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U.S. Congressman Garret Graves (South Louisiana) inserted two amendments in the multi-agency appropriations bill the House passed last week that are the congressman's latest action to deliver relief to Louisiana's remaining 2016 Duplication of Benefits (DoB) flood victims who are still excluded from available RESTORE program funding. H.R. 7617 – FY21 Minibus #2 now awaits action in the U.S. Senate.

"The fact that President Trump signed my bill into law nearly two years ago that fixed the Duplication of Benefits debacle and HUD continues to box out a subset of these flood victims is inexcusable. It used to be that changing the law actually meant something. We said we wouldn't stop fighting this bureaucracy until it is fixed for all and these amendments are helping to fulfill that commitment. From the start it was failed, flawed policy and these homeowners keep paying the cost for their government's ignorance – from the loss of their homes, rebuilding cost, and the time lost battling bureaucratic nightmares. These bureaucrats in Washington have made this an absolute painful process and played chicken with our folks' livelihood. I'll keep holding their feet to the fire till they fix their wrongs and we see light at the end of the tunnel. We fixed the law and there are hundreds of millions of dollars remaining in the bank for flood victims," Graves said.

The first Graves provision (an amendment to the Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill) prevents the Small Business Administration (SBA) from collecting disaster loan payments from flood victims if they are Duplication of Benefits victims.

The second Graves provision (an amendment to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies appropriations bill) prohibits the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from continuing to impose imaginary income limitations on DoB flood victims in order to be eligible for recovery assistance from the RESTORE program.

Background:

In 2018, Graves authored legislation to fix the flawed DoB policy. Graves met with the president's Chief of Staff and Director of the Office of Management of Budget Mick Mulvaney, in April and May 2018 to discuss DoB and also brought up the DoB issues this year in a meeting with Ross Vought, Mulvaney's successor.

In October 2018, President Trump signed Graves' DoB bill into law. While thousands of SBA DoB victims have been helped under Graves' DoB efforts, some homeowners remain stuck in the bureaucratic nightmare.

Unelected careerists at HUD and other federal agencies have resisted the law-change and continue to use bureaucratic red tape to obstruct the implementation of the Graves fix in what has become a years-long battle between Graves, the Louisiana Delegation and other Members of Congress on one side, and career agency bureaucrats on the other. Graves has worked to bring other colleagues into the conversation as areas such as Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Puerto Rico have faced these same challenges after recent major disasters – which highlights DoB is a long-standing policy, not something new overnight or new to Louisiana. For example, Texas suffered the bureaucratic nightmare of DoB after Hurricane Harvey.

Graves designed his amendments to compel HUD Secretary Ben Carson, who now refuses to meet to discuss his agency's flawed implementation of the 2018 law, back to the table.

Graves added, "Ben Carson wanted to be president of the United States, making the case that he would be capable of handling the vast complexities of the entire nation – but he's nowhere to be found, gone completely silent in response to our calling on him to defend HUD's misinterpreted, flawed policies. His avoidance strategy won't work, because we are not going anywhere until this issue gets resolved and our flood victims get the relief they deserve."

On July 13, 2020, Graves met with FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor to discuss several topics including DoB. Graves had urged President Trump on March 18, 2020 to ensure that DoB does not become an issue for any businesses that use the SBA to help make ends meet during the coronavirus crisis. On March 2, 2020, Graves had asked Mulvaney for an opportunity to revisit the DoB conversation with the President.

In October 2019, Graves announced HUD was giving the State the authority to begin issuing DoB checks and maintains that the State of Louisiana has authority to do so.