Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. PADILLA. Madam President, I rise to introduce the Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience Act. This legislation would better equip and formalize the Economic Development Administration's role in post-disaster economic recovery.

EDA has a long history of supporting disaster recovery and resilience efforts and is uniquely positioned to coordinate Federal support due to its network of partners in impacted communities. EDA's role in disaster recovery is to facilitate the timely and effective delivery of Federal economic development assistance to support near- and long-term community economic recovery planning and project implementation, redevelopment, and resilience.

This bill would establish a dedicated Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience at EDA to coordinate the Agency's post-disaster economic recovery activities, create a disaster team for the deployment of individuals to carry out such activities after a disaster or emergency declaration, and require 100 Percent Federal cost share for major disaster recovery projects.

EDA currently serves as the coordinating Agency for the Economic Recovery Support Function, ERSF, under the Federal Government's National Disaster Recovery Framework, NDRF. In this capacity, EDA provides leadership, coordination, and oversight for primary and support Agencies for the provision of grants, loans, training, and other forms of assistance to support economic recovery efforts in disaster-impacted communities and regions.

Congress has relied on the Agency to implement economic recovery activities since the 1990s, providing a total of $3.2 billion in supplemental funding for EDA's disaster relief and economic resiliency efforts for natural disasters--most recently in calendar years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022. The Agency also received billion in additional funding tor COVID-19 pandemic recovery efforts.

Yet, EDA's role in disaster assistance has never been formalized. Having a dedicated bureau or office to direct and implement the economic recovery support function activities of the Agency could expedite deployment of resources and improve service delivery to communities by retaining institutional knowledge that can translate between communities, preserving leadership at the Agency, and deploying staff and funds more rapidly.

I thank Senator Boozman for introducing this important legislation with me in the Senate. I hope all of our colleagues will join us in supporting this bill for the long-term economic strength and resilience of our communities. ______

By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Booker, Mr. Lee, Mr. Ossoff, Mr. Kennedy, Ms. Klobuchar, Ms. Lummis, Ms. Baldwin, and Mr. Brown):

S. 2788. A bill to amend section 3661 of title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the consideration of acquitted conduct at sentencing; to the Committee on the Judiciary. S. 2788

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act of 2023''. SEC. 2. ACQUITTED CONDUCT AT SENTENCING.

(a) Use of Information for Sentencing.--

(1) Amendment.--Section 3661 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting ``, except that a court of the United States shall not consider, except for purposes of mitigating a sentence, acquitted conduct under this section'' before the period at the end.

(2) Applicability.--The amendment made by paragraph (1) shall apply only to a judgment entered on or after the date of enactment of this Act.

(b) Definitions.--Section 3673 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--

(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking ``As'' and inserting the following:

``(a) As''; and

(2) by adding at the end the following:

``(b) As used in this chapter, the term `acquitted conduct' means--

``(1) an act--

``(A) for which a person was criminally charged and adjudicated not guilty after trial in a Federal, State, or Tribal court; or

``(B) in the case of a juvenile, that was charged and for which the juvenile was found not responsible after a juvenile adjudication hearing; or

``(2) any act underlying a criminal charge or juvenile information dismissed--

``(A) in a Federal court upon a motion for acquittal under rule 29 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure; or

``(B) in a State or Tribal court upon a motion for acquittal or an analogous motion under the applicable State or Tribal rule of criminal procedure.''. ______

By Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Blumenthal, and Mr. Booker):

S. 2794. A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to make fraudulent dealings in firearms and ammunition unlawful, and for other purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.

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