Redundancy Elimination And Enhanced Performance For Preparedness Grants Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. CUELLAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill and yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, Congress instructed FEMA in the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 and in the Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 to develop performance metrics for its homeland security grants programs. As the House Committee on Homeland Security discovered in our October 27 subcommittee hearing I held with my ranking member hearing on emergency communications, these requirements remain poorly implemented and difficult to comprehend. What is most disconcerting is that FEMA still cannot determine our Nation's overall preparedness or how homeland security grants have helped to protect our Nation from acts of terrorism.
It is for these reasons that I come to you today to ask for your support of H.R. 3980, the Redundancy Elimination and Enhancement Performance for Preparedness Grants Act. This legislation would require FEMA to work in conjunction with State, local, tribal and territorial stakeholders to develop a plan to do the following things:
Streamline homeland security grant reporting requirements, rules and regulations to eliminate redundant reporting;
Create a strategy including a timetable for establishing the much-needed performance metrics for grant programs to ensure that the funds are being directed to the areas where they will be best spent;
Require FEMA to take an inventory of each of the homeland security grant programs to include the purpose, objectives and performance goals for each.
The plan will be submitted to the appropriate congressional committees no later than 120 days after the bill's enactment.
It will be updated biannually to ensure that the committee is able to maintain a watchful eye and the oversight on redundancies in the law that might confuse the grant recipients at the local level.
This bill will help identify inefficiencies with the DHS grants programs and this bill will increase the quality of service received by DHS grant recipients.
I urge all of my colleagues to support this important legislation.
House of Representatives, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure,
Washington, DC, December 1, 2009.
Hon. BENNIE G. THOMPSON,
Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security, Washington, DC.
DEAR CHAIRMAN THOMPSON: I write to you regarding H.R. 3980, the ``Redundancy Elimination and Enhanced Performance for Preparedness Grants Act''.
H.R. 3980 contains provisions that fall within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. I recognize and appreciate your desire to bring this legislation before the House in an expeditious manner and, accordingly, I will not seek a sequential referral of the bill. However, I agree to waive consideration of this bill with the mutual understanding that my decision to forgo a sequential referral of the bill does not waive, reduce, or otherwise affect the jurisdiction of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure over H.R. 3980.
Further, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure reserves the right to seek the appointment of conferees during any House-Senate conference convened on this legislation on provisions of the bill that are within the Committee's jurisdiction. I ask for your commitment to support any request by the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure for the appointment of conferees on H.R. 3980 or similar legislation.
Please place a copy of this letter and your response acknowledging the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure's jurisdictional interest in the Committee Report on H.R. 3980 and in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD consideration of the measure in the House.
I look forward to working with you as we prepare to pass this important legislation.
Sincerely,
JAMES L. OBERSTAR,
Chairman.
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY,
Washington, DC, December 1, 2009.
Hon. JAMES L. OBERSTAR,
Chairman, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
DEAR CHAIRMAN OBERSTAR: Thank you for your letter regarding H.R. 3980, the ``Redundancy Elimination and Enhanced Performance for Preparedness Grants Act,'' introduced by Congressman HENRY CUELLAR on November 2, 2009.
I appreciate your willingness to work cooperatively on this legislation. I acknowledge that the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has a jurisdictional interest in certain provisions of H.R. 3980. I appreciate your agreement to not seek a sequential referral of this legislation and I acknowledge that your decision to forgo a sequential referral does not waive, alter, or otherwise affect the jurisdiction of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
Further, I recognize that your Committee reserves the right to seek appointment of conferees on the bill for the portions of the bill over which your Committee has a jurisdictional interest and I agree to support such a request.
I will ensure that this exchange of letters is included in the legislative report on H.R. 3980 and in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD during floor consideration of the bill. I look forward to working with you on this legislation and other matters of great importance to this nation.
Sincerely,
BENNIE G. THOMPSON,
Chairman.
I reserve the balance of my time, Mr. Speaker.
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Mr. CUELLAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, as you heard, this is commonsense legislation that will streamline FEMA's efforts to enhance our Nation's preparedness and response capacity. All we're trying to do is to make sure that we get rid of any unnecessary rules and regulations that cause our local folks problems. Number two, we're also trying to make sure that we measure the results. If we're going to spend billions of dollars on grants, we've just got to make sure that we measure those particular results.
The bottom line is, Mr. Speaker, we're trying to focus on the customers, and the customers are the recipients of these grants. I certainly want to thank our ranking member, Mr. Rogers. He's done an outstanding job there in the committee. I look forward to working with him not only on this legislation to make it law but certainly on other pieces of legislation. I urge all my colleagues to vote ``aye.''
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