Dan Donovan: “I thank Chairwoman McSally for yielding. As chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security's Subcommittee on Emergency…”

“I thank Chairwoman McSally for yielding. As chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security's Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3583, the PREPARE Act, of which I am pleased to be an original sponsor. Introduced by the subcommittee's former Chairwoman, Representative McSally, the PREPARE Act seeks to enhance accountability at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Office of Emergency Communications, and Office of Health Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security. The Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications Subcommittee is fortunate to work with a very engaged stakeholder community, and many of the provisions of this bill were formed through hearings, briefings, and meetings with those stakeholders. For example, the bill sets the period of performance for a number of grant programs at 3 years. We heard from numerous stakeholder groups that FEMA's reduction of the period of performance from 3 years to 2 years inhibited their ability to make meaningful grant investments. I am pleased that FEMA has changed the period of performance back to 3 years, and the PREPARE Act codifies that timeline. The PREPARE Act prohibits FEMA from implementing its National Preparedness Grant Program proposal, which was widely opposed by first responders. It seeks to ensure greater outreach by the Department to law enforcement agencies through the Office of State and local law enforcement.…”