Sponsor
Nydia M. Velázquez
Representative · D-NY
Representative · D-NY
The bill aims to improve recovery equity for Puerto Rico and strengthen oversight by having GAO identify data gaps and recommend fixes, at the cost of added federal workload, potential taxpayer expense, and some operational risk from publishing program details.
Puerto Rico residents and disaster-affected communities could get more equitable and better-targeted recovery grants because GAO will identify data gaps and recommend how to include Puerto Rico in federal statistical products within a year.
Local and territorial governments will receive clearer evidence about where grant processes were impeded, helping them reform practices to speed future fund allocation and management.
Congressional committees and oversight bodies will gain actionable information to hold agencies accountable and craft more informed legislation or appropriations for recovery efforts.
Federal agencies and employees will face added administrative burden and resource costs to collect and provide the requested information to GAO within short (90-day) deadlines.
Taxpayers may incur additional costs if agencies must expand federal statistical products or undertake new data collection to integrate Puerto Rico fully.
Publishing detailed grant lists and examples could expose program vulnerabilities or data limitations, complicating agency operations or creating reputational/operational risks.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Directs the Comptroller General to report within 1 year on data gaps, grant inventories, and recommendations to improve federal statistical coverage for Puerto Rico disaster recovery.
Official title: To require a study on the critical data gaps experienced by Federal agencies providing grants for the recovery of Puerto Rico.
Introduced September 18, 2025 by Nydia M. Velázquez · Last progress September 18, 2025
Requires the Government Accountability Office (Comptroller General) to produce a one-year study and report identifying specific data needs across federal grant-making agencies to improve recovery efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricanes Irma, María, and Fiona; the 2020 earthquakes; and the COVID-19 pandemic. The report must inventory disaster-related grants, assess use of federal statistical products at stages of the grant lifecycle, identify critical data gaps and how those gaps impaired grant allocation or management, and recommend ways to include Puerto Rico in relevant federal statistical products. Federal agencies named in the bill must respond to Comptroller General information requests within 90 days. The law defines which agencies count as grant-awarding or relevant and clarifies the kinds of statistical products covered by the study. The report is delivered to two congressional committees within one year of enactment.