Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in strong support of H.R. 517, the Filing Relief for Natural Disasters Act. I thank Representative David Kustoff for his partnership on this bipartisan bill, which was reported out of the Ways and Means Committee unanimously last month. Each year, States like California declare State-level emergencies for disasters like wildfires, hurricanes, floods, or earthquakes. Under current law, disaster victims can only receive Federal filing relief if and when the President of the United States declares a Federal disaster. While President Biden immediately declared a Federal disaster for the Los Angeles fires that devastated my district in January, that was unusually fast. Often, those declarations can take days or even weeks, which was the case in 2020 after wildfires, including the Bobcat fire in the San Gabriel Mountains, ravaged my State. That means if disaster strikes during filing season, taxpayers run the risk of missing Federal filing deadlines through no fault of their own. Additionally, there may be serious natural disasters that affect taxpayers' ability to file but don't ever get declared as a Federal disaster. That is because such a declaration is subject to a very specific process under the Stafford Act. If a disaster does not exceed a State's capacity to respond without the help of FEMA, the President can't declare a Federal disaster, even if taxpayers impacted need filing relief.…”