Letter to the Hon. Lucille Roybal-Allard, Chairwoman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, and Chuck Fleischmann, Ranking Member - Representative Angie Craig Leads Bipartisan Effort to Fund Natural Disaster Mitigation Program

Letter

Dear Chairwoman Roybal-Allard and Ranking Member Fleischmann,

As you begin to craft Homeland Security appropriations bill, we respectfully urge you to fully fund the newly enacted Safeguarding Tomorrow Though Ongoing Risk Mitigation (STORM Act) at $100 million in fiscal year 2022.

Last Congress, the STORM Act was signed into law. This program is similar to the EPA revolving loan program that has been very successful over the last 40 years in financing water related projects. With your support, the STORM Act is positioned to provide similar low interest long term loan financing to states and localities to support making all types of infrastructure more resilient including the use of natural solutions.

As one example, the flood mitigation industry estimates there are 3-4 million older high flood risk buildings with rapidly rising flood insurance premiums in US flood zones. Banks have estimated the value of these assets at $1.5 trillion and around $600 billion will be required to retrofit, elevate or dry flood proof them. The retrofit adaptation of the built environment and the deployment of natural infrastructure at scale along with making built infrastructure more resilient will create tens of thousands of good professional jobs in across multiple sectors. The issue has always been the lack of financing for these projects and the STORM Act is the answer.

With your support, we can mitigate these flooding risks and those posed from other natural disasters by fully funding the program's authorized level of $100 million in FY2022.

Thank you for your consideration of our request.