The U.S. House of Representatives approved two bipartisan measures introduced by U.S. Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO) — one that would reduce red tape at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for small projects and the other to improve disaster mitigation.
The House on April 5 passed the bipartisan Small Project Efficient and Effective Disaster (SPEED) Recovery Act, H.R. 5641, with a 414-11 vote. The legislation would update FEMA’s small project threshold to $1 million to allow more projects — particularly in small rural communities — to move forward under a simplified approval process, according to a bill summary provided by the congressman’s office.
“The SPEED Recovery Act is going to dramatically reduce the number of hoops communities have to jump through with FEMA to get much needed help,” Rep. Graves said. “Congress created an expedited process for small disaster recovery projects to get approved through FEMA, but the threshold for what qualifies as a small project has fallen out of touch with reality.
“Updating this threshold is going to reduce the burden of red tape on small communities and allow them to recover from disaster faster,” he said. “This is a big win for rural America.”
Rep. Graves introduced H.R. 5641 in October 2021 with lead original cosponsor U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR). The U.S. Senate received the House-approved bill on April 6 and referred it to the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee for consideration.
The House on April 5 also voted 383-41 to pass the Resilient Assistance for Mitigation for Environmentally Resilient Infrastructure and Construction by Americans Act, H.R. 5689, also known as the Resilient AMERICA Act, which Reps. Graves and DeFazio also introduced in October 2021 to address U.S. disaster resilience and expand coverage for hazard mitigation.
“The Resilient AMERICA Act will reduce disaster damages and hardships by placing a higher priority on disaster mitigation,” said Rep. Graves. “In my district, many people have suffered losses to their homes and business because of flooding, and this bill makes common-sense reforms to ensure that we invest more FEMA resources on the front end to reduce and prevent the impacts of floods and other disasters before they can strike.”
Also referred to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, H.R. 5689 would return unspent funds from the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program to the Disaster Relief Fund to ensure the funds can still help communities prepare for and respond to disasters, according to a bill summary provided by Rep. Graves’ staff.
Additionally, the bill would double the funding stream dedicated to FEMA’s Pre-Disaster Mitigation program and extend eligibility for Pre-Disaster Mitigation to include private non-profits, among other provisions, the summary says.