Susan Collins: “those who are on the front lines--our police associations, our firefighters associations, the emergency medical…”

“those who are on the front lines--our police associations, our firefighters associations, the emergency medical personnel organizations--have all endorsed the approach we have suggested. This approach would strengthen FEMA but leave it within the Department of Homeland Security so we can establish a comprehensive all-hazards approach to emergency management. We do not want to take FEMA out of the Department in the way particularly that Senator Clinton's and Senator Akaka's amendment would entail. I refer my colleagues to page 7 of their amendment, section 612, ``Transfer Of Functions.'' This provision says the functions FEMA has as of the date of enactment should be transferred to the new agency. Well, let me tell you what that means. That means that preparedness would still be separate from response despite the fact that the experts agree that one of the reasons for FEMA's weak performance was the separation of preparedness from response--two sides of the same coin that should be together in one agency. Yet the Clinton-Akaka amendment keeps preparedness within the Department of Homeland Security and only has the response functions going to the new independent agency that they would propose. Our bill consolidates the grant-making for preparedness--that is billions of dollars of preparedness grants--we would put in the new FEMA.…”