funding in the future.”
Introduction of H.R. 6092 continues ongoing efforts by Rep. Rice to help provide Americans with improved relief following major disasters.
For instance, the congressman on Oct. 21 sponsored the bipartisan FEMA Relief Extension Act, H.R. 5668, with original cosponsor U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX) to amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act and any corresponding regulation to extend the period for federal assistance to individuals and households, according to the text of the bill.
Rep. Rice during this session of Congress also has sponsored two other related bills: the FEMA Caseworker Accountability Act, H.R. 5343, which would increase transparency of case management staff turnover at FEMA following a disaster, and the Disaster Relief Transparency Act, H.R. 3162, which would bolster government accountability in the allocation of disaster relief funds at both FEMA and HUD.