Redundancy Elimination And Enhanced Performance For Preparedness Grants Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3980, sponsored by my good friend from Texas (Mr. Cuellar) who I'm pleased to serve with on the Emergency Communications, Preparedness, and Response Subcommittee.

Since 2006, Congress has mandated FEMA to measure the Nation's level of preparedness, as well as the effectiveness of State and local homeland security grant programs administered by FEMA. Both the Post-Katrina Reform Act of 2006 and the 9/11 Act of 2007 require FEMA to develop metrics that can be used to identify and close gaps in preparedness with homeland security resources. These include the Comprehensive Assessment System, the Target Capabilities List, and the State Preparedness Report.

Unfortunately, the various preparedness metrics developed since 2006 have not been properly integrated by FEMA, resulting in duplicative reporting requirements that put an undue burdenon State and local governments. State and local homeland security grant programs are essential to achieving and maintaining preparedness capabilities, and they can be strengthened and improved with input from stakeholders and the establishment of sound performance metrics.

This bill seeks to improve the way grant programs are administered and managed by FEMA, and will ensure that Congress is informed of the ongoing planning at FEMA for improving measures of preparedness and eliminating duplicative requirements placed on grantees.

I urge my colleagues to support the measure, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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