WASHINGTON – The Senate passed Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Gary Peters’s (D-Mich.) bipartisan Helping Eliminate Limitations for Prompt (HELP) Response and Recovery Act. The bill will now move to the House of Representatives for consideration.

“The Senate just unanimously passed our common-sense solution to help the private sector and federal officials work better together to respond to emergencies. Now the House needs to send this solution to the president’s desk. I’ll keep working to get Louisianians and all Americans the help they need when disaster strikes, and I’m thankful to partner with Sen. Peters to that end,” said Kennedy.   

The legislation would enable the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency to respond to disasters and other emergencies more efficiently and promptly.

“The federal government should have every tool available in order to help survivors of disasters get back on their feet. This bill will allow the Department of Homeland Security to respond to emergencies and natural disasters quickly and more effectively by streamlining the process to help disaster survivors recover and put their lives back together after tragedy strikes,” said Peters.  

The HELP Response and Recovery Act would repeal Section 695 of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006, which restricts the length of non-competitive DHS contracts for urgent and compelling requirements to 150 days. The repeal of this obsolete regulation ensures that DHS deadlines for emergency contracts follow current government-wide rules that allow contracts of up to one year.

Text of the HELP Response and Recovery Act is available here.