SENATORS LOTT AND COLLINS ANNOUNCE COMPROMISE ON FEMA REORGANIZATION
WASHINGTON, DC—Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, Senator Trent Lott (R-MS), and Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), today announced that they have reached an agreement on a plan to strengthen FEMA and make it an independent agency within the Department of Homeland Security.
Senator Collins said, “No one in the Senate knows more about FEMA than Senator Lott. He has had the misfortune of experiencing first-hand the devastation left behind by Hurricane Katrina. His insight and input have been extremely valuable to my Committee’s legislation to strengthen and reorganize FEMA. The Senator’s suggestions have improved and strengthened our bill and I look forward to continuing to work with him as we move foreword.”
Senator Lott said, “This bill eliminates FEMA as we know it and replaces it with a stronger organization more accountable to the President and to the Congress," Senator Lott said. "This is a good first step, but we also need to strengthen the Stafford Act to provide better assistance to victims of future disasters like Katrina. And I'm pleased that the Committee now is working on that legislation as well."
The agreement between Senators Collins and Lott resulted in the following provisions being included in the Collins-Lieberman legislation:
- The agency will be independent within the Department of Homeland Security and will have the same protections currently provided to the U.S. Coast Guard. For example, similar to the Coast Guard, the DHS Secretary will not have the authority to reorganize the structure of the agency, erode its budget or functions, or significantly restructure personnel without approval by Congress.
- The administrator of the agency will report directly to the DHS Secretary, but will also have direct access to the President on emergency management matters, much as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff does on military issues.
- The administrator will also have the authority to make recommendations directly to Congress, an authority not previously provided to directors of FEMA.
- The bill calls for the name of FEMA’s stronger, successor agency to be the U.S. Emergency Management Authority, which Senator Collins agrees is a better name to represent the responsibilities of the agency.
