In January 2013, to aid the victims of Hurricane Sandy, Congress passed H.R. 41 and H.R. 152, totaling approximately $60 billion. H.R. 41 increased FEMA's borrowing authority for the National Flood Insurance Program by approximately $10 billion. H.R. 152, the Disaster Relief Appropriation Act, provided $50 billion in emergency-relief funding to 19 federal agencies. These agencies are distributing these funds through existing programs in the form of contracts, grants, and loans.
As part of H.R. 152, Congress authorized the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board to "develop and use information technology resources and oversight mechanisms to detect and remediate waste, fraud, and abuse" in the awarding and spending of the funds. The Board is collecting data on entities being awarded contracts, grants, and loans and will display this data as it is collected.
Read H.R. 152.