FEMA Act of 2025
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
ReportedMr. Graves (for himself, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Mr. Webster …
Summary
What This Bill Does
The FEMA Act of 2025 establishes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as an independent cabinet-level agency, separating it from the Department of Homeland Security. The bill comprehensively reforms federal disaster assistance programs by streamlining application processes, expediting grant approvals with 90-day deadlines, and creating new block grant options for small disasters. It aims to reduce bureaucratic delays that have left many disaster victims waiting years for assistance.
Who Benefits and How
State and local governments benefit significantly through expedited grant processing with automatic 90-day approval deadlines, reduced federal oversight of cost estimates, and new block grant options for smaller disasters. States that invest in hazard mitigation programs can receive up to 85% federal cost share instead of the standard 75%.
Disaster victims gain access to expanded individual assistance, including longer temporary housing periods (24 months instead of 18), enhanced assistance for total home losses, expanded crisis counseling to include addiction services, and easier access to non-congregate sheltering for vulnerable populations.
Private nonprofit organizations, including religious institutions like churches and synagogues, receive explicit eligibility for disaster grants to repair and rebuild damaged facilities.
Veterans benefit from a new Veterans Advocate position at FEMA dedicated to ensuring fair treatment in disaster assistance.
Construction and engineering firms benefit from increased demand for disaster recovery projects, cost estimation services, and mitigation work.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Federal taxpayers will fund the expanded disaster assistance programs, including higher federal cost shares for states with strong mitigation programs and new grant categories for housing and home repair.
FEMA and federal agencies face new compliance burdens including dozens of required studies, reports, transparency dashboards, and coordination requirements. GAO must conduct multiple oversight reviews of FEMA operations.
Department of Homeland Security loses oversight of FEMA, reducing its scope and authority over emergency management.
Environmental review processes are weakened as disaster recovery actions receive NEPA exemptions, potentially reducing environmental protections for expedited projects.
Key Provisions
- Establishes FEMA as independent cabinet-level agency with Administrator reporting directly to President
- Creates new Section 409 expedited grants with 90-day approval deadlines and cost estimates by licensed professionals
- Establishes block grants for small disasters allowing lump sum payments to states
- Expands individual assistance including 24-month temporary housing and enhanced total loss assistance
- Creates sliding scale federal cost share (65-85%) based on state mitigation efforts
- Exempts disaster recovery from NEPA environmental review requirements
- Requires unified interagency review process completing within 90 days
- Establishes transparency dashboards for public and individual assistance
- Creates task force to address backlog of thousands of open declared disasters
- Adds Veterans Advocate position and expands tribal government eligibility
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Establishes FEMA as an independent cabinet-level agency, reforms federal disaster assistance programs, streamlines disaster response procedures, and improves disaster mitigation and recovery processes.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Restructure FEMA as an independent agency reporting directly to the President, streamline disaster assistance processes, reduce bureaucratic hurdles, and improve accountability through GAO oversight."
Likely Beneficiaries
- State governments receiving disaster assistance
- Local governments and tribal governments
- Disaster victims (individuals and households)
- Private nonprofit facilities
- Electric utilities
- Veterans affected by disasters
- Renters in disaster areas
Likely Burden Bearers
- Department of Homeland Security (loses FEMA oversight)
- FEMA Administrator (new reporting requirements)
- GAO (mandated studies and reviews)
- Federal agencies (coordination requirements)
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_agency"
- → Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
- "the_president"
- → President of the United States
- "the_administrator"
- → Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency
- "the_president"
- → President of the United States
- "the_administrator"
- → Administrator of FEMA
- "the_president"
- → President of the United States
- "the_administrator"
- → Administrator of FEMA
- "the_administrator"
- → Administrator of FEMA
- "the_administrator"
- → Administrator of FEMA
- "the_comptroller_general"
- → Comptroller General of the United States (GAO)
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The elderly, children, and individuals with disabilities for whom emergencies may present unique access and functional needs, such as maintaining independence, communication, transportation, supervision, and medical care.
A disaster for which estimated damages under subsection (b) exceed the minimum amount of the per capita indicator used by FEMA for major disaster declaration recommendations but do not exceed 100 times such minimum amount.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology