Press Releases

U.S. Congressman Garret Graves (South Louisiana) joined Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar (Florida) in introducing the bipartisan Rebuilding Communities After Disasters Act to adjust the Small Business Administration (SBA) disaster loan limits. The limits have not been adjusted since 1994 while the average home price has tripled in the United States from $106,000 to approximately $350,000. Specifically, the bill would increase the maximum loan amount for SBA physical damage disaster loans from $200,000 to $400,000 for home repair, and from $40,000 to $75,000 to replace household and personal belongings.

One of Graves' top priorities with this legislation is to make sure that the Duplication of Benefits (DoB) doesn't become a factor.

"This assistance program no longer meets the needs of disaster victims because home prices have significantly increased while the loan amounts have not similarly increased. This bill is a great example of how common-sense, bipartisan solutions can fix this and help people that need it most. At the same time, one key issue we are working to resolve is making sure that the 2016 Flood Duplication of Benefits issue will not apply to any future loans granted under the SBA program," Graves said. "And at the end of the day, this all needs to be kept in perspective. This loan program and other FEMA assistance efforts are employed when flood protection has failed, and we have flood victims. The top priority must be to prevent flooding in our committees. We will not lose sight of this priority."

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Background on Graves working to end the flawed Duplication of Benefits:

In 2018, Graves authored legislation to fix the flawed DoB policy. Graves met with President Donald Trump's then 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 that 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.

On August 5, 2020, Graves inserted two amendments in the multi-agency appropriations bill the House passed, which were additional actions the congressman took to deliver relief to Louisiana's remaining 2016 DoB flood victims who are still excluded from available RESTORE program funding. Graves designed those amendments to compel then HUD Secretary Ben Carson, who refused to meet to discuss his agency's flawed implementation of the 2018 law, back to the table.

Unelected careerists at HUD and other federal agencies have resisted the law-change and continue 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 said in August 2020, "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 then 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. Graves also discussed the need to protect Hurricane Laura victims from DoB in September 2020 with then SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza.

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.