Pres. Obama Signs Cuellar Bill to Streamline FEMA grants
New law to reduce waste, increase accountability
Washington,
Oct 12 -
Today, President Obama signed into law legislation authored by Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo) to increase the accountability and efficiency of homeland security grants. H.R. 3980, the Redundancy Elimination and Enhanced Performance for Preparedness Grants Act, requires FEMA to take an inventory of its homeland security grants and devise performance metrics to determine their effectiveness.
The legislation also directs FEMA to eliminate unnecessary reporting requirements, rules and regulations that often discourage local entities from participating in the program. FEMA will now have 90 days to submit plans and timetables to Congress, illustrating its ability to achieve these objectives.
"This bill is long overdue," said Congressman Cuellar. "Knowing how effectively federal dollars are being spent will ensure taxpayers are getting the most bang for their buck."
"Despite our best efforts, FEMA has not yet devised a way to systematically assess homeland security grants to determine how they can best improve first responder capabilities," said Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. "This bill will help put FEMA on track to develop effective performance measures for its grants – and ultimately to ensure both that tax dollars are spent wisely and that our nation is better prepared. I commend Congressman Cuellar for his leadership in this effort."
"Without reliable performance measures, we risk allotting scarce homeland security grant dollars to activities that do not boost our nation’s preparedness," said Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security. "I commend Representative Cuellar for identifying this gap in grant administration and look forward to working with him and other Members of the Committee to ensure that this law is implemented in a manner that fosters the necessary capabilities for first responders to prepare for, and respond to, any disaster."
FEMA has invested $29 billion in preparedness grants to state and local entities since 2002. In 2009, the agency reported its system for measuring those investments was seriously flawed. Last year, on behalf of Congress, the National Academy of Public Administration completed an independent assessment of FEMA offices and found that preparedness was not fully integrated across the agency.
"I thank Senator Lieberman and Congressman Thompson whose tireless dedication helped usher this bill through the Congress," said Congressman Cuellar. "Despite spending $5 million to measure how effectively it spent $29 billion over the past seven years, FEMA is still unable to accurately gauge if this spending has made us any safer."
The House passed Congressman Cuellar’s original bill in December 2009 by a vote of 414-0. It was favorably reported by both the House Committee on Homeland Security, Chaired by Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Chaired by Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT).
