Project 2025 Tracker / What’s done, what’s next

5. Department of Homeland Security · Notable · Needs Congress

Change the disaster cost share to 25 percent federal for small disasters

Not started

153 5. Department of Homeland Security

“In addition, Congress should change the cost-share arrangement so that the federal government covers 25 percent of the costs for small disasters with the cost share reaching a maximum of 75 percent for truly catastrophic disasters.”

What has happened

  1. Not started

    Congress has not changed the Stafford Act cost share, which still sets a federal floor of not less than 75 percent for Public Assistance (sections 403(b), 406(b)(1), 407(d)) with presidential discretion to raise it. The administration's FEMA Review Council recommended a different graduated structure - "up to 75% based on performance metric" with a 50 percent minimum, applied to a redesigned Public Assistance and mitigation program - and "advocates for legislative action", but it did not propose the Quote's 25 percent federal share for small disasters, and no legislative proposal or bill embodying either version has passed a chamber. The FEMA Act of 2025 (H.R. 4669) was ordered reported 57-3 on 2025-09-03 and has gone no further, which under the leveling rules is still not-started.

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

A Requires-Congress ask. The ladder: introduced or reported is not started; passage by one chamber or a formal administration request is attempted.

The FEMA Review Council report is the closest thing to an administration request, and it asks for a 50-75 percent performance-based share rather than the Quote’s 25 percent floor. Progress is measured on this ask, not on an adjacent proposal, so that keeps this at not started with the report cited as what actually happened.

Boundary call: a reviewer who reads the Council’s recommendation as a formal administration request for a graduated cost share would put this at attempted. The difference from #384 is that there the Council recommended the Quote’s own measure.

A search of the titles of bills in Congress and public laws, from congress.gov, for FEMA, Stafford Act and disaster-relief titles returned about forty bills - FEMA Independence Act, State-Managed Disaster Relief Act, FEMA Act of 2025, Rapid Disaster Relief Act and others - all in committee.

Action
restrict
Object
Stafford Act disaster cost-share arrangement
ID
385