OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Federal Employees and National Urban Search and Rescue Response System Task Forces

Floor Speech

Date: April 8, 2019
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: National Security

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Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 639 introduced by the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Hartzler).

H.R. 639 is a technical correction bill which will amend section 327 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to explicitly clarify that Federal employees are able to participate in the National Urban Search and Rescue Response System task forces coordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

FEMA has developed the National USAR Response System over the last several decades to act as a force multiplier for disaster rescue missions. The system is comprised of 28 task force teams from across the country and includes highly skilled volunteers who are constantly training for a variety of hazard scenarios, both man-made and natural.

Task force teams have proven their effectiveness time and again across this Nation.

Following enactment of the National Urban Search and Rescue Response System Act at the end of the 114th Congress, certain Federal agencies that employ members of some of these task forces have, unfortunately, been misinterpreting language that granted liability protections for non-Federal task force members equal to Federal first responders only when their task force was called into Federal service, resulting in an impediment to those Federal employees serving on a task force.

This bill will simply clarify that nothing in section 327 of the Stafford Act shall be interpreted to mean that a task force cannot include Federal employees and that, in instances where a Federal employee is detailed to a National USAR Response System task force, the sponsoring agency shall enter into an agreement with the relevant employing Federal agency.

The critical emergency services provided by the National USAR Response System and these highly skilled operators are too important for us to delay this fix any longer. I strongly support this bill and urge my colleagues to join me.

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