March 19, 2025

Duckworth, Durbin Join Colleagues to Push Back on Proposed Cuts to Disaster Recovery Programs

In a new letter, the lawmakers pushed back against U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner’s proposed cuts to critical disaster recovery programs

 

WASHINGTON –  U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), along with 40 of their Senate colleagues, in pushing back on U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner’s proposed cuts to crucial disaster recovery programs that are under the umbrella of HUD.

The cuts would reduce employees at HUD’s office of Community Planning and Development, which administers the Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Program, a crucial pot of funding that helps impacted communities with disaster recovery following extreme weather events including tornadoes and severe flooding. Under this program, Illinois is scheduled to receive more than $856.3 million for disaster recovery, which would likely be in jeopardy due to the cuts.

This disaster relief work includes rebuilding houses and small businesses, repairing roads and bridges, restoring water services and investing in workforce development for Illinoisans who’ve lost jobs.

“Communities across the country experienced significant natural disasters in 2023 and 2024… Alaska, Louisiana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Illinois experienced severe storms,” the Senators wrote to Secretary Turner. “CDBG-DR provides states, cities, counties, and Tribes with funding to support recovery efforts in the wake of natural disasters.  In December 2024, Congress appropriated $12 billion in emergency supplemental CDBG-DR funding. During your confirmation process, you made clear that, if confirmed, you would prioritize getting our constituents CDBG-DR funding as quickly as possible.”

“Specifically, you [Secretary Turner] stated that ‘one of [your] top priorities’ as HUD Secretary would ‘be to ensure that the disaster recovery funding passed by Congress gets out to communities swiftly’ and ‘into the hands of Americans who have been impacted by recent disasters.’  Your statements indicated a strong commitment to providing our disaster-impacted communities with the resources they need, but we are concerned that recent actions at the Department have not matched that verbal commitment,” the Senators continued.

“We urge you to immediately stop any additional cuts to the workforce and contracts involved in disaster recovery oversight, and reinstate any recently terminated probationary staff,” the lawmakers concluded.

A copy of the letter is available here and below:

March 17, 2025

Dear Secretary Turner:

We write today regarding our concerns that recent actions taken by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are hampering our states’ ability to access (CDBG-DR) funds. The CDBG-DR program is critical to our states’ ability to recover from natural disasters, and it is essential that HUD distributes funding as quickly and efficiently as possible. We request additional information on your plans to ensure that communities continue to receive the resources they need to rebuild.

Communities across the country experienced significant natural disasters in 2023 and 2024. States across the South—including Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia—were devastated by Hurricanes Milton and Helene, while Alaska, Louisiana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Illinois experienced severe storms.  States in the Northeast—including, Vermont, and Massachusetts —faced life-threatening floods, while states in the West – including California, Washington State, and Hawaii – saw catastrophic wildfires in Maui. 

CDBG-DR provides states, cities, counties, and Tribes with funding to support recovery efforts in the wake of natural disasters.  In December 2024, Congress appropriated $12 billion in emergency supplemental CDBG-DR funding. During your confirmation process, you made clear that, if confirmed, you would prioritize getting our constituents CDBG-DR funding as quickly as possible. Specifically, you stated that “one of [your] top priorities” as HUD Secretary would “be to ensure that the disaster recovery funding passed by Congress gets out to communities swiftly” and “into the hands of Americans who have been impacted by recent disasters.”  Your statements indicated a strong commitment to providing our disaster-impacted communities with the resources they need, but we are concerned that recent actions at the Department have not matched that verbal commitment.

For years, the HUD Office of Inspector General listed disaster recovery oversight as a top management challenge at HUD, noting the need for systems and staff to keep pace with increases in CDBG-DR funding, as well as the need to build the capacity of CDBG-DR grantees.  The latest Top Management Challenges report highlighted multiple ways in which HUD has made “meaningful progress,” largely due to the investment Congress has made over the years to support staff, systems, and capacity building. Over the last week, however more than one thousand HUD employees (13% of HUD’s workforce) were fired or accepted the Administration’s deferred resignation offer – including staff supporting the CDBG-DR program. Furthermore, according to recent reports, HUD “plans to discharge 50% of its overall workforce”, and the Office of Community Planning and Development, which is responsible for supporting disaster recovery efforts, is targeted for a staggering 84% cut.  Should such cuts move forward, it is unclear how the Department will continue to ensure the efficient delivery of CDBG-DR funds so our states and communities can continue to rebuild after devastating disasters. 

HUD has also postponed previously scheduled trainings designed to help grantees understand CDBG-DR program requirements, and it is not clear when those trainings will resume.  Moreover, continued uncertainty on whether and the extent to which HUD may change the current Universal Notice governing the latest allocations from the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2025 (Public Law 118-158) could cause additional delays. At least one grantee has already started accepting public comments on their draft action plan. Any major deviations from current requirements could be a huge setback for communities, adding months to recovery efforts. 

We urge you to immediately stop any additional cuts to the workforce and contracts involved in disaster recovery oversight, and reinstate any recently terminated probationary staff.

To help us better understand the current status of the CDBG-DR program and your plans to ensure the uninterrupted delivery of CDBG-DR funds for our states and others across the country, we request information to the following questions no later than Monday, March 24, 2025:

  1. All grantees who received allocations from Public Law 118-158 have been using the CDBG-DR Universal Notice to develop their action plans.
    1. Do you intend to make changes to the Universal Notice?
    2. If so, how will HUD do that in a way that is minimally disruptive to the grantees whose actions plans are underway and to avoid delaying assistance?
    3. What is HUD’s timeline for reissuing the second allocation notice for Public Law 118-158 funding that was posted to the Federal Register for public inspection on January 21, 2025 but withdrawn on January 22, 2025?
  1. How many HUD employees were responsible for supporting the implementation of the CDBG-DR program, including the delivery of recently appropriated supplemental funding, on January 20, 2025? Please delineate by field versus headquarters and employee status (e.g., career, conditional, term, etc.).
  1. How many HUD employees are responsible for supporting the implementation of the CDBG-DR program, including the delivery of recently appropriated supplemental funding, on[March 17, 2025]? Please delineate by field versus headquarters and employee status (e.g., career, conditional, term, etc.).
  1. What additional plans, if any, does the Department have to further reduce the number of HUD employees responsible for implementing the CDBG-DR program?
  1. What analyses, if any, has HUD conducted to assess the impact of any proposed or implemented workforce reductions on the Department’s ability to implement CDBG-DR funding? Please provide copies of any written communications, analyses, and other documentation on how workforce reductions could impact the CDBG-DR program produced between January 21, 2025, and [March 17, 2025].
  1. What services, such as trainings and the provision of technical assistance, was HUD providing to CDBG-DR grantees on January 20, 2025?
  1. What services, if any, is HUD currently providing to CDBG-DR grantees? What changes, if any, have occurred to the services provided to CDBG-DR grantees since January 20, 2025?
  1. What additional plans, if any, does the Department have to alter the available services provided to CDBG-DR grantees? 
  1. Have any contracts related to the CDBG-DR program been terminated since January 20, 2025, as a result of the ongoing review of the ongoing reviews of HUD programs?  If so, please detail which contracts, the reason for termination, and the plan for addressing the contracted work, if applicable.

Sincerely,

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