Fema Improvement, Reform, and Efficiency Act of 2022

Floor Speech

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Mr. PADILLA. 482, S. 3092.

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Mr. PADILLA. I further ask that the Padilla amendment, which is at the desk, be considered and agreed to, the committee-reported substitute amendment, as amended, be agreed to; the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

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Mr. PADILLA. Madam President, I rise to discuss and explain the matter we just took action on. It is relative to wildfires. All across the Western United States, historic wildfires continue to grow both more frequent and more severe. Every year, in recent years, entire communities have been destroyed by wildfires in a matter of hours. We have seen this in California, New Mexico, and Colorado. Families are forced to flee with only the belongings they could quickly pack into their vehicles.

Last year, I visited the incident command center in Quincy, CA, to see firsthand the real-time response to the devastating Dixie fire. Separately, I met with local leaders in Santa Rosa, CA, to hear about problems with recovery from previous catastrophic wildfires.

So my bill--the bill we just took action on, the FEMA Improvement, Reform, and Efficiency Act or the FIRE Act--will help ensure FEMA better addresses the unique and increasing danger of wildfires.

FEMA's current procedures and requirements don't always work for postwildfire recovery needs. And this bill will close those gaps.

I give a lot of credit to FEMA. They have gotten pretty good at anticipating and responding to other types of disasters. We are seeing it, as we speak, with the hurricane impact in Florida. They do the same with tornadoes, floods, other disasters.

In all these scenarios, we know that it begins with preparation. The FIRE Act will begin the process of allowing FEMA to predeploy resources during times of extremely high risk. In the West, we know it as red flag warnings.

When it is hot, conditions are dry, and the wind kicks up, it is a recipe for disaster. And so to have FEMA be able to deploy in advance-- just as they do already during hurricane warnings, as we are seeing in Florida at this very moment--is a smart thing to do.

Then, as communities rebuild after a devastating wildfire, this bill will work to ensure that FEMA takes wildfire-specific issues into account, like melted infrastructure and burned trees. It will also help local governments work with FEMA to more effectively relocate critical infrastructure away from fire-prone areas.

Now, in the aftermath of a fire, the bill will help provide better housing assistance, case management, and crisis counseling for survivors with a focus on equity for underserved communities and Tribal governments. Oftentimes these underserved communities and Tribal governments suffer the disproportionate impact of these wildfires.

So with the FIRE Act, we will be able to better prepare for and respond to the unique challenges of wildfires in California and throughout the Western United States.

The FIRE Act passed out of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee by a voice vote on February 2 of this year. And I want to take a moment to thank both Chairman Peters and Ranking Member Portman and their staffs who contributed to this bill, as well as our partners at FEMA.

This is an overdue, commonsense bill to help communities on the frontlines of our wildfire crisis. And I thank my colleagues for joining me in supporting it.

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