The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee yesterday approved legislation that would remove the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and reestablish it as an independent agency reporting directly to the president.
The Obama administration and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano reviewed FEMA’s status earlier this year and decided that it should remain within the department. Yesterday’s action by the House panel drew a hasty rebuke from the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee.
“FEMA is exactly where it belongs, at the center of the Department of Homeland Security where it plays a critical role in helping to protect Americans where they live and work from both natural and man-made disasters,” Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I/D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate committee, said in a statement. “Hurricane Katrina exposed a number of weaknesses within the agency, but those weaknesses are being addressed through the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act, passed out of our Committee, through Congress, and signed by the President in 2006.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said that “Removing FEMA from DHS makes no sense. It would ignore the input of first- responders and unravel all the impressive gains made in recent months since we passed our FEMA reform law. It would take us backward, not move us forward.” She said that in the post-Katrina period, FEMA has improved the way it responds to emergencies such as Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, and wildfires in California.
The House panel’s bill, called the FEMA Independence Act of 2009 (H.R. 1174), was first introduced in February by Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Under the bill, FEMA would be led by an administrator and maintain its regional structure.
There is no companion legislation in the Senate to remove FEMA from DHS.