Redundancy Elimination And Enhanced Performance For Preparedness Grants Act
Floor Speech
Redundancy Elimination And Enhanced Performance For Preparedness Grants Act
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Ms. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, as a member of the Homeland Security Committee, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3980, the Redundancy Elimination and Enhanced Performance for Preparedness Grants Act. This legislation directs FEMA to streamline its grants reporting process to make it more efficient and informative, and it eliminates redundant requests for information.
I would like to acknowledge Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Thompson for their leadership in bringing this important bill to the floor. I would also like to thank my colleague Congressman Cuellar, who worked so hard authoring this important legislation holding FEMA accountable for our taxpayer dollars.
Mr. Speaker, on October 27, as a member of the Subcommittee on Emergency Communication, Preparedness, and Response, I heard testimony from both FEMA officials and state and local government officials about the new grants tracking program currently being tested. State and local officials, including the mayor of Los Angeles in my home state of California, urged the federal government to reconsider their use of this program. In the words of the mayor, ``all the reports that it generates provide no guidance or value for assessing homeland security investments.''
H.R. 3980 directs FEMA to identify and address the problems it is experiencing with grants reporting and tracking. This legislation is almost a direct response to the concerns raised to Congressman Cuellar and me by the mayor of Los Angeles about the FEMA grants reporting process. I am proud that this legislation addresses those concerns. When it comes to homeland security and taxpayer dollars, we simply cannot afford to be wasting time or money on programs that offer no guidance or value. So I am pleased to champion H.R. 3980, which addresses this problem.
In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I support this bill because it will make our grant process more efficient and informative. Redundant reporting requirements will be eliminated, and communities and organizations will be able to better focus on doing the work they need to do to keep our nation safe.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 3980.
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