The record

LegislationLegislation· Dec 2025
S 594 Passed Senate — in House

Sponsored by Gary C. Peters (D)

HELP Response and Recovery Act

Lets use no-bid contracts for up to one year during disasters instead of 150 days.

Tradeoff

Speeds up disaster response by letting the federal government skip competitive bidding for longer. Requires to report annually for five years on whether this prevented waste.

What's in it

See official bill text

Reduces federal spending by less than $500,000 over 2025-2030 through lower administrative and contracting costs.

The $500,000 figure is just the federal cost to implement reporting and reduced administrative overhead—the bill's real policy impact is on 's ability to enter noncompetitive emergency contracts for up to one year instead of 150 days, which streamlines disaster response procurement but is scored as having minimal direct federal expense.

S. 594, HELP Response and Recovery Act · Aug 2025

Passed the Senate by on December 16, 2025 — now in the House.

  1. Senate

    Introduced

    (Feb 13, 2025)

  2. Senate

    Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs(Feb 13, 2025)

  3. Senate

    The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs voted to send it to the floor

    Reported(Jul 30, 2025)

  4. Senate

    Passage of the bill

    Passed by (Dec 16, 2025)

    No individual votes were recorded.

  5. House

    Received from the Senate

    Received(Dec 17, 2025)