Reforming Disaster Recovery Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Green and Mrs. Wagner for their efforts in a bipartisan way. I thank the committee for reporting it overwhelmingly-- in fact, I think unanimously--out of committee. And I thank Chairwoman Waters of the Financial Services Committee for her leadership in advancing this important bill.

In 2017, damage from natural disasters, such as Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, cost our country and its territories $300 billion--in 1 year alone.

We know that these storms are becoming more frequent and more severe, resulting from a change in climate. Sadly, our future will look more and more like 2017 as the climate crisis worsens. That is why, after visiting Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Florida Keys in the fall of 2017, I helped lead a bipartisan effort to ensure that Federal disaster relief funding is used to help communities rebuild to 21st century standards.

In my view, if we fail to help communities rebuild stronger, they will be just as vulnerable to future disasters as they were before. Not only is that an unwise path to follow, it is a waste of taxpayer dollars. That is why I am glad that this bill includes important provisions for climate resilience, hazard mitigation, and helping communities rebuild to 21st century standards.

I am proud to bring this bill to the floor and hope that it will pass with broad, bipartisan support. This bill authorizes, for the first time, a community development block grant disaster recovery program.

The program has been in use through appropriations since 1993 to help communities affected by natural disasters, but it has never been formally authorized. That means that the Department of Housing and Urban Development must go through extra hurdles before distributing these emergency funds, which can delay assistance getting to the communities that need it.

Mr. Green recognizes that, Mrs. Wagner recognizes that, and, frankly, it is the unanimous view of the committee that this was a step to take. With this legislation, that process will be streamlined, and we can do our part to make the process of rebuilding after a natural disaster faster and better.

I thank the chair and the sponsors of the bill for making commonsense changes to help align it with some of the reforms we have made to the Stafford Act following the 2017 hurricanes.

Importantly, the bill conditions the receipt of CDBG disaster funding on the adoption of the latest building codes and standards for those communities that want to rebuild in hazard zone areas, such as flood zones. That will ensure that homes, schools, hospitals, and other infrastructure are rebuilt stronger and more resilient, making them safer for their occupants and, as I said, protecting taxpayer dollars that aren't being used to rebuild these buildings and infrastructure.

I was pleased that, when we adopted the amendments to the Stafford Act, Mr. McCarthy, the then-majority leader, and I were the cosponsors of that legislation. I am pleased that Mr. McCarthy and I have worked together to try to make this program stronger and better.

I have talked to my friend Garret Graves, who knows a lot about this stuff, and he has a bill himself. I am going to look carefully at that bill and try to work with him to make sure that we do, in fact, do what I think everybody on this floor wants: make these programs work, not only for those who are damaged, not only for the communities that are ravaged by natural disasters, but also for the taxpayers.

None of us want to defend programs that don't work, don't work quickly, aren't paid on time or correctly. Nobody wants to defend that. But we have worked closely--when I say ``we,'' my office has worked closely with the homebuilders to make sure that the homebuilders thought this was a program that they could work with. They do.

So I urge my colleagues, in a bipartisan fashion, let us not once again snatch partisanship from bipartisanship moving progress. So often we do that. It is a shame, particularly when a bill is reported out of committee unanimously.

Is this perfect? It may not be perfect. I don't know whether Garret Graves' bill is perfect. I know he knows a lot about the subject, and I am working to talk to him.

But let's pass this bill, not necessarily in lieu of other pieces of legislation that can improve this process, but pass this bill as a step towards progress, a step towards a more rational policy, and a step towards making sure that we apply our moneys in a rational, effective way for our citizens, for our communities, and for our country.

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