# 119-hr-316: Natural Disaster Recovery Program Act of 2025

119-hr-316, Natural Disaster Recovery Program Act of 2025, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Rouzer, David [R-NC-7] (R-NC); status in_committee; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2025-12-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-316
- As of: 2025-12-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-316
- Congress: 119
- Title: Natural Disaster Recovery Program Act of 2025
- Status: in_committee
- Introduced: 2025-01-09
- Sponsor: Rep. Rouzer, David [R-NC-7] (R-NC)
- Cosponsors: 0
- Policy area: Emergency Management
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2025-12-21

## Summary

**This bill creates a new FEMA program and a** **new FEMA fund for unmet disaster needs** to pay for recovery gaps, expand housing help, and change how FEMA weighs local harm and past disasters when recommending declarations. It sets up grant rules, reporting, and oversight to move money faster to states and tribes for long‑term recovery and resilience. - Families and homeowners: Expands the Individuals and Households Program to allow direct home‑repair grants to homeowners, broadened support for people with disabilities, minor repairs up to habitability, and extends direct housing assistance from 18 to 24 months. - State and Tribal governments: Creates a National Disaster Recovery Reserve Fund that states and tribes can tap for unmet needs and capacity building. Grantees may use up to 13% of funds for administration, get an initial 50% payment, and must provide spending reports and an auditor certification to receive the remainder. - FEMA operations and oversight: FEMA must give more weight to severe local impacts and disasters in the prior 5 years when recommending declarations, complete an unmet‑need assessment within 90 days, and submit new reports. The Comptroller General must review fiscal controls and closed‑out disaster timelines within 1 to 5 years.

## Provisions PRIA read

- New fund for unmet disaster needs: benefit, high. If enacted, a new Natural Disaster Recovery Reserve Fund would give states and tribes grants for verified unmet needs after a major disaster. The President could set aside 10% of estimated FEMA grants for technical help within 180 days. Grantees would get 50% up front; the rest would come after a r…
- Longer FEMA help, small repairs, faster appeals: benefit, medium. If enacted, FEMA housing help for disaster survivors would last up to 24 months instead of 18 for new funding. FEMA could pay for small repairs to make owner‑occupied homes safe to live in, if money is available. Within 15 days of a disaster, the federal coordinating officer would share all shelter…
- More weight for repeat-hit areas: benefit, medium. If enacted, FEMA would give more weight to severe local harm and to places hit by multiple disasters in the past five years. This would guide disaster declarations and the share that states must cover. FEMA would update its policies and report to Congress within one year.
- Stronger oversight of FEMA disaster aid: benefit, low. If enacted, FEMA would send Congress a report within 180 days on how it handled individual aid for each major disaster over the last five years. The report would cover need decisions, common denial reasons, appeal timing, legal aid use, recovery center access, and outreach. GAO would also review st…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-8870: BUILD America 250 Act
- 119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025
- 119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025
- 119-hr-5089: Weather Act Reauthorization Act of 2025
- 119-hr-137: TCJA Permanency Act
- 119-hr-2725: Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2025

## Sources
- [119-hr-316 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/316)

## Related
- [119-hr-8870: BUILD America 250 Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-8870)
- [119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3151)
- [119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4669)
- [119-hr-5089: Weather Act Reauthorization Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5089)
- [119-hr-137: TCJA Permanency Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-137)
- [119-hr-2725: Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2725)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-316 (as of 2025-12-21).