EDA can't show its $2.1 billion in disaster grants worked
Summary
In fiscal years 2014-2024, the Economic Development Administration awarded about $2.1 billion in disaster recovery grants, 77% of it through supplemental appropriations passed after major disasters. GAO analyzed 292 of those grants -- construction projects and revolving loan funds with available outcome data -- and found 55% of grantees reported no jobs created, no jobs retained, and no private investment three years after their award; six years out, 31% still reported none. EDA can barely check further: it suspended the site visits it used to validate grantees' self-reported numbers during the COVID-19 pandemic and, as of December 2025, still hadn't resumed them. The newest money is moving even slower -- as of February 2026, EDA had obligated just 3% ($38 million) and disbursed none of the $1.448 billion Congress appropriated in December 2024 for 2023-2024 disasters, and nearly three years after the 2023 Hawaii wildfires, EDA had not announced a single award to a Hawaiian grantee. GAO's July 2, 2026 report made four recommendations; EDA agreed with all of them, and all four remain open.
Most tracked grants show no results -- and EDA stopped checking
analyzed 292 disaster recovery grants⧉ for construction projects and revolving loan funds that awarded from fiscal years 2014 through 2022 with available performance data. 55% of grantees reported creating no jobs, retaining no jobs, and generating no private investment three years after their award; six years out, 31% still reported none of those outcomes. has limited ability to check the data itself: it previously ran randomized site visits in two regions a year, checking seven infrastructure grants each round, but suspended the practice during the COVID-19 pandemic⧉ and, as of December 2025, still hadn't resumed it, citing limited staff.
View data as table
| No results after 3 years | 55% |
|---|---|
| No results after 6 years | 31% |
The newest disaster money moves the slowest
's disaster grants are funded mostly through one-off supplemental appropriations passed after specific disasters, and GAO tracked how quickly each one moved⧉. As of February 2026, had obligated 97% of the $587 million Congress provided in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 and 99% of a similar $587 million 2019 supplemental, plus 87% of the $483 million Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 funds. But of the $1.448 billion American Relief Act of 2025 appropriation -- the largest of the four, and nearly half of everything has received for disaster grants since 2018 -- had obligated only 3%, about $38 million.
View data as table
| Bipartisan Budget Act, 2018 | 97% |
|---|---|
| Disaster Relief Supplemental, 2019 | 99% |
| Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 | 87% |
| American Relief Act, 2025 | 3% |
Disbursement to grantees runs even further behind obligation. had disbursed 96% of the 2018 funds and 42% of the 2019 funds to grantees, but only 16% of the 2023 funds and none of the 2025 funds as of February 2026.
View data as table
| Bipartisan Budget Act, 2018 | 96% |
|---|---|
| Disaster Relief Supplemental, 2019 | 42% |
| Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 | 16% |
| American Relief Act, 2025 | 0% |
Nearly three years, zero awards: the Hawaii wildfires
The 2025 appropriation's slow start has a face: the August 2023 Hawaii wildfires⧉. 's Economic Recovery Support Function mission began about 10 days after the fires, but Congress didn't provide the $1.448 billion in disaster funding until December 21, 2024 -- 16 months later. began accepting applications in June 2025 and made its first awards in September 2025, about two years after the wildfires; as of June 2026, it had not announced a single award to a Hawaiian grantee. Other agencies in the same recovery mission moved faster: was authorized to fund disaster assistance immediately, began taking disaster-loan applications within days, and signed a $1.6 billion Community Development Block Grant agreement for long-term recovery in June 2025.
The takeaway
- More than half of the grants could check showed no results after three years. Of 292 tracked disaster-recovery grants awarded 2014-2022, 55% reported no job creation, no job retention, and no private investment after three years -- and suspended the site visits it used to validate that data during the pandemic, never resuming them as of December 2025.
- The newest disaster funding is moving the slowest. had obligated 97%, 99%, and 87% of its 2018, 2019, and 2023 disaster supplementals as of February 2026 -- but only 3% of the $1.448 billion 2025 appropriation, which alone equals nearly half of everything has received for disaster grants since 2018.
- In Hawaii, that lag means nearly three years with zero announced awards. made its first award from 2025 disaster funds about two years after the Hawaii wildfires and, as of June 2026, still hadn't announced one to a Hawaiian grantee -- while , , and all moved faster in the same recovery mission.
All findings are from -26-107742, "Economic Development Administration: Actions Needed to Assess Disaster Recovery Outcomes," published and publicly released July 2, 2026 -- read directly in full (61 pages), not just the Highlights summary. The per-recommendation "Open" status is drawn from 's Highlights page for the same report, which carries a live status column the static PDF text does not include. Obligation and disbursement figures reflect 's status as of February 2026 as reported in this audit.
Sources(2) ▾
- U.S. Government Accountability Office, Economic Development Administration: Actions Needed to Assess Disaster Recovery Outcomes (2026-07-02) — -26-107742, publicly released July 2, 2026. Read the full 61-page PDF directly (extracted with pdftotext -layout), not just the Highlights page Artemis sealed at capture time -- the full text carries Table 2's obligation/disbursement breakdown by appropriations act, the 292-grant outcome-tracking analysis, and the 2023 Hawaii wildfires timeline that the Highlights summary only gestures at. Direct gao.gov PDF asset access intermittently returns HTTP 403; a Wayback Machine capture of the direct PDF asset serves as the one-click original-document link. gao.gov · original document
- U.S. Government Accountability Office, Economic Development Administration: Actions Needed to Assess Disaster Recovery Outcomes -- Highlights page (2026-07-02) — 's web Highlights page for -26-107742, which carries the live per-recommendation status column ('Open') that the static PDF's Recommendations for Executive Action section does not include as extractable text. This is the Artemis-sealed capture of the same product. gao.gov · original document
Comments
Always open. Logged-in readers can annotate paragraphs in place.
The Economic Development Administration coordinates federal agencies and funds projects to help communities recover after natural disasters. In fiscal years 2014-2024, EDA awarded about $2.1 billion⧉ in disaster recovery grants, 77% of it through supplemental appropriations Congress passed after major disasters. 's July 2, 2026 report set out to check whether that money worked -- and found mostly can't say.