Rep. Payne, Jr. Introduces Bill to Spend Disaster Relief Funding More Effectively

Statement

Rep. Donald M. Payne, Jr. introduced a bill today to study federal spending on natural disasters and recommend how the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) can use funding more efficiently.

The bill, the Federal Disaster Relief Modernization Act, requires the U.S. Government Accounting Office to conduct a study to help FEMA get federal disaster funding to the states and communities that need it as quickly as possible. The study will help states condense disaster preparedness plans to reduce the time required to implement these plans when a natural disaster or other emergency occurs. In addition, the bill allocates 10 percent of pre-disaster mitigation funding to help rebuild and repair residential structures.

"I introduced this bill because climate change has caused more powerful storms and those storms are creating flooding and serious problems faster than anyone expected," said Rep. Donald M. Payne, Jr. "My bill would allow states and communities to develop faster responses to weather-related catastrophes. In addition, I toured the district after Hurricane Ida and noticed that most of the flood damage happened to older homes that are more difficult and expensive to repair. The same problem happened after Hurricane Sandy, when older homes were not designed to handle such extreme weather. This bill would target damage to older homes with specific funding to make it easier on homeowners to repair."

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