Promoting Resilient Buildings Act of 2025

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Bill ID: 119/hr/501
Last Updated: February 3, 2026

Sponsored by

Rep. Edwards, Chuck [R-NC-11]

ID: E000246

Follow the money

The bill

Promoting Resilient Buildings Act of 2025

HR. 501, 119th Congress — read as touching Construction & Engineering.

The sponsor

Rep. Edwards, Chuck [R-NC-11]

Every bill has someone who introduced it. That name is where the paper trail starts.

The money

$66,000 raised

20 itemised contributions to this sponsor, pulled from FEC filings.

The alignment

64% match to Project 2025

This bill's text tracks the "Introduction" section, p. 786-788 of the Mandate for Leadership.

Bill's Journey to Becoming a Law

Track this bill's progress through the legislative process

Latest Action

Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 273.

October 2, 2025

Introduced

📍 Current Status

Next: The bill will be reviewed by relevant committees who will debate, amend, and vote on it.

🏛️

Committee Review

🗳️

Floor Action

Passed House

🏛️

Senate Review

🎉

Passed Congress

🖊️

Presidential Action

⚖️

Became Law

📚 How does a bill become a law?

1. Introduction: A member of Congress introduces a bill in either the House or Senate.

2. Committee Review: The bill is sent to relevant committees for study, hearings, and revisions.

3. Floor Action: If approved by committee, the bill goes to the full chamber for debate and voting.

4. Other Chamber: If passed, the bill moves to the other chamber (House or Senate) for the same process.

5. Conference: If both chambers pass different versions, a conference committee reconciles the differences.

6. Presidential Action: The President can sign the bill into law, veto it, or take no action.

7. Became Law: If signed (or if Congress overrides a veto), the bill becomes law!

Bill Summary

Another exercise in legislative theater, where politicians pretend to care about the well-being of their constituents while actually serving the interests of their corporate donors and special interest groups.

**Main Purpose & Objectives:** The Promoting Resilient Buildings Act of 2025 (HR 501) claims to aim at promoting disaster resilience by amending existing laws related to building codes, hazard mitigation, and emergency assistance. The bill's sponsors would have you believe that it's all about protecting people from natural disasters and reducing the financial burden on taxpayers. How quaint.

**Key Provisions & Changes to Existing Law:** The bill makes a few tweaks to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, mainly by:

1. Updating the definition of "latest published editions" for building codes and standards. 2. Creating a Residential Retrofit and Resilience Pilot Program to provide grants for homeowners to retrofit their homes against natural disasters.

**Affected Parties & Stakeholders:** The usual suspects are involved in this farce:

* Homeowners who might benefit from the pilot program (but only if they're lucky enough to get selected). * State and local governments that will administer the program. * The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which will oversee the whole operation. * The construction industry, which will likely reap the benefits of increased demand for retrofitting services.

**Potential Impact & Implications:** Let's not be naive here. This bill is a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. It's a token effort to address the symptoms of a much larger problem – the country's lack of preparedness and investment in disaster resilience.

The pilot program might provide some benefits to a select few, but it's a drop in the bucket compared to the scale of the issue. The real winners will be the construction companies and contractors who'll get to cash in on the retrofitting contracts.

Meanwhile, the bill does nothing to address the root causes of disaster vulnerability, such as climate change, poor urban planning, or inadequate infrastructure investment. It's a classic case of treating the symptoms rather than the disease.

In conclusion, HR 501 is a legislative placebo – it might make some people feel good, but it won't actually cure anything. It's a waste of time and resources that could be better spent on meaningful reforms to address the country's disaster resilience challenges.

Related Topics

Housing & Urban Development
Generated using Llama 3.1 70B (Dr. Haus personality)

💰 Campaign Finance Network

Rep. Edwards, Chuck [R-NC-11]

Congress 119 • 2024 Election Cycle

Total Contributions
$66,000
18 donors
PACs
$0
Organizations
$0
Committees
$0
Individuals
$66,000

No PAC contributions found

No organization contributions found

No committee contributions found

1
EASTERN BAND OF CHEROKEE INDI, TRIBE
2 transactions
$6,600
2
FAISON, JAY
2 transactions
$6,600
3
BAUM, ANN
1 transaction
$3,300
4
DUHAMEL, WILLIAM F
1 transaction
$3,300
5
BELL, JOHN W III
1 transaction
$3,300
6
POPE, JAMES
1 transaction
$3,300
7
SYKES, CLAY
1 transaction
$3,300
8
SYKES, LISA
1 transaction
$3,300
9
YELVERTON, MATTHEW
1 transaction
$3,300
10
APODACA, LISA
1 transaction
$3,300
11
APODACA, TOM
1 transaction
$3,300
12
CECIL, JOHN
1 transaction
$3,300
13
FAZIO, THOMAS
1 transaction
$3,300
14
GORDON, MARILYN
1 transaction
$3,300
15
HITE, CASEY
1 transaction
$3,300
16
HOLLIFIELD, JUDSON
1 transaction
$3,300
17
JOHNSON, KIRBY
1 transaction
$3,300
18
PULLIAM, RUSTY
1 transaction
$3,300

Cosponsors & Their Campaign Finance

This bill has 2 cosponsors. Below are their top campaign contributors.

Rep. Titus, Dina [D-NV-1]

ID: T000468

Top Contributors

10

1
LAS VEGAS PAIUTE TRIBE
OrganizationLAS VEGAS, NV
$3,300
Dec 31, 2023
2
SAN MANUEL BAND OF MISSION INDIANS
OrganizationLOS ANGELES, CA
$3,300
Feb 1, 2024
3
SAN MANUEL BAND OF MISSION INDIANS
OrganizationLOS ANGELES, CA
$2,500
Jun 30, 2024
4
BARONA BAND OF MISSION INDIANS
OrganizationLAKESIDE, CA
$1,500
Jun 30, 2023
5
RENO-SPARKS INDIAN COLONY
OrganizationRENO, NV
$1,000
Jun 11, 2024
6
SANTA YNEZ BAND OF MISSION INDIANS
OrganizationSANTA YNEZ, CA
$1,000
Sep 8, 2023
7
NET2LINK, LLC
OrganizationPEMBROKE PINES, FL
$250
Oct 23, 2024
8
CHANG, RONIE
GOLDEN REAL ESTATE & INVESTMENTSREALTOR
IndividualLAS VEGAS, NV
$3,300
Nov 2, 2024
9
PRITZKER, JAY
STATE OF ILLINOISGOVERNOR
IndividualCHICAGO, IL
$3,300
Oct 18, 2024
10
SCHMIDT, ERIC
HILLSPIRE LLCMANAGER
IndividualPALO ALTO, CA
$3,300
Oct 23, 2024

Rep. Fitzpatrick, Brian K. [R-PA-1]

ID: F000466

Top Contributors

10

1
SANTA YNEZ BAND OF MISSION INDIANS
OrganizationSANTA YNEZ, CA
$1,500
Dec 31, 2024
2
STATA FAMILY OFFICE
Organization
$500
Apr 26, 2024
3
ASHER, ROBERT B.
IndividualGWYNEDD VALLEY, PA
$10,000
Oct 9, 2024
4
ASHER, ROBERT B.
ASHER CHOCOLATESCHAIRMAN
IndividualGWYNEDD VALLEY, PA
$10,000
Sep 30, 2024
5
LEVY, EDWARD JR
EDW C LEVY COCHAIRMAN
IndividualBIRMINGHAM, MI
$6,600
Feb 26, 2024
6
CROTTY, THOMAS
RETIREDRETIRED
IndividualSCOTTSDALE, AZ
$6,600
Feb 27, 2024
7
EVANS, ROGER
GREYLOCK PARTNERSPARTNER EMERITUS
IndividualSAN FRANCISCO, CA
$6,600
Feb 27, 2024
8
LEACH, RONALD
NPX ONECHAIRMAN & CEO
IndividualGENEVA, IL
$6,600
Feb 28, 2024
9
MCCLAIN, MARK
SAILPOINTCEO
IndividualAUSTIN, TX
$6,600
Mar 2, 2024
10
CROTTY, THOMAS
IndividualSCOTTSDALE, AZ
$6,600
Mar 8, 2024

Donor Network - Rep. Edwards, Chuck [R-NC-11]

PACs
Organizations
Individuals
Politicians

Hub layout: Politicians in center, donors arranged by type in rings around them.

Loading...

Showing 35 nodes and 26 connections (29 secondary connections hidden)

Total contributions: $87,100

Top Donors - Rep. Edwards, Chuck [R-NC-11]

Showing top 18 donors by contribution amount

18 Individuals

Industry Impact

Which industries are materially affected by specific provisions in this bill. 2 helped.

  • Section 4 establishes a residential retrofit and resilience pilot program providing grants to individuals for home resilience measures (elevations, floodproofing, tornado safe rooms, seismic retrofits, wildfire mitigation, wind retrofits, etc.), which directly benefits construction and engineering firms that perform such retrofit work.

  • +Electric Utilitiesconfidence 0.70

    Section 4 includes elevation of utilities within and around structures as an eligible retrofit measure, which could involve work on electrical service equipment, potentially benefiting electric utilities involved in service upgrades or relocation.

Project 2025 Policy Matches

This bill shows semantic similarity to the following sections of the Project 2025 policy document.

Introduction

Moderate64.3%
Pages: 786-788

— 754 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise Disaster Loan Program and Direct Lending. The SBA’s disaster loan pro- gram provides low-interest loans to personal, business, and nonprofit borrowers following a federally declared disaster. The program suffers from problems of coordination with Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) disas- ter assistance. For example, disaster relief applicants have an incentive to avoid being approved for SBA disaster loans in order to increase the amount of FEMA assistance for which they are eligible. Moreover, the availability of disaster loans reduces individuals’ incentives to purchase disaster-related insurance. More than 90 percent of SBA disaster loans are loans to individuals such as homeowners, not to small businesses. In view of the challenges the SBA has experienced in its administration of this program, as well as the fraud and abuse in the EIDL COVID-19–related program and the IG’s concern that the systemic problems within this lending program undermine the SBA’s work, the next Administration should: l Work with Congress to assess the extent to which disaster loans should be offered by another agency rather than the SBA and explore private-sector channels for administering the loans. l Specify clearly that no new direct lending programs will be developed at the SBA. Eligibility of Religious Entities for SBA Loans. Current SBA regulations46 and SBA Form 197147 make certain religious entities ineligible to participate in several SBA loan programs. The Trump Administration proposed a rule that would remove the provisions on the ground that they violate the First Amendment.48 Subsequent Supreme Court decisions have made their unconstitutionality clearer.49 In an April 3, 2020, letter to Congress pursuant to 28 U.S. Code § 530D,50 the Trump Administration SBA advised that two such provisions violate the Free Exer- cise Clause of the First Amendment and that it therefore would not enforce them. On January 19, 2021, the Trump Administration SBA proposed a rule to remove all of the unconstitutional religious exclusions from its regulations.51 The SBA has not acted on the proposed rule. A similar religious exclusion once appeared in the regulation governing eligibil- ity for SBA Business Loan Programs,52 but it was removed in a June 2022 final rule that noted tension with the First Amendment and Supreme Court precedent.53 That final rule announced that the SBA would nonetheless continue to make religious eligibility determinations for business loan applicants to comply with putative Establishment Clause requirements,54 but Supreme Court precedent and Office of Legal Counsel memoranda refute the notion that large government-backed loan programs raise any Establishment Clause concerns.55 — 755 — Small Business Administration The SBA uses the same “Religious Eligibility Worksheet,” SBA Form 1971, to make eligibility determinations for all affected programs, including the Business Loan Programs. Thus, the SBA continues to act as though the unconstitutional regulation were still in place, and there is no Establishment Clause basis for doing so. The next Administration should immediately: l Notify Congress under 28 U.S. Code § 530D that it will not enforce these unconstitutional regulations. l Take down SBA Form 1971. l Finalize the Trump Administration’s proposed rule or publish its own updated proposed rule to remove the unconstitutional regulations. Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Programs. The SBA “coordinates and monitors the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) pro- grams for all federal agencies with extramural budgets for research or research and development (R/R&D) in excess of the expenditures established in sections 9(f) and 9(n) of the Small Business Act.”56 The SBIR and STTR Extension Act of 2022 extended these programs from September 30, 2022, through September 30, 2025.57 SBIR requires that 3.2 percent of spending by agencies with extramural R&D budgets of $100 million or more must be directed to small businesses. STTR allo- cates 0.45 percent of federal research spending to small firms.58 Research has shown that this small portion of federal R&D spending is disproportionately effective.59 The SBIR program has consistently demonstrated its ability to fund advanced technologies through to private-market viability and invests more in America’s heartland than venture capital invests.60 SBIR and STTR have overcome the tendency of federal contracting officers to deal only with large firms that are familiar to them and have the expertise and lobbying clout to navigate the federal procurement process. The next Adminis- tration should: l Continue the SBIR and SBTT programs as they successfully fund the next wave of technological innovation to compete with Big Tech. l Urge Congress to expand the amount that other agencies are required to set aside from their general R&D budgets for the SBIR program. l Ensure the enactment of stricter rules requiring that SBIR funds must be expended on capital investments in the United States.

About These Correlations

Policy matches are calculated using semantic similarity between bill summaries and Project 2025 policy text. A score of 60% or higher indicates meaningful thematic overlap. This does not imply direct causation or intent, but highlights areas where legislation aligns with Project 2025 policy objectives.

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