An Examination of Federal Disaster Relief Under the Budget Control Act

Bruce R. Lindsay
Analyst in American National Goverment

William L. Painter
Analyst in Emergency Management and Homeland Security Policy

Francis X. McCarthy
Analyst in Emergency Management Policy

On August 2, 2011, the President signed into law the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA, P.L. 112- 25), which included a number of budget-controlling mechanisms. As part of the legislation, caps were placed on discretionary spending for the next ten years, beginning with FY2012. If these caps are exceeded, an automatic rescission—known as sequestration—takes place across most discretionary budget accounts to reduce the effective level of spending to the level of the cap. Additionally, special accommodations were made in the BCA to address the unpredictable nature of the need for disaster assistance while attempting to impose discipline on the amount spent by the federal government on disasters.

The first section of this report addresses the traditional funding for major disaster declarations, both through annual requested amounts and through supplemental appropriations to meet greater, unanticipated costs. This section also explains the workings of the President’s Disaster Relief Fund, a “no-year” fund that finances spending under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (P.L. 93-288).

Next, this report provides a basic overview of how disaster assistance is appropriated, what factors affect how much the federal government spends on disasters, how disaster relief is impacted by the BCA, and what the policy implications are for disaster assistance going forward under the constraints of the BCA. Included in this review are discussions of disaster spending, how it is calculated under the BCA, and potential costs that may be excluded under that calculation. The report also touches on the increasing number of disaster declarations and both the possible causes and likely cost implications of a greater number of declarations.


Date of Report: February 10, 2012
Number of Pages: 19
Order Number: R42352
Price: $29.95

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