[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2672 Engrossed in House (EH)]

<DOC>
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 2672

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
     To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
    Assistance Act to provide for the authority to reimburse local 
  governments or electric cooperatives for interest expenses, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``FEMA Loan Interest Payment Relief 
Act''.

SEC. 2. REIMBURSEMENT OF INTEREST PAYMENTS RELATED TO PUBLIC 
              ASSISTANCE.

    (a) In General.--Title IV of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170 et seq.) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 431. REIMBURSEMENT OF INTEREST PAYMENTS RELATED TO PUBLIC 
              ASSISTANCE.

    ``(a) In General.--The President, acting through the Administrator 
of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, shall provide financial 
assistance to a local government or electric cooperative as 
reimbursement for qualifying interest.
    ``(b) Definitions.--
            ``(1) In general.--In this section, the following 
        definitions apply:
                    ``(A) Qualifying interest.--The term `qualifying 
                interest' means, with respect to a qualifying loan, the 
                lesser of--
                            ``(i) the actual interest paid to a lender 
                        for such qualifying loan; and
                            ``(ii) the interest that would have been 
                        paid to a lender if such qualifying loan had an 
                        interest rate equal to the prime rate most 
                        recently published on the Federal Reserve 
                        Statistical Release on selected interest rates.
                    ``(B) Qualifying loan.--The term `qualifying loan' 
                means a loan--
                            ``(i) obtained by a local government or 
                        electric cooperative; and
                            ``(ii) of which not less than 90 percent of 
                        the proceeds are used to fund activities for 
                        which such local government or electric 
                        cooperative receives assistance under this Act 
                        after the date on which such loan is disbursed.
            ``(2) Local government.--For purposes of this section, the 
        term `local government' includes the District of Columbia.''.
    (b) Rules of Applicability.--
            (1) Eligibility.--Any qualifying interest (as such term is 
        defined in section 431 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 
        Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, as added by this Act) 
        incurred by a local government or electric cooperative in the 7 
        years preceding the date of enactment of this Act shall be 
        treated as eligible for financial assistance for purposes of 
        such section.
            (2) Appropriations.--Only amounts appropriated on or after 
        the date of enactment of this Act may be made available to 
        carry out the amendment made by this section.

            Passed the House of Representatives December 9, 2024.

            Attest:

                                                                 Clerk.
118th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                               H. R. 2672

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

     To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
    Assistance Act to provide for the authority to reimburse local 
  governments or electric cooperatives for interest expenses, and for 
                            other purposes.