Landrieu Presses Napolitano On Replenishing The Disaster Relief Fund
WASHINGTON – United States Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., today urged U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to fully replenish the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Disaster Relief Fund (DRF).
The DRF is FEMA's general fund to support disaster response, recovery and mitigation projects. Sen. Landrieu is Chair of the Homeland Security Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which oversees the Homeland Security Department's $55.35 billion budget, including funding for FEMA.
“I have to say, I want to commend you. This has been a very tough year for the department,” said Sen. Landrieu to Sec. Napolitano at today’s hearing. “The Coast Guard has fought to contain the largest oil spill in American history, terrorists carried out attacks against Fort Hood and Times Square, ICE and border patrol agents mobilized to quell unprecedented violence along the Southwest border, TSA learned of a terrorist plot to detonate air cargo, and FEMA responded to 106 separate incidents this year. So I want to say I appreciate your leadership of this department. I also appreciate your willingness to cut, reduce and modify based on the challenges before us. But, I do want to say we have to be very careful about how we go about that exercise, so that we can continue to provide our security that the nation needs, and has come to depend on, under your leadership and with this department.”
Most of the DRF shortfall is from catastrophic and major events such as Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike, the Midwest Floods of 2008, and the Tennessee flood of 2010.
Sen. Landrieu continued, “I think you are aware that both in the House continuing resolution that is being debated and in the President’s proposal, they are recommending that we basically fund disaster recovery out of the base budget of Homeland Security, which in my mind, is a radical departure from the past and will absolutely, if left un-checked, undermine your department’s ability to respond.”
Over the past twenty years, $110 billion of the $128 billion that Congress has appropriated for the DRF was provided as emergency spending, making it unnecessary to offset those expenditures in the base budget. Those funds were appropriated primarily in response to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Ike, Gustav and the 9/11 terrorist attack. If the current shortfall is not funded, the DRF is expected to be exhausted by late May, just before the start of hurricane season.
If the DRF budget gap is not closed, critical rebuilding and mitigation projects across the Gulf Coast could be forced to shut down, and FEMA will not have the resources it needs to respond to a major hurricane or other disasters.
Over the past twenty years, $110 billion of the $128 billion that Congress has appropriated for the DRF was provided as emergency spending, making it unnecessary to offset those expenditures in the base budget. Those funds were appropriated primarily in response to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Ike, Gustav and the 9/11 terrorist attack. If the current shortfall is not funded, the DRF is expected to be exhausted by late May, just before the start of hurricane season.
If the DRF budget gap is not closed, critical rebuilding and mitigation projects across the Gulf Coast could be forced to shut down, and FEMA will not have the resources it needs to respond to a major hurricane or other disasters.
Yesterday, Sen. Landrieu sent a letter to the president urging him to request emergency funding from Congress to cover the existing shortfall of $1.565 billion for FY11. To read the full letter to President Obama, please visit http://landrieu.senate.gov/mediacenter/upload/02162011lettertopotus.pdf.
Sen. Landrieu also questioned Sec. Napolitano on the status of the National Disaster Recovery Framework and urged that it be finalized. On Feb. 5, 2010, FEMA and the White House Long-Term Recovery Working Group released a preliminary draft, however it has yet to be finalized, nor has the White House Recovery Working Group issued its recommendations. Once complete, the Recovery Framework should function as a companion document to the National Response Framework, which is already in place, and it will identify the roles, responsibilities, and resources of federal agencies, state and local governments, nonprofits, businesses and individuals to support the different phases of recovery.
During the hearing held by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, of which Sen. Landrieu is a member, Sen. Landrieu requested emergency funding from Congress to cover at least the existing shortfall of $1.565 billion for FY11 and questioned Sec. Napolitano on the amount requested proposed for FY12.
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