Federal Disaster Assistance Coordination Act

Floor Speech

I rise in support of H.R. 152, the Federal Disaster Assistance Coordination Act.

This legislation amends the Disaster Recovery Reform Act to help Federal agencies streamline and consolidate information collection and preliminary damage assessments following disasters.

After a major disaster, there is no time to wait for bureaucracy. However, Federal recovery assistance following disasters is currently hampered by inefficient information collection and assessments conducted by multiple agencies.

This bill will remove information collection barriers that currently impede disaster aid. It creates a working group to identify duplicative assessments and propose their elimination.

Further, it would streamline Federal disaster recovery efforts by concluding that a single agency is sufficient to conduct damage assessments to account for the needs of disaster victims.

The Federal Government can and should be doing this smarter.

Mr. Speaker, I support this bill, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

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Ms. HOYLE of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, as stewards of taxpayer dollars, we need to ensure that we are spending our money as efficiently as possible.

Government should work. As we have seen in fires in Oregon, hurricanes in North Carolina and Florida, and currently the horrific fires in Los Angeles, when people suffer from a natural disaster, it is imperative that they get the help that they need. They have lost everything, and the last thing we should be doing is dragging them through duplicative bureaucracy.

That is why this bill is so important. This bipartisan bill passed the House on suspension in the 116th, 117th, and 118th Congresses. This bill will help disaster survivors by taking a step toward streamlining the Federal Government's fragmented approach to disaster assistance.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and, hopefully, the Senate will move it through.

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