Jeff Denham: “I want to thank Chairman Shuster of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure for his leadership on this…”

“I want to thank Chairman Shuster of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure for his leadership on this legislation. His knowledge and years of experience on these issues have been critical to crafting this legislation and bringing it before the House for consideration today. I also want to thank Ranking Member Norton, Ranking Member Rahall, and former Chairman Mica for all of their work and support for these reforms. H.R. 219, the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act of 2013, will save money and help devastated communities rebuild much faster than under current programs. However, in order to help those communities impacted by Sandy, the FEMA Administrator has made it very clear that these reforms must be signed into law by March 1. Many of these reforms were already passed by the House in September as part of H.R. 2903. There is also widespread and bipartisan support for these reforms in the Senate. In addition, this bill has strong support from key stakeholders and experts, representing emergency managers, State and local officials, and tribal communities. We know these reforms work. Chairman Shuster laid the groundwork in 2006 when his post-Katrina reform act authorized FEMA to conduct a number of recovery pilot programs. The results are very clear. In each case, costs were dramatically reduced, projects were completed faster, and their process was much more efficient.…”