Reforming Disaster Recovery Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, I am in support of the bill. However, this is the jurisdiction of the Financial Services Committee. I am the vice ranking member, and I am willing to yield time. I think we will be speaking in both opposition and in support of the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 3702, the Reforming Disaster Recovery Act, which I introduced with Congressman Al Green.

Mr. Speaker, before I begin, I want to take a moment to thank Congressman Green and the majority leader, Mr. Hoyer, and so many others who have been great partners in this endeavor--again, unanimous votes out of the Financial Services Committee in both the 115th and the 116th Congresses. I appreciate their willingness to make sure that disaster relief is being spent on the most vulnerable victims of natural disasters.

When natural disasters strike, the Federal Government plays a critical role in delivering emergency aid. Taxpayer dollars spent on disaster relief must be allocated wisely and efficiently. Every disaster relief dollar diverted to an ineffective or wasteful use is a dollar that is not going to help people in need.

Last Congress, the Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations began a bipartisan effort to improve the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program. Today's legislation is a product of that strong bipartisan work.

The Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program helps communities start the recovery process and assists neighborhoods with limited resources in rebuilding critical infrastructure after a catastrophic event.

According to numerous IG reports and a hearing that the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee held in 2018, major issues have been identified with the CDBG-DR program. Slow reimbursement of disaster- related funding, delays in funding for our low- to moderate-income citizens, and the potential duplication of benefits were just some of the identified difficulties.

While FEMA and other government agencies provide immediate resources to victims of disasters, it is HUD that often distributes the most aid through the CDBG disaster recovery program. Although HUD has become a primary provider of disaster assistance since 1993, this program is not codified in statute.

HUD uses more than 60 Federal Register notices to issue clarifying guidance waivers and alternative requirements to oversee at least 113 active disaster recovery program grants, which total--are you ready for this, Mr. Speaker?--more than $47 billion of taxpayer money as of last year.

Codifying the CDBG-DR program would provide a framework for future disasters, reduce the overreliance on Federal Register notices for each disaster, and speed delivery of disaster assistance to grantees and disaster victims.

The CDBG-DR program must be codified and reformed to increase oversight and accountability and ensure that disaster relief dollars go directly and expeditiously to those who need them the most. Codification provides proper controls that protect against waste, fraud, and abuse.

In testimony before the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee last Congress, the acting inspector general of HUD noted that $11.5 billion of CDBG-DR funds appropriated for disasters, going all the way back for almost nearly a decade, remain unspent.

H.R. 3702 sets up a mechanism to recapture future unused CDBG-DR funds, an accountability mechanism that we desperately need to put in reserves for future disasters. We must do a better job recouping this lost money for future disasters. And, most importantly, this will help ensure disaster funds are getting to those who need them most when they need it.

H.R. 3702 also helps to eliminate the duplication of benefits that can occur in the wake of government response to a natural disaster under our current multiagency system. It helps protect taxpayer dollars from being improperly allocated, from waste, fraud, and abuse, as was laid out by the inspector general.

It is about time, Mr. Speaker, that Congress makes this disaster relief program accountable to the people we serve and to American taxpayers in every State.

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Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time I have remaining?
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Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, may I make an inquiry? Is the gentleman ready to close?

Those who oppose this bill, the Reforming Disaster Recovery Act, they oppose it because HUD involvement has been involved in disaster recovery. Their opposition is so strong that they would allow waste, fraud, and abuse to continue to overrun the program instead of codifying and reforming it.

Their opposition is purely philosophical, Mr. Speaker. It is not practical. HUD has been charged with administering this program since 1993 under Democrat and Republican Presidents, under Democrat and Republican Speakers. No matter the composition of the House or the Senate, this program has continued.

I have seen no national movement to end this program and bring the gentleman's theoretical vision into being. Meanwhile, the program continues to generate waste, fraud, and abuse. The gentleman would justify this waste and abuse because they believe some day they will successfully convince both Chambers in Congress and the President to pass legislation that would make FEMA the sole distributor of disaster funds.

The gentlemen have articulated no feasible path toward ending the program. The gentlemen have no interest in reforming or fixing the program, and they have no jurisdiction, Mr. Speaker.

During the 115th Congress I served as the chair of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the Financial Services Committee. I worked with committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, a conservative through and through, to draft this legislation with my good friend and colleague, Mr. Green, and address the flaws in this program.

We must pass this bill in order to end the waste and abuse, and to ensure that funding goes quickly to those who need it, and to recapture the unused funds responsibly. I am dismayed that my colleagues in opposition will continue to waste taxpayer dollars simply because they have an interagency disagreement that falls outside of their jurisdiction.

This legislation places greater accountability and controls on taxpayer money spent after disaster through codification, a clawback provision, duplication of benefit reforms, minimum procurement standards for States, and other very important provisions.

This bill, Mr. Speaker, is effective and responsive policy, and I urge all of my colleagues to support this piece of legislation. I yield back the balance of my time.

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