Political Quotes

“I raise today in support of H.R. 3181, the Predisaster Mitigation Act Reauthorization Act of 2002. I would like to commend my colleagues on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Chairman Young, Subcommittee Chairman Latourette and Subcommittee Democratic Ranking Member Norton, for all of their work on this important bill. This bill makes a limited number of necessary amendments to the Stafford Act, which governs the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) responsibilities to help communities prepare for and respond to disasters. The Stafford Act authorizes programs that provide funding for both post-disaster recovery, and for important pre-disaster hazard mitigation projects. The pre-disaster mitigation program was authorized to begin in fiscal year 1999; however, the program began in earnest only a few months ago. The program allowed FEMA to award grants to states on a competitive basis to implement pre-disaster mitigation plans. Because of its late start, no competitive grant applications have yet been received by FEMA, and none of the competitive grants have been awarded. Among other things, this bill extends the authorization of this program for another three years to give FEMA the time necessary to implement the program and to give Congress the time necessary to fairly evaluate it. Madam Speaker, I believe this is a good bill that provides a balanced approach to both pre- and post-disaster mitigation programs.”