Congress·In Committee·H.R. 6507

DHS Grants Accountability Act

Homeland Security: New Rules for Grant Spending and Oversight

Feb 2·View on Congress.gov·Read full text

Next up: A house committee

This bill is currently in the early stages of the legislative process and is being reviewed by several subcommittees. It is actively moving through the House committees for study. There are no upcoming votes scheduled at this time.

Legislative Progress

House

Senate

President

Law

Unlikely to pass

While the bill focuses on government efficiency, it was introduced by Democrats in a Republican-controlled House and currently lacks bipartisan cosponsors.

Key Points

This bill changes how the Department of Homeland Security handles money given to local governments for safety. It requires the agency to be more open about how it decides who gets money for things like port security and transit safety.
Local agencies would get more time to use the money they receive. The bill sets a minimum of 54 months, which is four and a half years, for groups to spend their grant funds. This helps cities and states finish long-term security projects without the risk of losing their funding too soon.
The government would have to follow strict timelines for announcing new grants. If a specific deadline is not already set by law, the agency must post the grant notice within 60 days of getting its budget. This prevents long delays that can leave local security projects waiting for months.
The bill ensures that local groups have at least 30 days to fill out their applications once a grant is announced. It also requires the government to tell Congress exactly how they are picking winners before the application process even starts to make sure the process is fair.

Impact Analysis

Govbase has not yet run an impact analysis on this legislation.