House · HR 2956 · 119th Congress
DISASTER Act of 2025
Summary
This bill requires the Office of Management and Budget to send Congress a yearly report on all federal disaster spending. The report must cover money spent on disaster response, recovery, and prevention across more than a dozen agencies. It affects federal budget planning and must be posted publicly online for anyone to search and download.
In Favor
Right now, no single place tracks all federal disaster spending across agencies. This bill creates that record, helping Congress see where money goes and spot waste. Better tracking could also reveal ways to invest in prevention, which costs less than responding to disasters after they happen.
Against
Gathering spending data from more than a dozen agencies every year takes staff time and government resources. The report is informational only, so it does not require Congress to act on what it finds. Taxpayers bear the cost of producing the report with no guarantee it will change how disaster money is spent.
Additional Considerations
Purpose & Problem
Is the problem real and worth federal action?
The bill requires the Office of Management and Budget to send Congress a yearly report on all federal disaster spending. It targets the problem that no single public document now shows how much the federal government spends across all agencies on disaster response, recovery, and prevention.
Scope & Related Provisions
Does it stay focused, or carry unrelated add-ons?
The bill stays focused on its core purpose of reporting disaster spending. The list of covered agencies is broad, spanning more than 20 departments and programs, but each is included to capture the full picture of federal disaster spending.
Who Is Affected
Who benefits, and who bears the cost?
Federal agencies listed in the bill must gather and share their disaster spending data with the Office of Management and Budget. Congress, researchers, and the public gain access to a new combined report on federal disaster spending.
Cost & Funding
Is it affordable and responsibly funded?
The bill does not authorize or appropriate any specific dollar amount. It shifts a reporting duty onto the Office of Management and Budget, which must collect data from more than 20 agencies and publish a new annual report each year.
Risks & Implementation
What could go wrong in practice?
The bill covers more than 20 agencies and dozens of programs, so collecting consistent data across all of them could be difficult. The first report is due with the fiscal year 2027 budget, giving agencies limited time to build new data-sharing processes.
For the actual bill text, see congress.gov.
AI-generated · Published 7/22/2026