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Addressing Addiction After Disasters Act
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to authorize the President to provide substance use and alcohol use disorder services, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends federal disaster relief law to expand mental health assistance programs to explicitly include treatment for substance use and alcohol use disorders in the aftermath of major disasters. The bill modifies the Crisis Counseling Assistance and Training program administered by FEMA to cover substance use and alcohol use services alongside existing mental health services for disaster victims. FEMA must review and update its applications and guidance documents within 180 days to reflect the expansion, in consultation with federal substance abuse treatment experts and state alcohol and drug agencies. Additionally, the Government Accountability Office must review the crisis counseling program and report to Congress on how long assistance is provided to individuals and whether FEMA is properly limiting assistance to problems caused or aggravated by disasters.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
13 cosponsors
- Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large] (D-DC)
- Rep. Budzinski, Nikki [D-IL-13] (D-IL)
- Rep. Carson, André [D-IN-7] (D-IN)
- Rep. Costa, Jim [D-CA-21] (D-CA)
- Rep. Davids, Sharice [D-KS-3] (D-KS)
- Rep. Fields, Cleo [D-LA-6] (D-LA)
- Rep. Fitzpatrick, Brian K. [R-PA-1] (R-PA)
- Rep. Jayapal, Pramila [D-WA-7] (D-WA)
- Rep. Moskowitz, Jared [D-FL-23] (D-FL)
- Rep. Moulton, Seth [D-MA-6] (D-MA)
- Rep. Soto, Darren [D-FL-9] (D-FL)
- Rep. Thanedar, Shri [D-MI-13] (D-MI)
- Rep. Tokuda, Jill N. [D-HI-2] (D-HI)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Becca Balint’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $14,775
- STATE OF VERMONT $10,516
- INVARIANT $10,400
- GRASSROOTS ANALYTICS $6,817
- BEACHWOLD $5,600
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Becca Balint → · Outside spending →
Actions (3)
- Nov 22, 2025 Referred to the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management. · house
- Nov 21, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. · house
- Nov 21, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 21, 2025
Ms. Balint (for herself, Ms. Tokuda, Ms. Norton, Mr. Fields, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Carson, Mr. Soto, Mr. Costa, Mr. Thanedar, Ms. Budzinski, and Ms. Davids of Kansas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
A BILL
To amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to authorize the President to provide substance use and alcohol use disorder services, and for other purposes.
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 “Addressing Addiction After Disasters Act”.
SEC. 2. CRISIS COUNSELING ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING.
Section 416 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5183) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a)—
(A) by inserting “, substance use, or alcohol use” after “private mental health”; and
(B) by inserting “, substance use, and alcohol use” after “relieve mental health”; and
(2) in subsection (b) by inserting “, substance use, or alcohol use” before “organization providing”.
SEC. 3. REPORT ON CHANGES TO APPLICATION.
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, in consultation with the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, the Director for the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, and State alcohol and drug agencies, shall review, adjust, and report to Congress any changes made to the application for assistance under section 416 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5183) and to any other relevant guidance documents to reflect the amendments made by this Act.
SEC. 4. GAO REPORT TO CONGRESS.
The Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct a review of the assistance provided under the crisis counseling assistance and training program established pursuant to section 416 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5183) and submit to Congress a report describing—
(1) the duration of assistance provided to individuals under such program; and
(2) the compliance of the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency with the requirement that such assistance may only be used for mental health, substance use, and alcohol use problems caused or aggravated by a major disaster or its aftermath. <all>
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