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Bill Would Ban Victims’ Required Pay Back of Funds

The U.S. House voted Tuesday to prevent the Federal Emergency Management Agency from demanding repayments from disaster victims if there was no fraud involved. The bill passed by voice vote.

"Help us" spray-painted in red on the side of a gray building.
(TNS) - After receiving federal assistance to help rebuild after Hurricane Sandy, some disaster victims were told they had gotten too much money and had to repay it. But the funds long had been spent on repairs.

The U.S. House voted Tuesday to prevent the Federal Emergency Management Agency from demanding repayments from disaster victims if there was no fraud involved. The bill passed by voice vote.

It was the latest attempt by lawmakers to stop the federal government from demanding that disaster victims repay excess funds long after the money was spent on repairs.

“When victims apply for FEMA assistance in good faith, those individuals likely need to move quickly to use the assistance for eligible expenses, like home repairs, to speed up recovery and begin rebuilding their lives,” said Rep. Sam Graves, R- Mo., the bill’s chief sponsor and the top Republican on the House Transportation Committee.

Graves said the bill would “ensure disaster victims trying to recover aren’t revictimized because of the federal government’s error.”

The same legislation passed the House last year, but this time a bipartisan bill was introduced in the Senate, improving the chances of passage.

The House has passed similar legislation in earlier years as well. and U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-6th Dist., have introduced their own versions in previous years to protect those homeowners whose property was damanged by Sandy.

Sandy victims never had to pay back any of the money. New Jersey officials blocked FEMA from getting any funds back.

And in October 2018, Gov. Phil Murphy announced that homeowners ordered to repay federal aid from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development could seek an “extreme financial hardship allowance” from the state.

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