A bipartisan group of House members is drafting a sweeping bill to overhaul the Federal Emergency Management Agency — and in some cases expand its services — in an effort to head off President Donald Trump’s threats to shrink or abolish the agency.
Under the bill, FEMA could pay for major repairs to homes damaged in disasters, instead of only temporary fixes. The agency would be able to penalize states that don’t try to mitigate disasters, according to a detailed summary obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News.
The bill also would remove FEMA from the Department of Homeland Security and make it an independent agency reporting directly to the president. The measure, which is described as a discussion draft, was written by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Sam Graves, Republican of Missouri, and Washington Rep. Rick Larsen, the panel’s top Democrat.
Committee staffers explained the bill Wednesday in a private virtual conference with about 100 experts. E&E News listened in.
Committee Republicans and Democrats expect to publicly release the discussion draft Thursday.
“The administration has talked about finding a better way to support states taking the lead” in disaster response, Johanna Hardy, a subcommittee Republican staff director, said at the conference. The draft legislation by the committee “will help achieve those goals.”
Making FEMA a Cabinet-level agency “will better enable FEMA to support states and local governments,” Hardy said.
The bill could become Congress’ principal effort to try to influence the future of FEMA, which Trump has started cutting and intends to further weaken or abolish.
“The fact that the committee is moving on this is promising,” Manann Donoghoe, a senior research associate at Brookings Metro, said in an interview after listening to the virtual conference.
One cut by Trump — the cancellation of a multibillion-dollar grant program for states to protect against natural disasters — has drawn widespread and bipartisan opposition. Trump has discussed abolishing or shrinking FEMA and created an expert council to recommend changes.
On Wednesday, as House Transportation Committee staffers were explaining their bill, FEMA acting Administrator Cameron Hamilton bluntly told a House Appropriations subcommittee that the agency should not be abolished.
“I do not believe it is in the best interests of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency,” Hamilton said in response to a question by the House Appropriations Committee’s top Democrat, Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut.
“Having said that, I’m not in a position to make a decision,” Hamilton added. “That is a conversation that should be had between the president of the United States and this governing body.”
Earlier in the hearing, Hamilton said the administration “is looking at policies and initiatives that encourage greater state participation” in disaster recovery.
Trump has been adamant about downsizing FEMA and giving states more responsibility for disaster recovery.
But the House bill would expand FEMA spending in at least one area, according to the 2,500-word summary and Transportation Committee staffers.
The bill would remove restrictions that limit FEMA to paying only for minor home repairs after a disaster and would create a “permanent repair program of owner-occupied homes,” the summary says.
“It would expand FEMA’s authority to continue to repair homes … past the point of habitability,” Lauren Gros, a Democratic committee staffer, told the conference.
“We learned FEMA was spending upwards of $300,000 on travel trailers” to temporarily house disaster victims, Gros said. “Why spend so much money on a temporary solution instead of a permanent solution?”
Under federal law, FEMA currently gives households only enough money — usually a few thousand dollars — to make their home habitable after a disaster. The policy has forced many households without homeowners insurance to live in temporary housing for long periods.
The bill also would urge FEMA to give “greater weight” to events that damage “economically distressed … or rural areas” in deciding whether to recommend that a president declare a disaster, the summary says. Presidents have the final and sole decision on whether to declare a damaged area a “major disaster,” entitling states to federal aid for cleanup and recovery.
FEMA typically pays 75 percent of disaster-recovery costs for states, which pay the remaining 25 percent.
But the House proposal would “incorporate cost-share sliding” that would let FEMA reimburse only 65 percent of costs “if a state were not doing appropriate mitigation measures,” Logan de La Barre-Hays, a Republican staffer on the House Transportation Committee, told the virtual conference.
FEMA could increase its reimbursement to 85 percent for states making significant improvements in their vulnerability to disasters.
It’s unclear how much effect the bill would have if it became law.
Presidents have almost complete discretion over disasters, including when to approve federal aid and how much to give.
Many of the 51 sections in the bill summary simply authorize FEMA or a president to take certain action.
Donoghoe of Brookings said “a lot of good ideas” are contained in the bill, which along with Trump’s executive orders “have put a spotlight on disaster-management reform in a way there hasn’t been in a while.”
Other people who watched the virtual presentation said the federal government needs to revise not just FEMA but its entire response to major disasters, which encompasses numerous departments.
But, Donoghoe added, “I have reservations about what can be accomplished in the current legislative environment.”
