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Testimony of Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Joe M. Allbaugh

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Testimony of Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Joe M. Allbaugh, Before the Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development and Independent Agencies Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee

Good Morning Mr. Chairman, Senator Mikulski, and other Members of the Subcommittee. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before the Subcommittee today to discuss my goals and priorities for Fiscal Year 2002. I welcome this opportunity to have a conversation with you on my vision for FEMA.

Mr. Chairman and Committee Members, I appreciate the time you and your staffs have spent with me in preparation for this hearing. I am pleased we are developing working relationships that will serve the country well, both in dealing with future emergencies and in setting emergency management policies.

FEMA is made up of people who entered public service to help others. I consider it a great honor and a privilege to join ranks with the FEMA employees including disaster reservists, and State, Tribal and local emergency response professionals and volunteers. There can be no higher calling than providing speedy, appropriate help to our fellow citizens in their time of need.

This morning several senior officials accompany me from FEMA. Sitting next to me is Patricia English, FEMA's Acting Chief Financial Officer, who I have turned to frequently in my first few months as FEMA Director. I know that Pat, along with my Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs, have worked to give you and your staff a clear picture of FEMA's spending priorities and historical financial records.

I'd also like to take the opportunity to introduce John Magaw, former Director of the United States Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. John served as the Acting Director of the FEMA prior to my confirmation and is currently serving as the Acting Deputy Director. In addition, John is our resident expert on interagency coordination of terrorism-related efforts.

I'd especially like to introduce my first addition to the FEMA team, our new General Counsel, Michael Brown.

Also with me today are:

Less than a hundred days ago, I told the Committee members at my confirmation hearing that I am a "doer" and that I viewed FEMA as a "doing" Agency. I laid out six goals I wanted to achieve. Neither the employees nor I have wasted any time addressing these goals since I became Director.

During my tenure in this position of public trust, we will:

In addition, President Bush has asked me to establish the Office of National Preparedness at FEMA, which will serve as the focal point for the Federal coordination and implementation of preparedness, training, exercise and consequence management programs for dealing with the threat of weapons of mass destruction.

I consider these initiatives the foundation of an improved system of emergency management that focuses on saving lives and protecting property through responsibility and accountability. In recent decades, we have seen Federal emergency management swing from overly prescriptive preparedness programs and a single focus on response and recovery, to a more comprehensive approach that incorporates mitigation, by taking prudent protective measures to reduce losses. At the same time, we have seen soaring disaster relief costs that need to be managed more effectively.

The Administration's budget request for FEMA this year will build on this progress by emphasizing Responsibility and Accountability. This budget request asks individuals, communities, States, and FEMA to take on an appropriate degree of responsibility while empowering them with the tools to accept greater responsibility. Built into this budget request are sound public policy tools to ensure greater accountability to each other and the American taxpayer. We can enhance responsiveness to our State partners by enforcing our current policies and developing meaningful and objective criteria for disaster declarations that are applied consistently. We need to eliminate the "guesswork" and focus on fundamental needs for disaster declarations by examining all relevant factors and not just dollars. I am developing a process to accomplish this goal.

Almost immediately following the release of the Budget Blueprint, I was on my way to tour the earthquake damaged Seattle area. This tour gave me an opportunity to see personally the value of mitigation. The National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program (NEHRP) - a joint venture among FEMA, USGS, NSF, and NIST - has been studying earthquakes, developing guidance, and helping implement the most current earthquake mitigation methods for almost 20 years.

Taking my lead from Congress' enactment of the 2000 Stafford Act amendments, we will focus on implementing pre-disaster mitigation programs that encourage the building of disaster resistant communities. FEMA has made solid progress in this area, but more can be done to limit the human and financial toll of disasters. As we work to develop regulations implementing the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000, we will identify and codify those elements of pre-disaster mitigation that work effectively. FEMA will capture the suggestions from our customers in State and local government on how we can better help them to minimize losses before a disaster strikes.

I want to take the "concept" of Project Impact and fold it in to the program of mitigation. Project Impact is not mitigation. It is an initiative to get "consumer buy-in." In many communities it became the catch-phrase to get local leaders together to look at ways to do mitigation.

Project Impact was a successful initiative to get local leaders together to look at ways to do mitigation. Now we move forward from the buy-in to doing the work of mitigation.

I am here to tell you that mitigation works. The Seattle-Tacoma area did not suffer significant losses because 20 to 30 years ago local leaders invested in its future by passing building codes and issuing municipal bonds that implemented solid protective measures.

FEMA has provided nearly $2.5 billion in Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) dollars since 1989 and only $105 million in Project Impact dollars since 1998. The HMGP dollars have gone to build, rebuild and have become the underpinning of community recovery. In the States of the members of this Committee alone, more than $864 million in HMGP funds are available. More than $691 million of which has already been spent on mitigation projects.

Project Impact has accomplished its objective of raising awareness, understanding and "buy-in" for mitigation. We need to refocus our efforts from marketing to implementing. I am here to reassure you that mitigation will not stop. Working with communities, businesses, and associations will not stop.

I am convinced that locally initiated mitigation activities can be effective. The technical assistance offered by FEMA employees in our Headquarters and the Regional Offices advances the positive effects of community-based mitigation. Locally initiated mitigation activities make sense and, in fact, should be the rubber band holding together all of our various mitigation programs. However, we must better quantify the cost-benefit of the Federal dollars spent in this effort.

We must take time to complete our efforts to quantify the cost-effectiveness of mitigation before FEMA seeks any additional funding for Project Impact. We also need to complete the regulations implementing the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000. Likewise we need to complete our analysis of the cost-benefits of other activities under this initiative. This important information will guide our decision making process. I want to make sure that the Federal taxpayer, FEMA, and the State and local governments are getting the biggest bang for their buck. Over the next year, grants already awarded will continue to be distributed and the technical assistance offered by our Headquarters and Regional Offices will continue to support communities in their efforts to become disaster-resistant.

Disaster mitigation and prevention activities are inherently grassroots. These activities involve local decision-making about zoning, building codes, and strategy planning to meet a community's unique needs. It is not the role of the Federal Government to tell a community what it needs to do to protect its citizens and infrastructure. I saw this first hand most recently when I visited community after community on both sides of the Red River in North Dakota and Minnesota as the river was rising. As Governor Hoeven, Senator Dorgan, Senator Dayton, Congressman Pomeroy and I toured the areas, the story was the same. In every community, they had learned. Communities as large as Fargo, North Dakota, and as small as Breckenridge, Minnesota, took their flood threat seriously and acted to minimize the impacts of this year's event. It worked - levees held - and temporary levees erected by the Corps of Engineers did their job. In areas where FEMA and the State and local governments had conducted buyouts of neighborhoods, the water came up again but there were no people or houses impacted. Pre-disaster, community-based mitigation works!

At the same time we are giving more control to State and local governments through the Managing State concept of the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and other initiatives, we are asking that they take a more appropriate degree of fiscal responsibility to protect themselves.

The original intent of Federal disaster assistance is to supplement State and local response efforts. Many are concerned that Federal disaster assistance may have evolved into both an oversized entitlement program and a disincentive to effective State and local risk management. Expectations of when the Federal Government should be involved and the degree of involvement may have ballooned beyond what is an appropriate level. We must restore the predominant role of State and local response to most disasters. Federal assistance needs to supplement, not supplant, State and local efforts.

Having Federal assistance supplement, not supplant State and local efforts is, most likely, going to be one of the more difficult measures aimed at responsibility and accountability that this Administration will have to work through.

FEMA is looking at ways to develop meaningful and objective criteria for disaster declarations that can be applied consistently. These criteria will not preclude the President's discretion but will help States better understand when they can reasonably turn to the Federal government for assistance and when it would be more appropriate for the State to handle the disaster itself.

Developing disaster criteria is not a new initiative and there is a wide range of options. FEMA staff has been working on some possibilities and we have been discussing some preliminary ideas with the States. Just this past week, I met with several National Emergency Management Association members to discuss the disaster declaration criteria issue. All are in agreement that something needs to be done to take the guesswork out of the declaration process. The hard part is going to be the solution.

This is an effort that will require a strong partnership among the State leadership, the Congress, and the Administration to make it happen. I will be spending a lot of time with the State emergency management directors, the Governors, members of Congress, and others to work on disaster declaration criteria.

This Administration wants to make a real attempt to budget for disasters up front rather than using "emergency" supplemental appropriations. The Disaster Relief Fund request of $1.4 billion and the establishment of a National Emergency Reserve of $5.6 billion, for FEMA and other Departments and Agencies to tap into when needed, represent a request based on realistic averages for disaster expenditures. We consider these steps necessary to lead to responsibility, accountability, and stewardship of tax dollars.

We can do this through the new Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 and through the new disaster declaration criteria. And, we want to make this a State and local initiative. FEMA should not be the cheerleaders and the event planners. We should instead be providing the tools to make the communities strong self-starters.

I also look forward to working with the Federal Insurance Administration, the single national source of flood insurance. We will design policies to effectively balance the insurance and mitigation risk management strategies by creating incentives for the purchase of flood insurance and reducing the costs of flood-related disasters. This Administration is proposing that flood insurance coverage at subsidized premium rates for vacation homes, rental properties, and other non-primary residences and businesses be phased out. I understand it has been the practice of charging many of these policyholders less than actuarial rates. This practice undermines financial stability of the program. We will also work to address the problem of "repetitive loss" properties that are a disproportionate burden on this important program.

I intend to place special emphasis on enhancing the capabilities of the U.S. Fire Administration, which I believe has a new opportunity to make a real difference in the firefighting community. Firefighters lay their life on the line regularly. They have been advocating prevention and mitigating hazards long before FEMA was in existence. That is why President Bush and I fought hard to continue the FIRE grant program in this budget. Firefighters and first responders are critical to the public safety of our communities and we must support them.

We will pay special attention to volunteers and non-governmental organizations responding to disasters. Disasters hit hardest in communities and neighborhoods, and our solutions to disaster problems rely on local solutions. Faith-based groups at the community level, like the Salvation Army and the Mennonite Disaster Service, play critical roles in disaster relief, as does the American Red Cross. The power of neighbors helping neighbors should never be underestimated. These people make a vital difference without any expectation of thanks or recognition. Our Community and Family Preparedness, and Emergency Preparedness Information programs focus on building effective self-help, self-reliance capability targeted to all members of a community.

On a recent visit to Hoisington, Kansas, to view the effects of a tornado that ripped through the center of the commercial and residential heart of that small prairie town, I viewed firsthand the role of voluntary and faith-based organizations. The Baptist Church mobile feeding kitchen was preparing hot meals for displaced disaster victims. The Salvation Army had leased a warehouse for donations and was providing feeding vans for workers helping to clear away the debris. The Adventist Disaster Services had organized volunteers from around the region to help with arduous clean-up tasks. The American Red Cross was providing vouchers for emergency lodging, clothing and other essentials. I learned later that other groups, such as the Lutheran Disaster Services and the United Methodist Committee on Relief, had mobilized to begin doing case-work to identify and help with un-met needs. Faith-based and voluntary groups such as these, drawing heavily from people who live and work in the affected communities, bring out the best of our society. These folks play critical roles in disaster relief at the community level.

President Bush's compassionate conservatism is a hallmark of his core philosophy. The President is promoting faith-based organizations as a way to achieve compassionate conservatism. Not only does FEMA work with the faith-based organizations that I mentioned, but FEMA's Emergency Food and Shelter Program is the original faith-based initiative and is a perfect fit with President Bush's new approach to helping the poor, homeless and disadvantaged. Through this program, FEMA works with organizations that are based in the communities where people need help the most.

I would like to address the events of the past two weeks regarding FEMA's role in Federal consequence management efforts. As you know, the President has directed me to establish the Office of National Preparedness at FEMA, which will serve as the focal point for the coordination and implementation of preparedness, training, exercise and consequence management programs for dealing with the threat of weapons of mass destruction.

This Office will work with other Departments and Agencies to coordinate Federal programs and assistance in support of an integrated local, State and Federal preparedness and consequence management response capability. This Office will also work closely with the States and local governments to ensure their input into those programs and activities as it seeks to improve the quality of Federal support for State and local emergency management personnel and our first responders.

I am committed to working closely with Attorney General John Ashcroft to ensure that the Department of Justice's lead Federal role for crisis management programs and FEMA's lead Federal role for consequence management efforts are seamless and thoroughly integrated. The role of coordinator and facilitator is not new to FEMA. FEMA has developed its reputation as the Federal coordinator of assistance to State and local governments and individuals in times of disaster. As the President's Director for emergency management, I am also aware of the expectations of our citizens that their government protect their lives and property when an emergency or disaster occurs, whether it is a hurricane, earthquake, flood, tornado, or as the result of an act of terrorism.

As we implement criteria empowering State and local governments to assume greater responsibility for people and property, we need to equip them to do this. Developing State and local capabilities can only be accomplished through effective training. Training must be a cornerstone of our goal of increasing responsibility and accountability.

In the same way FEMA is harnessing new technologies to revamp the response and recovery operations and to expedite disaster claims processing, we need to maximize and multiply delivery of quality training to our State and local customers. We will accomplish this through e-learning, distance education, video teleconferencing and computer simulations.

We must utilize the technologies that allow sharing of knowledge and resources among various communities and states. FEMA can be the leader in helping experts in the field assist each other instead of immediately turning to the Federal Government for assistance.

We will take great care to foster and support the professional, experienced workforce at FEMA. This Administration wants to make sure the internal infrastructure of FEMA is retrofitted and prepared to excel well into the next century. We intend to focus on new, innovative ways to promote professional development opportunities and training. It is of critical national importance for us to continue recruiting top-notch people while finding ways to retain the talented and experienced emergency managers who coordinate our nation's disaster program. FEMA has many dedicated, long-term employees, who perform their duties day-in and day-out, steadily and competently. They are truly the "Cal Ripkens" of the Federal Government who get the job done when it matters.

Today, FEMA is being called a model of government success due to the hard work and dedication of the career employees. With all of its success, however, FEMA is not free from problems. I have a respectful appreciation for the role of the Inspector General at FEMA and am pleased to report that I have established a very good working relationship with the Office. In testimony delivered on March 15, 2001, Mr. Richard Skinner, Deputy Inspector General, outlined a number of areas that FEMA needs to focus on improving. I am committed to tightening the internal controls and improving the Agency's processes to ensure responsibility and accountability at all levels within FEMA. In order to do so, adequate funding and resources are required. Without the resources requested in this budget, we will be unable to start the many improvements recommended by the Inspector General.

In addition to ensuring the internal controls and processes are improved, I plan to realign some functions within the Agency in order to fine tune the organization.

As President Bush said in his February address to the Joint Session of Congress, "Our new governing vision says government should be active, but limited; engaged, but not overbearing." We think you will see that the budget proposal for FEMA truly reflects the President's goal of restoring a proper balance - moving away from the expectation that the Federal Government is the option of first resort to the option of last resort.

My team at FEMA wants to meet these goals and design and implement sound public policy. But we need your assistance to meet these goals without undermining public health and safety. We want to make certain FEMA continues to be a shining example of good government. We will carry out our mission responsibly and, will be accountable to the members of this committee, the Congress, and the American people.

I appreciate the support you have provided to this Agency. My appreciation comes from the understanding that each year you are faced with tough choices.

With your support, I will make FEMA an even more responsible and accountable national resource in preparing for and responding to all types of disasters, and an agency that will continue to be an international model for disaster mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before this Subcommittee. I am happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Last Modified: Thursday, 04-Jun-2009 11:06:42 EDT