Transcripts For CSPAN3 FEMA Administrator Criswell Testifes

weather events driven by climatn change. between august 29th and september 1st, hurricane ida devastated the u.s. from the louisiana coast to new jersey, and my home state of new york. this deadly hurricane resulted e in over 100 deaths, including 13 in new york city. in new york and new jersey, mor than a thousand miles from wheri this storm first made landfall catastrophic flooding trapped people and flooded basement apartments and stranded ra vehicles. in louisiana, hurricane ida took down the electric grid, knocking out all eight transmission lines that deliver power to new york through orleans and downey, more than 30,000 utility poles, nearly twice as many as hurricane katrina.an more than 1 million people were left without power.. some are still without power more than a month later. the unprecedented destruction unleashed by hurricane ida is part of a growing trend that the federal government cannot ignore.n from record breaking fires in the west, to devastating hurricanes in the south, to ou rising sea levels threatening 40% of americans near our coastlines. the destructive impact of climate change is rapidly escalating and the cost of ignoring this problem is growing. during the first half of 2021, u the united states experienced eight climate disasters with losses totaling more than ed $1 billion. t initial estimates put losses from hurricane ida at between 53 and $64 billion. the government accountability office had climate change on its high risk since 2013, in part because of concerns about the increasing cost of disaster c response and recovery efforts. today we are honored to be joined by fema administrator deanna criswell. thank you so much for being hert administrator criswell. i know you and your team are working around the clock to w re respond to the ongoing recovery efforts and other pressing issues.. your testimony is crucial today because there are thousands of people in new york, new jersey, louisiana, maryland, and other r impacted communities who are desperate for information aboute how to get help and when they w will get help. that includes understanding whas steps fema is taking to speed up the installation of temporary roofs on damaged homes in louisiana, and to work with ul vulnerable populations to make sure their applications are complete and approved quickly. i am also interested in hearing about fema's efforts to address inequities and disaster readiness and recovery. vulnerable populations like people of color, people e experiencing homelessness and undocumented immigrants are more likely to suffer the consequences of extreme weather events yet often face the ng biggest barriers to getting help. the biden administration is taking important steps to make it easier for disaster survivors to receive assistance, including waving the requirements that survivors have deed or other formal proof of home ownership to receive assistance. o re has also taken steps to ot assist vulnerable populations by developing fact sheets tailored to renters, and nonimmigrant speakers. these are important steps but more needs to be done.mo it is crucial that we invest in climate resilience, and disaster assistance to advance racial and economic justice so that we do e not leave behind our most vulnerable communities. administrator criswell, i also would like to hear from you ik today about how we can improve efforts to build climate resilient community, one ni critical step the administration could take is to improve federat data on the full extent of climate change on our communities by leveraging data d across the public and private sectors. we can better understand the future risks, community action to keep people out of harm's co way. congress also must act. today i reintroduced the federal agency, climate prep act. this bill will ensure that communities have a say in how federal agencies implemented their climate action plan, whics is crucial in making sure our taxpayer dollars are put to work where they are most needed. last week, i was proud to support the $28 billion for victims of hurricane ida that congress approved but i was disappointed that 175 of my republican colleagues voted against in bill, including many members whose constituents are in dire need of the emergency di funding approved by democrats. i'm hopeful that as extreme weather becomes more frequent and deadly, we can agree on a bipartisan basis that impacted americans deserve our help. but recovery funds are not enough. still need to make long-term investments to stop global p warming before it is too late. that's why i call on my colleagues to support president biden's build back better act. this transformation bill will l make essential investments to so solve the climate crisis while also upgrading our ut infrastructure so we can bettere prepare for future disasters. in the long run, the investments will save money by reducing the extraordinary costs from natural disaster and extreme weather te caused by climate change. i now recognize by distinguished ranking member, mr. comer for an opening statement! >> thank you, chairwoman, maloney, ss and i want to thank the witness, fema administrator criswell for her willingness to come before the committee. i'm pleasantly surprised the nnn democrats have called someone to appear before the committee. while i appreciate fema i administrator criswell's testimony and looking forward tw hearing more about the efforts of impact by natural disaster.k it's critical to mention who from the biden administration s. the democrats on the committee have refused to call to testify. chairwoman, maloney, when will l democrats call department of homeland secretary mayorkas to discuss the crisis along our southern border or secretary austin to explain the debacle op afghanistan withdrawals or growing inflation that stores like the dollar tree are raising prices on american consumer. in fact, chairwoman maloney, i r have sent three laters to call a hearing to examine the biden border crisis. since january 2021, thousands of illegal immigrants, including unaccompanied minors across the board.d there's an ongoing security crisis with no end in sight and no clear policy to address this issue from the biden administration. as i've outlined in my letters c to chairwoman maloney, one of the most troubling issues is thm number of unaccompanied children entering the border and currently in u.s. custody. to date, thousands of unaccompanied children are in u.s. custody. the biden border crisis became so dire in march of this year that the administration was forced to activate fema to support the response for unaccompanied children. over a period of 90 days, fema supported dhs, and hhs to get unaccompanied children out of dhs custody and into hhs placements, that fema, the ld agency charged with the admission of assisting american citizens in recovery from disaster had to be activated ss further illustrates the extent of the biden administration disaster policy. administrator criswell, i hope you can address my concerns with regard to the activation of fema to use critical resourcesal americans face with natural disaster to respond to crisis created by this administration at the border with regard to unaccompanied children.d chairwoman maloney, i would like administrator and members of the committee to hear directly from mr. higgins, with regard to f issues he and his constituents have faced with fema's responsea to natural disaster recovery in louisiana. i understand there are still people waiting on critical assistance from fema, and we look forward to getting answers to that. i will yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from louisiana, to give an opening pe statement.he >> i thank the gentleman and ranking member, and i thank chairwoman maloney for holding today's hearing. thank you, mr. comer for givingh me a few moments to speak. while this hearing is focused on hurricane ida, i would be remiss to not speak on ongoing hurricane recovery in southwest louisiana. just over a year ago, southwest louisiana was ravaged by brutal hurricanes, florida and delta hw back-to-back, only to be followed by severe weather from winter storms and major flood events. southwest louisiana is r appreciative of the $1.6 billion that fema and other agencies have delivered to help with immediate response costs, but this is insufficient for what's needed for long-term recovery. hurricanes laura and delta alone have been estimated to cost 16 billion in damage to the region, meaning we've delivered thus far about 1/10 of what's estimated m the costs of laura and delta. even with the passage of the sa continuing resolution, these a funds over a year late and fall, short of the necessary federal response, the entire louisiana i delegation, including our governor has written 14 letters to an administration and congressional leaders to get the funding out the door and political realities have injured the lives of southwest louisiany citizens for over 400 days, andl in closing, i would hope, madame, although we can recognize intellectually, we may struggle as a body to address what's been referred to as extreme weather. perhaps the chairwoman would agree to work with myself, my office, and republican members of the committee to deal with the extreme bureaucracy that we face. we can certainly address that au whereby response to natural disasters across the country that affect americans at one time or another in a very negative way, that we could work together to streamline the bureaucracy and red tape that we face as citizenry is attempting to recover. and madame chair, i yield, and mr. ranking member, mr. comer, thank you for yielding me time. >> gentleman yields back. for my good friend of the committee is not conducting oversight. we have today the administrator, deanne criswell, who did an incredible job and a job similar to this in the city of new york to answer all of your questions. she has been to new jersey and other sites to work with people and respond with fema, and the truth is that this committee is actively engaged in waste, fraud and abuse. the committee has a joint investigation with the select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis in to the emergent biosolution, a firm that received huge vaccine contracts, but had to destroy millions of u doses, due to deficiencies in manufacturing.ha our bipartisan investigation into the f 35 joint force fighter helps push lockheed martin to return $70 million tor the department of defense's programs to compensation for fe defective spare parts. and the committee helped create the pandemic response accountability committee, and lp the committee of inspector general over at the scene with trillions of dollars in response to the pandemic. saved roughly $17 for every n dollar spent, and we have not shied away from constructive gh oversight of the biden administration. in the last two weeks, we conducted oversight of the nd treatment of haitian asylum seekers, held a classified briefing which was the request of the minority on afghanistan, and sent a bipartisan letter on the fbi's handling of ransomware attacks. our oversight record stands in strong contrast to republicans who turned a blind eye to four years of outrageous abuses byesb former president. with that, i would like to get m back to the critical importance of today's hearing.. first i'd like to introduce our witnesses. today we are privileged to heari from the administrator of the federal emergency management agency, deanne criswell.l. the witness will be unmuted so we can swear her in. please raise your right hand. do you swear or affirm that theu testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god. ar >> i do.th >> let the record show that the witness answered in the affirmative. thank you, and without objectio. your written testimony will be made part of the testimony. with that, administrator je criswell, you are now recognize. for your opening testimony. thank you for being here. thank you for using your public service in new york prior to coming to the federal government.fo thank you. >> good morning, and thank you,n chair maloney. ranking member comer, and members of the committee. i thank you for the opportunityr to testify about our response and recovery efforts following hurricane ida as well as the longer term investments we must make to increase our nation's id resilience in the face of climate change.mu climate change affects every single american. it is the biggest crisis facing our nation, and it is making sii natural disasters more frequent, more intense, and more re destructive. mitigating the effects of the mi climate change is one of my top priorities for fema. o and hurricane ida has demonstrated the challenges s presented by our changing climate, the benefits of mitigation investments and the importance of equity in our in response and recovery. fueled in part by warmer than normal waters in the gulf of 15 mexico, hurricane ida's wind speeds intensified from 85 to 150 miles per hour in less than 24 hours. this category 4 storm became the fifth strongest hurricane to make landful in the continental united states.h storms normally break apart t quickly when they make landfall. ida remained a category 4 storm for four hours. and ida's impacts have affected states and communities from the gulf of mexico to the northeasth ida left a million people in louisiana and mississippi without power at a time of sweltering heat. after transitioning and ef accelerating to a post tropical cyclone, ida caused widespread flooding in northeastern united states breaking multiple af rainfall records and causing st catastrophic floods in new york, new jersey, and pennsylvania. u hurricane ida caused over 100 direct fatalities, and my heartr goes out to all of the families who lost loved ones. for all its severe impacts, hurricane ida was also notable in other ways. first, the storm came ashore 16 years to the day after hurricane katrina made landfall and caused widespread flooding in new orleans. but this time the levees in new orleans held reflecting significant investments made in the aftermath of katrina, strengthened the levee system.m. second, fema was well prepared for ida. thanks to congressional action in the 16 years since katrina, we have authorities that give us the flexibility and the abilitym to lean in much quicker than we have e in the past, to bring the full s force of the federal family in position to we can respond quickly. we pre-positioned millions of liters of water, millions of meals, specialized response teams and numerous resources s from our federal response team, to deploy on the immediate needs after the storm had passed. we see that disaster response is locally executed, state managed and federally supported and i'm proud of how well we supported e our state and local partners ina responding to the storm. this is particularly true given the special challenges involved in responding to a disaster amid the ongoing covid-19 pandemic. third, as this storm hit the united states, fema was ready to implement important policy changes to help under served community, which are often disproportionately impacted by disaster to obtain individual assistance to the full extent that they are eligible for it. previously, homeowners may have run into difficulties proving gt that they own their homes. if their property was handed ro down informally through the years.d to address this, we have expanded the forms of documentation that can prove ownership, including documents like receipts for major repairsm or improvements, court ia documents, public officials letters, mobile home park letters, and applicant self-certification for mobile homes and travel trailers as a last resort.iftr in addition, fema has also changed the way it calculates the threshold for property c losses to qualify for direct housing, such as a trailer or c mobile home.ol this ensures equitable damage, regardless of the size of the is damaged homes. the recovery phase for hurricane ida continues as we speak, and we will be dealing with the consequences of this hurricane for quite some time. but even as we do that work, we must make the kinds of s generational level investments necessary to reduce the impact of climate fueled disaster that we will face in the months and years ahead. investments are incredibly worthwhile.fu an independent study by the national institute of building sciences in 2019 found that d every dollar in federal hazard mitigation grants invested in mitigation saves the american taxpayer an estimated $6 in future spending. at fema, a cornerstone of our mission efforts, the building infrastructure program or brick. i would like to thank congress for providing the legislative tools to create brick to the disaster recovery reform act of 2018. by establishing a reliable string of funding for larger mitigation projects through a tr nationwide grant program, the brick program provides a critical opportunity for state, territorial, tribal and local government to invest in a more resilient nation, reduce disaster suffering, and lessen future disaster costs. earlier this year president biden visited fema to announce that he was increasing the funding available for the program to $1 billion for fiscal year 2021 application period.ng these are the kinds of investments that will protect lives and property in the face r of the future storms we're going to face.li another important element of in fema's mitigation efforts is the hazard mitigation grant program. in august, president biden approved more than $3.46 billion for the hmpg program for the covid-19 disaster declaration, as a result, every state, tribe and territory, that received a major disaster declaration in e response to the covid-19 pandemic will be eligible to receive substantial levels of funding to invest in mitigation projects that reduce risks fromf natural disaster. for eligible mitigation projects, hmpg funding can cove 75% of the total costs while states or communities cover the remaining share. we will be urging relevant agencies in your state to ensure that these funds are delivered n to disadvantaged communities an would welcome your support in this effort. one more critical piece is the fema flood mitigation assistance program or fma, which helps provide financial and technicaln stance to states and communities to reduce the risk of flood damage to homes and businesses through buyouts, elevation and f other opportunities. flooding is the most common and costly natural disaster in the united states, and the direct average annual losses have quadrupled from $4 billion in the 1980s to $17 between 2010 and 2018. the bipartisan infrastructure investment jobs act approved by the senate in august would $ provide $3.5 billion over five years for the fma program. the biden administration has urged the house to approve the bipartisan infrastructure bill without delay and i would like to add my voice today in calling for its swift passage. mitigation is particularly important for under served communities that are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. in administering our mitigation programs we will keep equity considerations top of mind, andw will include them in competitive scoring processes for programs such as fma. equity is one of my top priorities at fema, and the intersection of climate change and equity is of particular concern for our agency, as the impacts are worse for our vulnerable communities.ul in closing, i would like to c thank all of the first responders across our nation, ou our amazing fema work force, and our inner agency partners for their tireless work in responding to hurricane ida. f they continue to answer the call to respond to disaster fueled by climate change which truly is the crisis of our generation. the intensification of natural disaster will be our new normal. if this is a call to action, and i look forward to continuing to work with congress to make our nation more resilient.woak i would be pleased to answer any questions you have.li >> thank you. thank you very much for your testimony today and i recognize myself for five minutes. administrator criswell, i know you visited new york city with president biden and myself after hurricane ida. and saw firsthand the ri devastating loss and suffering it brought to new yorkers. as a former commissioner of the new york city emergency management office, this is the office that rebuilt new york after 9/11, an incredibly important deposition, you know how unusually intense ida's rainfall was for new york city. it overwhelmed drainage systems and caused a flash flood. they drown in their basement apartment, divers had to retrea including a 2-year-old. you can see on the screen a picture of what remained after one basement apartment was tu flooded and when we look at the addresses of the five homes s where new yorkers died on fema's flood map, i was surprised to find that all of them are m located in areas marked as having minimal flood hazards. so administrator, i understand . that fema flood maps are meant to be limited tools.tofl but is it true that local er emergency responders sometimes use fema maps to determine which residents should be evacuated and what areas to prioritize nd after a flood, yes or no? >> thank you so much for the question, and my heart goes out to those families who lost loved ones due to this event. as you stated our flood maps are designed to be tools that account for river flooding, and they do not take into account i the storm sewer system. as you saw, we had a record rainfall in new york, broken by the previous record which was just a couple of weeks before that, and it's a sign that our infrastructure has an opportunity to be upgraded and mitigated against so we can to prevent future flash flooding urban events, and these are the types of projects that are eligible under our hazard mitigation programs. we're going to continue to see these severe rain events across the country. we need to take action to help mitigate the types of effects of these events. >> that is great, and i'm sure the localities will be applying for it, and we saw that the storm water and drainage systems were overloaded. n will you commit to updating flood maps in new york city to better reflect local limitations such as storm water and drainage systems. >> chair maloney, the flood maps are community maps, and we will help updating maps with the information they have available so we can make them more accurate. >> great. in addition to updating manslaughter, does fema provide funds to communities to upgrade storm water and drainage systems so that they are more resilient to the flooding such as what we saw with ida, and extreme gi weather. >> some of the upgrades are certainly things that could be eligible under our hazard mitigation programs. i would encourage communities to check with their hazard mitigation specialist to see if they are eligible under that program. >> we saw in hurricane ida, the crucial importance of investing in infrastructure before a hurricane hits.th you noticed new orleans has a ec special system to reduce storm k risk which includes raised levees and fortified flood walls. this helps protect new orleans. new york city also invested in protecting water front areas vulnerable to storm surges and sea level rise after hurricane sandy, but ida brought a different challenge with more than 3 inches of rain per hour, far more than new york's 100-year-old drainage system can handle, how can fema help new york and other cities assess the new climate risks that we're facing now. will fema give advice to cities across our country on how to become more resilient to extreme weather. >> you raise a really great point, chairman, and again, the levee systems are designed for a certain type of event. as we continue to see more and more of these severe rain event that are going to happen across our country, we need to think about the future risks. we have technical assistance r that we would be happy to work with the local communities to c better understand the risks today, and the future risks they're going to face. >> and my time is running out, but administrator, do you agree that it's important that federal agencies, including fema plan ru ahead for the next disaster and that local communities have a voice in that plan which is like the prep bill that i'm om introducing today. >> i think it's critical that we continue to plan for what the future disaster might be instead of always focusing our efforts on our historical events. as we have seen this year, continues to change, and we're going to continue to be faced with more severe events. o >> thank you so much. and i now recognize the gentleman from louisiana, which was very hard hit, mr. higgins is now recognized for five r r minutes, thank you, mr. higgins. >> thank you, chairwoman, and before i begin my statement and questions, i would like to introduce several documents for the record.co in the interest of time, six of them are local articles, detailing fema's actions in my direction, and south louisiana. one is an official fema document discussing risk rating 2.0 changes. >> without objection, all are accepted. >> thank you, ma'am. thank you, good lady. administrator criswell, thank you for being here today, and for visiting louisiana in late august. let me clarify that virtually every public entity, including parish school board, cameron parish, jeff davis parish, the port of lake charles and the city of jennings have numerous public assistance applications still outstanding from the 2020 hurricane season. this delay in funding has real world consequences that force th the small and local government entities. to attempt to fund recovery efforts from a very slim margins of revenue. even to have fema inspectors come and appraise the damage a year later, it's shameful. administrator as the biden administration official to participate in oversight hearings, the first is congress. i appreciate you being here. i look forward to our discussions.i lo our federal response is always late. the better respond to natural disasters, meeting the citizens' needs should be our top concern. fpz an increase to focus on timely responses between the federal government and state and local entities. that should be primary. and better and proactive action. administrator criswell, i wrote to you on october 10 concerning public applications. this is an example of the bureaucracy that we're frustrated with from fema. the school board has two category a, 21 category b and 82 category e projects currently outstanding. this is from the storm a year ago, ma'am. while some of these applicationo have been approved, there's vere few.t most of the requests are still outstanding. jeff davis parish has $2 million worth of requests. they cannot afford to carry that for a year for programs that they qualify for. additionally, regarding fema's 50% rule, the port of lake charles has submitted multiple projects in order to receive ke funding and has yet to receive one validation. r can you explain why it's taken 300 days to receive n reimbursement that they clearly qualify for? is it a funding issue, is it due to inspectors or is it due to bureaucracy, ma'am? >> congressman higgins, i certainly appreciate your advocacy for your constituents in lake charles. we discussed this previously in the committee on homeland security. following that, i did make a trip down to lake charles. i visited with mayor nick carter to better understand some of the struggles he has been experiencing and i brought my t senior leadership team with me so they can follow up directly. some of the things we learned brand new during that visit and my team has been following up ol it. i don't have the specifics on n the school district that you mentioned, but it's taking too long is what it sounds like. i commit to you that my team will continue to work with the representatives there to make f sure we're moving this forward as fast as we can. i thought we had made some progress after that visit, but i will follow up and make sure it's continuing to move forward. >> thank you, administrator, fo. your candid answer. we will communicate directly with you and your office, ma'ama with further details and specifics. madam chair, thank you for holding this hearing today, and my time is expired, so i yield. >> the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady from the district of columbia, ms. norton, is now recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, madam chair, for this hearing. as you indicated in your remarks, this hurricane was felt in the northeast as well. fortunately the district of columbia, my district, was spared. but administrator criswell, we see a rising number of natural disasters. i think that's because of climate change. and, therefore, increased reliance on the federal government.. your own national advisory council has indicated that the public assistance program most benefits communities that can ur afford to pay the required match and can navigate the complexities of the contracting agencies. so my question is, what actions is fema taking to assist existing action for recovery programs to ensure that recovery is more equitable for all communities, including those that cannot afford to pay the t required matching funds? >> congresswoman norton, thank you for that question.s? all of our programs always have opportunity for some improvement, and since i arrive here, i have worked with my team and directed them to take up people first approach and remember that we can't have programs that come in with a one size fits all way of applying our programs. we have to be able to understand the needs and the unique needs of individual communities and individuals themselves, and bring our programs to them instead of forcing them to always maneuver their way through the bureaucracy. we madeg into this hurricane themselves. to bring our programs to them instead of forcing them to always maneuver their way through the bureaucracy. we made several programs going -- for several changes rather, going into this hurricane season. in order to improve the equitable delivery of our individual assistance program, this is just the beginning. we will continue to look at ways that we can reach our communities [inaudible] on't always go for this one-size-fits-all approach. >> thank you. some communities simply do not have the technical staff like engineers and grant managers and the necessary capacity to submit a complex grant application. >> it's been recommended that fema create a centralized inventory of hazard mitigation resources on the fema website. has fema developed in inventory of resources yet? >> what we have developed is our mitigation action portfolio, which provides examples of mitigation projects that have been done across the country that can help communities better understand the type of projects that could be eligible. i'm not sure if that's exactly answering the question on resources, and if it's not i will certainly look into it and see exactly what it is you are talking about. but i would also like to say that we also provide technical assistance. we understand that not only communities have the ability to hire somebody to come in on a competitive grant application, which is why we are doing directed assistance through our infrastructure and communities program. we offer this to ten communities during the first round, and we have doubled that to 20 communities. and i've been working with our state partners to help identify those communities who need this type of assistance the most, so that we can reach those populations that would otherwise not try to apply for this type of assistance. >> administrator criswell, thank you for that. the gao has published a report, in which it notes the complexity of the accusation process. the timeliness to grant awards and the technical capacity required to successfully apply is a problem. what's specific opportunities as fema identified to simplify or shorten the application process? >> we can help through a couple of ways. one is technical assistance. that is one of the ways we can help communities better understand some of the complexities. but with other programs, like our assistance to firefighter grants program, we have shorter applications for smaller amounts. that can help get those quickly -- those through quickly. but there's always a opportunities pressed to improve. i've asked migrants section here to take a look at all our grant programs to get a better understanding of where we are missing some communities. then understanding with the barriers are for them trying to reach out to ask for assistance, so that we can address the root cause of the problem. >> the gentlelady's time has expired. >> i welcome the opportunity for technical assistance. of course, i yield back. >> thank you. the gentleman from south carolina, mr. norman, is recognized for five minutes. mr. norman. >> thank you, chair maloney. administrator criswell, thank you for coming. i would like to address your answer to congressman higgins, but before doing that you talk about crisis. we've got a crisis on the border. in seven months we've had over 170,000 illegals cross the border. it's a medical crisis and it's a military crisis. we have an inflation crisis. ask any american who's payingwen afghanistan. we have americans left behind. this administration has simply not addressed these crises. we have had different people testify before us. why aren't they appearing to answer questions? why is janet >> why is general milley, austin, blinken, not answering questions? why isn't janet yellen here answering questions? this administration has simply put this country in a crisis mode from the day it took office. but that being said, miss criswell, in response to congressman higgins, in all due respect, ma'am, it's just words. if you and the private sector ... you cannot get the kind of answer that you gave. we are three months shy of 2022. he asked you questions about 2020 that have not been addressed. you said you would address specifics, but why the delay? >> congressman norman, recovery takes a long time and it's complicated. when you look at an event like hurricane laura followed by hurricane delta, there's a lot of complicating factors that make it even longer to recover. there's a number of things we can do to speed that up. >> ma'am, with all due respect, when you receive a request dating almost two years ago, was that responded to, the specific question? did your agency respond to each one of them? >> i don't have the specific of a letter received two years ago prior to my administration. i know that we have addressed the requests that i've gotten since my time here in office. >> and you've been there how long? >> i started at the end of april. >> and you would have looked over past requests to see where it was and why the money had not been released? i'm saying if this had been in the private sector, you would've had a problem. my other question to you, president biden rescinded the proclamation declaring a national emergency at our southern border. if the crisis at the southern border is not an emergency, as biden proclaimed, then why would your agency, the federal emergency management agency, deployed to the southern border? >> congressman, fema is really good at coordinating across federal agencies. it is one of the skill sets that we bring to the table, and it's one of the things that we do well. in this case, we were asked to come in and help coordinate and help support our partners at hhs and cbp. we had a very limited role, we no longer have a presence in supporting that mission. it's just done now through our normal inter agency avenues. >> how much money has been suspended for the limited role that you say that fema hand? >> i don't have the exact dollar amount, but all of the funding that fema would have incurred has been reimbursed by those agencies. >> all right, could you get the numbers for us? could you report on what you were there? the dollars that were spent? are you still there? >> we have nobody that is supporting that mission directly. it's all being supported through our normal inter agency venues. >> okay. and is there any other outstanding issues with other states that your agency either needs to respond to, or hasn't responded to? change. are you aware of a study at m.i.t. that said every nation that complies to reduce carbon emissions by 0.2%. >> i'm not aware of that study, sir. >> that's another thing. could you take a look at it and give us your thoughts on it, and give us some idea if that's true or not? it's a pretty big statement for them to make. >> the gentleman's time has expired. >> thank you, ma'am. >> thank you. the gentleman from virginia, mr. connolly, is now recognized for five minutes. mr. connally. >> thank you madam chairwoman, and thank you so much for having this ham -- hearing. administrator criswell, welcome. i must say, my friend mr. norment just talked about crises. he's absolutely right. the biden administration inherited endless crises from the previous administration. everything from an insurrection at the capitol to a pandemic that was made so much worse by the response, or lack of response, by the trump administration. by the way, if you want another crisis, fema. we just voted for continuing a resolution natural disaster relief, and 175 of my republican colleagues voted against it. so administrator criswell, if your budget had been zeroed out, as some of my colleagues would have, it would that have contributed to the crisis? and could it contribute to a crisis for america as far as preparedness towards disaster and response towards disaster? >> congressman, i appreciate the passing of the continuing resolution so we can continue the support of the american people. any disruption in the funding of our mission would certainly have an impact on our ability to protect the lives of the individuals that are faced by disasters. >> let's be a little more specific. thank you for that diplomatic answer. but you're the administrator of the agency that actually does the nuts and bolts for relief and recovery. and you are the lead federal agency to responding to natural disasters. so, as the frequency of hurricanes reaching land on the continental united states increased over the last decade? >> we are seeing that the number of hurricanes, the number of wildfires, the number of severe weather events continues to increase and become more severe, more intense. so they are intensifying more rapidly. and that will only continue to get worse. >> so i was looking at some interesting data. in 2017, three hurricanes magnitude three or four, and the cumulative damage of those three events, it was 265 billion dollars. a record, it's the largest disaster in american history. and the question is, given climate change, when you do your planning, what do your experts tell you? should we expect more or we are out of the woods? >> congressman, i think what we are seeing from the eye packs of climate change is that we can expect to see more events as you just mentioned. that's why it's so important right now that we start to think about what these future risks are going to be. and that we invest in mitigation projects so we can reduce the impact, the financial cost of these disasters. >> and are you also working with state administrator criswell to do more resiliency planning? flooding is more frequent. tidal surges are bigger and more dangerous and damaging. we saw it in areas like new york where the subway system are now plugged during any major storm, because the rise in ocean level are now affecting places like manhattan. are those events, you are planning with state and local governments in terms of resilience? can you tell us about it quickly? >> state and local jurisdictions are required to have hazard mitigation plans, which address some of the concerns that you talked about. fema does provide assistance, we have a technical assistance program, and we also fund the development of those plants through our hazard fund mitigation program. we work with them closely about what these futurists are they are going to face. so that the next iteration of their hazard mitigation planning is thinking towards the future and what are the crises that our children and grandchildren will face so we can better protect against them? >> thank, you my time is up. i yield back. >> a gentleman does not recognized for five minutes. >> thank you madam chair. -- places an enormous restore homes, businesses and crops to our infrastructure. it also threatens the safety and major well-being of the world. -- to medicate damages [inaudible] and heavy rainfalls and a potential decimate communities like the one across pennsylvania -- on events like hurricane ida and other storms that took place this year underscore the need for our communities to remain resilient -- investing in disaster -- in pennsylvania the levee has the largest project. the systems protect pennsylvania from catastrophic flooding. the levee system originally completed in 1955 and industry needed repairs. the 2020 water resource development act -- 2018 county plan -- the state of the levee system quote the single greatest threat to maintaining and pursuing economic resilience. commissioner chris well, thank you for being here today. i understand you have experience with emergency -- in the northeast serving the state of new york previously. with plenty of river towns like here in pennsylvania. do you believe -- what do you believe or some of those pressing disaster related needs for the communities like the one i represent? >> congressman, i think the example you gave is a really great example of really understanding what our current risk is and looking at the age of our infrastructure. we have to understand whether the infrastructure that was built decades ago is still adequate to support extreme weather events that we are starting to see and will continue to see moving forward. i think it's critically important for all of us and we that we have a shared responsibility to look at what we can do to upgrade current infrastructure or also improve the mitigation projects that we have so they can reduce the risks and reduce the impact on the increase of number of weather events that we are seeing. >> i agree with that and are there ways that we could streamline items for investments -- like the one -- >> i don't know the specifics about the project, but i think there is always ways that we can work together does try to streamline the delivery of project and if there's something specific on that i'd be happy to have my team get back with you and see what we can do. >> i appreciate that because looking back at 1955 we want to be able to lower the risk and severe damage -- that's really what we want to look at. we certainly need that flood protection and central pennsylvania, because it does protect homes, families, businesses and it's so important from that standpoint so if there are things that we could look at and due to lower the risk by having a streamlined process i'd like to be able to work with you and your team on that and again with areas that represent any of the people in congress that need the help, so anything we can do to help we could work on not. >> absolutely, congressman. i'll have my team get back and see if there's anything that we can give you. >> thank you, you mentioned that these mitigation projects were completed in 1955. but i've been in the area along time and it's so important that we protect and that's really our job as people who work for the individuals -- whether it's congress, fema our responsibility is to the united states of america. we want to make sure their money's being invested to protect them. i appreciate being here today. i appreciate you being with us. we look forward to working with you and your team on these important issues. thank you, i yield back. >> the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from maryland, now recognized for five minutes. you are muted. [inaudible] okay, the gentlelady from new york miss ocasio-cortez recognized for five minutes. >> thank you so much, chairwoman. thank you so much to administrator -- not only joining us today but -- as well as across the country for people devastated by hurricane ida. and also for the flexibility and implementation of our covid protocol program. it has helped family zone across the country help recover from the devastation of the pandemic in addition to some of the other natural disasters we've seen across the country. chairwoman, i would like to submit a record a full testimony and when mice constituents. regarding their experience after hurricane ida. >> thank you. alongside many others, a road to my office. quote, i looked out the window and saw cars uncontrollably adrift after the ida flood. a woman wading waist deep in the street, people yelling for help, these are some of the images that we saw across the district. i strongly believe that fema can play an active role in mitigating an experience like theirs. earlier this year you told them that climate change is the crisis of our generation. i think you're right. if you look at the number that we've been doing some digging. according to the agency that, and 2005 there were 40 major disaster declarations. and 2005. 48 disaster declarations. in 2020 there were 104 major disaster declarations. more than double that number. now the climate research commissioned by the city of new york projected that in 2016 the number of days of rainfall would increase by as much as 67% by the end of the decade. that is compared to the period between 1971 to 2000. is fema operating and planning ahead with similar projections for the climate crisis? >> congresswoman, thank you again for hosting me in new york city and being able to see some of the impacts that we saw were people experienced from hurricane ida. i completely devastated many of those individuals. i think the data you just mentioned, what's that highlights is the thing that i am stressing here, is that we have to stop focusing all of our efforts on historical risk. the historical risks that we faced in the past and look to our future risk and better understand what's that future risk might be. that is hard to do. it is not tangible. you can put your finger on what happened in the past and built for that, but we have to be able to be comfortable with understanding the potential for the future risk any investments that it's going to take in order to protests protect against that future risk. i'm committed with the team to work with locals integrating their mitigation programs. looking at with their futurists will be and help them better understand what's that future risk, that future threat from climate change is going to be. >> thank you so much, administrator. if you could list some of the measures, one of the things i'm thinking about is that as climate change gets worse the way that we are going to have to approach this disaster response, disaster prevention, is really going to have to evolve with the increasing threats that we have. it includes our approach within fema. so my question for you, if you could lift semesters that would aid or shift and shifting fema's role in responding to more frequent national disasters, wet would some of those measures be? is it more funding for staff? is it increasing or growing into disaster prevention? streamlined response measures during disaster relief time? internal reorganization? from your bird's-eye view what are some of the things we need to know on the congressional side, whether it's the potential for expanding authorization, etc, that you feel is going to be necessary in the coming years and decades? >> it's a great question and i think there's two things i would talk about arena. one, we used to see a very cyclical disaster response cycle. we would reset in the wintertime and get ready for the next disaster season. we don't see that any longer. our team has been working hard and now they're working year-round to support the different types of weather events that we are seeing. that's just going to continue. we are taking a hard look at how do we now create a year-round disaster workforce that can keep up with the demand of the disasters we are seeing. the only way that in the long term we are going to continue to be able to keep up with this is reducing the impact so we don't have to respond as much. in the way we do that is through mitigation. so we need to continue to educate communities about the importance of reducing the impacts, putting in community wide mitigation projects in order to protect citizens. ha >> thank you very much. >> the gentlelady yields back. the gentlewoman from new mexico is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, madam chair. i really appreciate hearing. i just want to piggyback on something that my colleagues said regarding the border. just because it is such an important part of this entire -- we know there's a crisis at the border. we know for 150,000 people came illegally and 2020, over 1.5 million have come in so far this year. i do not think this administration inherited a crisis at the border, i think he created a crisis. when i would like to know, administrator, are their policies that have been made by this administration that has caused a crisis or uptick in the crossings on the southern border, illegal crossings? >> congressman, or congresswoman, fema's role is to support the response to disasters. we do not get involved in policy regarding immigration. i would have to defer to the secretary. >> okay, thank you. can you quickly give a couple of examples of how fema would be able to help to provide hhs and others support to move the children, the unaccompanied minors, out of border protective custody. >> yes ma'am, again, one of the things that fema does so well is helping to coordinate inter agency efforts and large complicated structures. we were able to put a process in place that helps them be successful in managing that mission. it is how we managed any of the events we respond to as far as helping with the process, helping with the flow, putting the organization in place that can facilitate decision-making and setting benchmarks and goals that we want to achieve. through that we were able to reduce the amount of time that -- the children weren't custody. in the amount of time they spent with hhs. >> thank you. going back to some of the services, this is just more for clarity. i know people that think of flooding in new mexico, but actually we have lured -- large amount of rainfall in some of our areas throughout the district. this is just for clarifying. some communities and counties believe that they cannot ask or apply for fema grants unless the state declares that specific area it is an emergency, is that correct or other programs for counties and communities that jingle directly to fema? >> congresswoman, i would have to understand more of the specifics. they can apply for public assistance grants unless there's a state declared disaster, but there is a mitigation grant -- the mitigations assistance program for disaster declaration, and there's also a preparedness grant program. i would have to know specifically which types of grants that they are talking about. i would be happy to have my team follow-up with you. >> i would really appreciate that. we have a lot a very small communities that work very hard and they don't have the ability to do some of these repairs. but it is affecting everybody in those communities. but there's nothing that can be called a state disaster. i invite you to come to new mexico to look at our rural communities. you don't think of flooding in new mexico, but it happens. it's devastating for those in and around those areas. i appreciate all of your hard work and for the invitation that is open. thank you very much. if you could have your people reach out to our office i would really like to push some of this information out to the districts that i represent. >> absolutely, ma'am. thank you for the offer. >> thank you, madam chair. i yield back. >> the gentle lady yields back. but i would like to respond here earlier comments, although we do not want to be distracted from today's topic. or today's hearing but i do want to know that immigration across the border did not start under president biden. it started long before his presidency and congress. and the child separation policy of the trump administrator did nothing to address the root causes of the problem. it's a very important hearing on fema and its response to ida. i would not like to call on the gentlelady from michigan. miss to leap, you are now recognized for five minutes. thank you. >> t haso i would like to call on the gentlelady from michigan. miss tlaib, you are now recognized for five minutes. >> thank you so much, miss chairwoman. thank you administrator for being here. i'm impressed with the years of service that you've had within fema, and of course, as a firefighter for i think over two decades. very impressive. thank you, chairwoman, for holding this really critically important hearing. i know when i talk to my residents, they are not talking to me about the broken immigration system when they are saying, can you get the sewage out of my basement? or there is literally a river in front of my home. so i want to really focus on the fact that we haven't invested, i think, the critical amount of money, the kind of bold and meaningful investment that we need, to really address the fact we have a climate crisis in our country. administrator, i do want to talk to you about something very serious, and i hope under your leadership there are change that could be made. as you noted in your testimony, muggy -- flooding is the most costly natural disaster in the united states. i've seen it. my folks have been flooded i think four times just in the last two months. and your team on the ground here have been meeting with compassionate, i cannot express how much that means to me, representing the third [inaudible] district in the country. these are folks that did not have any savings. you -- data released by your organization calls for street foundation which uses [indiscernible] 8.7 year -- a .7 million more properties are at risk for a century flood. this is serious. anything i can do to be a partner in this. does f the method they used to include forward-looking climate projections. and the flood maps that see heavy rainfall and sea level rising. >> congresswoman, thank you for the question. we represent my home state of where i grew up in michigan. so it has a very special place in my heart. flood maps are an incredible tool that we have. they are designed primarily to support the preparation we've seen from coastal flooding. they do not necessarily reflect the rain events that would cause some of the urban flooding that we see. however, we work with communities to help them update their community flood maps as they need to. and we would be happy to work with communities to help incorporate additional data that they may have to better portray the risks that they might be experiencing. >> i appreciate that, but i think we need to go farther in providing the capacity needed. many of them don't have the no all right -- in regards to i don't know if it's a priority for the state to provide that capacity. but i think we are at a point in this country that we need to start thinking about how we do some of the preventative measures in place to make sure people have that safety net, that they are covered in regards to flood insurance, in regard to infrastructure and implementation. you know, my local communities were not prepared for this flooding. i don't know how i can go back to them now and say, hey i need you all to figure out one of the tools that are necessary in regards to figuring it out. it does not make any sense at all. look, i'm a social worker at heart, and i'm a person that understands that larger cities might have more capacity, but my small communities that were impacted by flooding, they really don't have that capacity. i really think fema, we need to step up, and we need to look at the foundation report that are coming out, and say let's put some of that data in there in regards to sea level, in regards to where we have seen flooding. and i think we have a really important responsibility in not saying let the locals do it. please, administrator, i'm asking you, let's change that culture, and let's not kind of wash our hands in regards to it. i think we have enough information out there to say we can do more. >> i think when you speak of really amplifies what i've been saying. this is the crisis of our generation. we all have a shared responsibility to make sure that we are better understanding of what the risks are that we will face in the future. so yes, we have a lot of work to do and fema has a lot of work as well, to support our communities and helping them understand what those risks are. >> the gentlelady yields back. the gentlewoman from florida, miss wasserman-schultz, it is now recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, madam chair. administrator criswell, it's good to see you. i would be remiss if i did not start off by thanking you so much. you and your incredible team, who could not have represented fema better, or done more hands on work than anyone could. during the surfside disaster in my congressional district. as you know, we are still dealing, families have been torn apart and are in crisis. i appreciate the presidents quick reaction, your team cell, i would just for now opportunity to talk with the because there are some things that we continue to need to sort through. i just have some questions. so if we can follow up afterwards, that would really be helpful. >> absolutely, ma'am. >> but primarily, thank you so much on behalf of my community. shifting to hurricane ida, which made landfall in louisiana, and that was a category four hurricane. it became one of the most devastating natural disasters in u.s. history. being from the state of florida, i'm obviously quite familiar with the impact of natural disasters and their aftermath. but in this case, over the course of 24 hours, i do strengthened from a category one to a category four storm, winds increase to 150 miles per hour. so many people in louisiana are unable to safely evacuate as we heard. that's a story my constituents in florida are all too familiar with. as the storm moves through the southeast up the mid-atlantic to the northeast, we know there's intense rainfall. that brought dangerous conditions to communities. i want to show a picture of the flooding in louisiana and the flooding in new jersey. so my first question is really just, can you underscore why hurricane ida caught so many people off-guard? >> congresswoman, i will start with the fact that it intensified so rapidly, as you stated. it went from just a tropical storm into a category four hurricane in a short amount of time. this is what we are starting to see more often. it's giving state officials last time to be able to put plans in place, where they normally had several days to put those plans into place. and the timeframe is continuing to get shorter and shorter as storms intensify. >> yeah, it feels like that, that window of opportunity is shrinking so quickly. in new york, although the area was bracing for the storm, the city was unable to predict the areas of flooding. fema does have a integrated public alert and warning system that works with our local authorities about warnings. as the storms came through, emergency alerts blared through cellphones and warned residents of dangerous flash floods, that they should head to higher ground. one of those alerts said, and i quote, this is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation. do you believe that system, and other warning systems, that worked as intended for ida? are there other systems about the risks upending disaster? this was the first time new york had ever issued a flash flood emergency. >> our system is an excellent tool that really helps to warn systems across -- individuals across the country about a variety of disasters. it has successfully worked across the country. i think when you are in an area that you have not had to use it before, it can be hard to really understand what the significance might be. so i think we all have a lot of work to do to continue to educate our communities when we are doing our public preparedness campaigns, about the importance of, when you do get an alert like this, that you need to take it seriously. but at the same time, we also have a lot of work to do to continue to educate our communities about what their risks might be. so that they know when something happens, what are your unique risks to you where you live? and what types of alerts should you be looking out for? >> and then just one last question, because there are so many long term strategies that we need to take, investing in climate resilience is definitely one of them. a senior member of the appropriations committee, i always use my position to push for greater farthing -- funding. how does fema work with the national weather service to forecast and translate data into public warnings? and is there more that can be done to encourage residents of more vulnerable communities to prepare for storms or other severe weather events? >> the national weather service and the national hurricane center are amazing partners of ours. you know, we have a morning daily briefing that they are part of, what the current threats are. but we also work with them, and we are working really closely right now, it's that they are trying to identify with the future risks from climate change are going to be, in order to develop tools for local communities that are planned for what these impacts are going to be. so that they can put the proper plans in place. so we will continue to work closely with them to try to develop these types of products. so that we can get additional information. >> thank you so much. madam chair, thank you for having this important hearing. >> thank you. the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from georgia, mr. johnson, is now recognized. mr. johnson? >> thank, you madam chair, for holding this hearing. it is well documented that natural disasters exacerbate inequality. communities of color are disproportionately vulnerable to these harmful effects of flooding, wildfires, and tornadoes. moreover, people of color are more likely to die from the negative effects of climate change. when hurricane ida struck new orleans, predictably, black americans and non white communities suffered the brunt of the devastation. hurricane ida is yet one more example in a long history of poor marginalized communities getting disproportionately hurt by natural disasters. that is why, when it comes time to rebuild in the wake of a natural disaster, the federal government should prioritize rather than [inaudible] historically marginalized neighborhoods. it's common for many black families to hold titles to what is known as air property. when a property owner dies without a will, their home and land is passed down over generations to their inheritance. a lot of land titles become cloudy. because of a array of racist policies in the past, americans particularly in the south, who were precluded from the legal system, and unable to obtain deeds and titles to their lands. how is fema meeting the needs of historically oppressed communities who are unable to bide by existing guidelines, which were designed to exclude them, and what changes have been made to ensure that those who can't show titles to their homes can receive disaster assistance from fema? >> congressman, you raise such an important question. it's something that, when i came into office, that i started to hear about. and i knew that we could do better. so i challenged my team here to see how we can better provide assistance to survivors. we made some significant changes going into hurricane season to better help with the issues that you raise about inheritance rights. what we have done is change and expanded the types of documentation that we will accept from individual homeownership, or even to prove occupancy. that can range from paying your tax bill to utility bill, a statement from your landlord in a mobile home community, a wide variety of types of documents that can be accepted now. the other big change that we have done as well, and part of my effort to try to bring services to survivors, to bring our help to where the people are, instead of making them come to us. in the past, if somebody did not have that verification through our online system, or on the phone, we would immediately send them a denial letter. now, what we are doing is, if they can't pass on that first step, if they have not been able to identify the type of documentation, even with this expanded amount, we will still send a building inspector to them personally. and if they can see the type of documentation upon arrival, then they will just check that off in the system. and so that, what we are seeing hurricane ida, is increased dramatically the amount of people that have not had to go through the labourious process of trying to repeal their determination that they did not own the property, or that they were not a resident or occupant of the property. this is just the beginning. we will continue to make changes for how we can equitably deliver our programs, meet people where they are at, and understand that we cannot have a program and a process, a one size fits all approach. >> thank you, miss criswell. georgia has the sixth highest population of renters, and ranks among the top ten for space most at risk for a natural disaster. renters applying for assistance through fema have to go through a very long process before they can get assistance. what is being done to reduce the weight period for renters who are displaced? the>> congressman, some of the things that may have delayed their processes is being able to prove that they are occupants. those are some of the changes we made to our program. if there is anything else that is specific that you are aware of that is going on, i would be happy to have my team to get together with you to better understand the challenges your constituents are facing in georgia. >> all right. thank you so much for your testimony today, and for your actions in streamlining the process so that more people can receive assistance. and i yield back, madam chair. >> the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from texas, is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, chair, and thank you administrator criswell for being here today. i come from a district that was dramatically affected by hurricane harvey. so we have spent the last four years working to help our communities recover. i know today is a bad idea, but i think some of the lessons we learned from fema, or some of the questions we have, would certainly be applicable to any disaster we are dealing with. so i wanted to thank you for appearing here today. one of the issues i wanted to ask about was the definition of resilience. one of the major issues congressman addressed it in the disaster and recovery were for the 2018, was that under the law of the time, the public assistance program was designed to help communities rebuilding, and to rebuild back. at the time it was due to the precondition of what it was. we found ourselves in a kind of loop where we would rebuild to a standard that would not withstand potentially the next storm. so congress directed that we begin to rebuild toward future disasters. but there was supposed to be a role for what resiliency meant, that was to be defined by april 5th of 2020, final guidance for 90 days after that. the date it has not been issued. can you let us know, in writing within the next 14 days or so, when we can expect that role to be finalized, so that we can have the critical definition of resiliency? i know some people are having their claims tonight based on resiliency, but that term is still left undefined. so could you commit to get us a timeline for that? >> i will have to get with my team, but yes, i can get you a timeline with the status is on that. >> okay, i really appreciate that. that would be a big help. and one issue that has probably been in issue for decades, as it would seem, but for a long time, it's been just the staffing and the turnover. i know many of the people in our district, some are on their 12th program delivery manager in four years. they are dealing with this -- that has made dealing with applications very difficult. for example, the superintendent wrote a letter saying, as you are aware, the response has been tedious, slow and frustrating. two employees, the district architect, and i have spent nearly four years daily navigating the fema process, and until now have received only 382,488 dollars of the 16 million and 20 million dollars in damages. with 12 program delivery manages cycling through our case, this has been -- there has never been an opportunity to really make any ground. so i've heard of similar cases. oftentimes, we've had a team come and do a site visit at a particular site. seven different teams, for example, come up, show up. do you foresee any sort of solution? or what is being done to deal with the employee turnover? or at least to deploy the employees we have longer terms in the field? >> congressman, i appreciate your insights. when we are talking about four years, part of it is there will be some change in staff as we go through the years. these complicated projects you are talking about, it takes a long time to get to the recovery process. but i understand the concern. as a previous emergency manager, i understand how frustrating it is when you have to start over explaining your story, and where you are at in the process. i will work with my team to figure out if there is a better way to provide greater consistency for your folks down there. as they are continuing their recovery process from harvey. >> thank you. and do you know if there's it in any sort of report ... it would seem to me we are taking a much longer time processing these claims and that there's kind of a built-in waste, a built-in cost increase, and recovery due to some of the staffing issues and how we are deploying them. i would be interested if fema could look into that, and maybe provide a report to us on what we can do to streamline that. not only will it provide better customer service, so to speak, but i think it would also help us be much more efficient with taxpayer dollars in administrating this recovery program. so is that something you all could work on? >> yes, congressman. anything we can do to improve the customer experience is worth our research. so i would be happy to have my team look into that. >> the gentleman's time has expired. thank you so much. and now the gentleman from maryland, mr. raskin, is now recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, madam chair. can you hear me now? >> yes, sir. >> all right, so administrator criswell, thank you very much for your intense focus on this civilization will emergency we are in. it's clearly a code red for humanity. as president biden said, in touring the damage of hurricane ida, the nation and the world are in peril. we are seeing a increasing frequency of natural disasters, but also increasing destructive a law city of the natural disasters that are coming. noah began tracking billion dollar weather events in 1980. since then, they have visited more than 1.975 trillion dollars in damages on the country. and here's the amazing thing to me, between 1990 and 1999, the average number of billion dollar extreme weather events was five per year. but in the last five years, between two and 3:16 and 2020 as you can see in this chart, that number has jumped from -- 2:16 four year. so the number of extreme weather events has tripled just in the last two decades. what is fema actually doing now to measure our progress to reduce risk posed by climate change? >> congressman, it's such an important graph that you showed. it demonstrates how we are now in the crisis of our generation, that the climate crisis is going to continue to get worse. and i think that we will continue to see that number of billion dollar disasters increase as we go further. we are investing in mitigating and reducing the impact. the president has authorized close to five billion dollars this year to help communities reduce the impact that they are seeing from climate change. and we have to continue on that path forward. it takes a long time for the mitigation projects to get completed. so we have to continue to work with our communities to better understand their risks, and ensure we are getting this money into the hands of people who need it the most. >> can you help me understand this? when we say mitigation, what are we talking about exactly? are we talking about the kinds of things my friend congressman higgins is talking about, which is the aid that comes after a disaster has hit? or are we talking about readiness, about getting ready in advance, for knowing there will be another hurricane to hit lake charles soon? >> it's a combination of both. our ability are resilient community and infrastructure grant, is pre-disaster mitigation funding. but our hazard mitigation grant program is making it available after a disaster. but it can be used for any type of risk they are facing. it does not have to be directly related to the incident they just experienced. what we have to do is help communities understand the best way to make these community wide investments to reduce these impacts from future threats. >> i want to ask you a rather odd question. i want to ask you about polarization and division in america. i know it's not directly under your jurisdiction. but in some sense i think that fema can be the place where we bring america back together. do you agree with me that they risked an extreme weather events, the new frequency of the events, and the extreme philosophies of these events, should be bringing people together across all lines? and related to that, extreme weather is obviously the problem being caused by climate change. but there's also the problem of extreme bureaucracy that americans have complained about from the beginning of the republic. we want to make sure government is working for the people. but there's also a problem, isn't there, of extreme propaganda? and extreme denialism around climate change. can't we all gather together through the good work of fema? through hurricane and disaster readiness, to bring the country together? is there a way this can be a source of unity for us? >> congressman, i think we all have a shared responsibility to help ensure that we are protecting our nation from the worst of future events, so that our children, our grandchildren, the future generations, will not have to go through what we are going through now. disasters do not discriminate where they are going to land. they aren't red or blue. and we do have a shared responsibility to work together to make sure we have the environment we need to support our future generations. >> right, well i appreciate that very much. i thank you for your hard work. you know, there was an attempt to say that the disasters that have been inherited by the biden administration were caused by the biden administration. i'm glad my friend from virginia, congressman connolly, said that. i will refrain from saying the entire last presidency was a disaster, and i hope the situation we are in will bring us together as a country. i yield back. >> the gentleman's time has -- expired. the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. grothman, is recognized for five minutes. mr. grothman, you are recognized. >> here i am. can you hear me? >> okay, good. >> okay. a couple of general questions. you know, one of the criticisms always is the degree to which are we rebuilding the state and areas again and again and again? i want your general opinion. do we have a problem here in that, you know, there's some building going on in areas that you could anticipate are going to have a problem again in the next ten years? >> congressman, we need to take a concerted effort. we know where the risks are. people understand that if they choose to build in a place, they understand with the risks are going to be and the potential impacts might be. we need to help provide that information and educate our population on what those risks are. >> well, the thing i'm looking for i think is is it reflected in premiums? are we doing something to make sure that people in precarious areas are not rebuilding? are we doing anything along those lines? >> when i can say is that our new risk rating two point oh, certainly the risk of where people build, is reflected in their insurance premiums in a way that it has not been before. so those in greater risk areas will have a higher premium. >> on the other side, in my district, we always felt that some people did not have high premiums, just subjectively -- for whatever reason they were not considered to be in the floodplain. are you doing anything in which some people are peeling off from that or not? >> i do not know that i completely understand your question? >> as i understand it, they require flood insurance if you are in a floodplain, correct? >> correct. >> there are areas designated floodplain, you could talk to somebody, they go back to their grandmother, who never remembers floods, nevertheless someone who drew the line -- we start paying for this insurance on something that everybody in the area believes will never happen in a million years. you guys, over time, take that into account and try to remove people from floodplain, who were perhaps erroneously put in. >> i think that goes to the new release of our risk rating two point oh, where it takes an individual homeowner's particular risk into effect. if somebody does not have a risk they were paying for before, their rates go down. >> i understand. the question is have you peeled anybody out of floodplain? >> i would have to get back to on the specifics, as are flood maps are updated, those types of data are incorporated into the risk premiums. >> i think representative higgins has an interesting question, a spellbinding question. representative higgins? >> i think the gentleman for yielding. regarding risk rating 2.0, respectfully, members of the louisiana delegation have written several letters to your agency, this may predate your service and i will respect that. we would like some answers on this. the pope from the fema document stated that 97 percent of current policyholder premiums will either decrease or increase by about $20 a month under risk rating two .0. we know this is not true. we have seen example after example of extreme variances and policy expense. sometimes going from 500 a year to 7000 a year. some incredible disparities between the reality of the implementation of risk rating 2.0 and what was expected and projected and communicated by fema. can you respond to that please, formally and can we get a commitment from you today that fema will consider delaying the implementation of risk rating to point out until we get solid answers about the realities of what it really means to american citizens that carry national flood insurance program policies? >> the gentleman's time is expired. you may answer his question >>. thank you, madam chair. >> congressman, we can get back to with any of the specific information, but risk rating 2.0 has been implemented and individuals are seeing decreases in their insurance rates. which is the first time this program has taken equity into account to make sure people are paying for the risks that they have. >> the gentleman's time is expired, he yields back. the gentlewoman from missouri is now recognized for five minutes. >> i think you, madam chair for competing -- convening this important hearing today. hurricane ida was another graphic example of how underprepared our nation's for climate disasters driven by fossil fuel. for communities like mine, that have been hurting for decades, we do not have -- our communities -- faces more and more climate risk every day. administrator criswell, numerous fema disaster programs are not for those needs. when fema conducts damage assessments after storms, they are measured based on property ownership. this focus is relief programs on -- landlords rather than renters and those most in need of support. it only supports people who can support to afford to buy flood insurance, the opposite of how this program should work. transforming this program would mean saving lives. it is out of reach for frontline communities. he must's national advisory council described the program as being quote more accessible to those with time incumbent access. thank you for being vocal in your efforts to make equity in fema programs. my families in the south who did not have a formal deed or approved homeownership to disaster assistance. can you explain how this will change, specifically how black, blount -- lack brown and indigenous people. >> it is so important we do not over complicate the system and do not try to use this one-size-fits-all approach. everybody's situation, specific and unique to them. it is so important for us to make sure that we understand that and put people first. the changes we've made so far, we are all racing big improvements in the number of people deemed eligible for our programs, meaning they did not have to go through that laborious process of trying to appeal, and where they would normally be denied. we are continuing to look at our programs so the air rights, property ownership is just the start. we are going to continue to see where have we taken the cookie-cutter approach and need to adjust it so we can better understand the unique needs specific communities. i would be happy to work with your team, and suggestions you have and things you have seen. >> thank you. this is that policy change that we know will benefit may people. we need to expand it to st. louis, my home and across the country as we develop further reforms. what other examples of changes that fema has made or attempted to make that will improve equity in disaster relief, can you give us some examples? >> the other example i would give is that we also changed the cost threshold for determining whether or not you would be eligible for direct housing. used to have us -- at dollar amount, which left homeowners with a smaller amount of damage ineligible for that program. we changed it to cost per square foot which is helping affect our lower income population so they become eligible for our direct housing program. it's one small example of how we took this cookie-cutter approach made it unique and specific to the individual's needs. >> the biden administration launched important initiative allowing to disaster programs to be piloted. to ensure that federal agencies work with the states and local communities to deliver a minimum of 40% of overall benefits to front line communities. [indiscernible] how will engagement with the impacted disadvantaged communities impact your assessment? >> we are excited to be part of the justice 40 initiative. part of our flood mitigation program that we are incorporating that into. we have adjusted our scoring criteria to give greater points to underserved communities. we are working with our state partners and through technical assistance programs to get the message out and reach out to our stakeholders so they understand the importance of having more individuals that are part of these communities apply for this type of assistance. we are looking forward to seeing where we can include this in additional programs in the future. very much looking forward to how the results of this found round of funding go. >> the gentlelady's time is expired. she yields back. the gentleman from vermont, you are now recognized for five minutes. >> thank you. welcome, administrator criswell, you have one of the most important jobs. during tropical storm irene, the extraordinary work that fema did, we are grateful. when fema shows up, it is something that can unify us, it has been a good thing. the topic i want to discuss is not directly under your control, but the breakdown in the grade and challenges to the grid and the necessity for upgrading the grid. i want to ask about what the impact of the -- with respect to the scope and scale of what you have to contend with after a big storm, an event like ida. maybe you could start by describing what the impact was on families and communities after ida because of the long-term shutdown of the grade and how that impacted them and challenge you and fema had to contend with? >> the power grid is so important to keep the communities work moving. the sooner we can get the power turned back on, the sooner the recovery begins. what we see is that as it continues to delay getting the power turned back on, your communities have an increased amount of time for their recovery. what we saw during hurricane ida was hospitals having to be evacuated, communities having to be evacuated. that puts a toll on their families and their communities. we need to be able to work with our private sector partners to help them get back online quicker, if we can. it is also an example of how our infrastructure in many places is so outdated. you have to invest in improving our infrastructure so it can withstand the increasing number of severe weather events we are going to see. >> this power outage system -- situation, how long did that last in some communities? >> i think there are some smaller communities still without power in southern louisiana. in many parts of the state, they were without power for several weeks. >> on a practical level, a family cannot go back to a house, cannot stay in a house once the storm subsides, the resources of fema to help those folks have shelter and food and warmth or pooling, whichever the case may be? >> i would not state it is a burden for fema. that is the type of support we provide to communities, to help them during the recovery process. it is certainly a burden on the family that has been impacted. we do have the resources and tools necessary to provide temporary lodging to assist them. >> you are good to frack me, i'm using the word burden, that is your job, i get that. it does mean that the needs of that family are greater because they can't get back to their house and get things put back together, correct? >> absolutely. it delays their over all recovery process. >> i think great resilience and modernization is essential. when we had hurricane irene, we were able to get back in, even though the house was a mess, we had to start taking it out, my observation was that there was a lot of hope that they are on the road to getting back to normal. where as if someone is out of their home for not two days, but two weeks or two months than knothole begins to fade. tell me -- then that hope begins to fade. >> i would not think that is a fair assessment. people want to start recovering quickly. when they are prevented from doing that, it causes additional despair to the families. >> thank you for your good work, i yield back. >> the gentleman from maryland is now recognized. >> thank you, madam chair. can you hear me ok? >> yes. >> thank you, administrator criswell. i appreciate your testimony today and your important work. as you know, hurricane ida did huge damage in many parts of the country, but that included maryland as well. on september 1 a came through the state of maryland, damage through hundreds -- damaged hundreds of homes and businesses and claimed the life of a resident of rockville. i am grateful to the president and to you for granting the merrick garland delegation's requested fema for federal does that -- the maryland delegations request for federal assistance. that was granted on september 13. last week, i joined the maryland delegation in urging the president to approve the state of maryland's request for presidential disaster declaration for individual assistance to anne arundel county, which was hit by severe flooding and a tornado. and the mitigation grant program assistance for all jurisdictions in maryland so our residents, like many others can get the assistance they need. this is federal assistance, it is very necessary, it is warranted, i believe -- i hope it can be expeditiously reviewed and granted. i want to talk about the grant program. as i understand it, fema provides up to 75% of the cost share situation. the federal government provides 75% of eligible private costs and states and communities cover the remaining share. do you know, has there been discussion, do you know what the capacity is -- can you give us an insight into the potential for fema to increase the federal cost share to pick up more of the for the program which would make it more likely that states and localities who have budget crunches could respond to current disasters and better prepare for future ones? this may not be critical in every instance, there's going to be situations where communities are going to be incapable of accessing the program's benefits because of the cost share obligation. i wonder if you could speak to any kind of thinking or review on that front. >> thank you for raising that question. that program is such an amazing tool to help communities fight against the risks we are seeing and prevent future damages from severe weather events. i have heard from many people across the country that they do have a struggle meeting the cost share requirement. that cost share requirement as set forth in the stafford act, that is not something we can change. i think there is work we can do to figure out how we can help communities partner and try to find other ending sources that perhaps could be available to help them with that. i'm going to be meeting with state directors to have this same conversation. and helping communities take advantage of this critical resource so they can invest in their future risk. >> any recommendations, if there have to be statutory changes to make it work better, recommendations you can offer is based on the data you are gathering from across the country that may show uneven opportunity to take advantage of the hazard mitigation program would be very helpful. i want to thank the president for committing a historic amount to this hazard mitigation fund, i think $3.5 billion to reduce the effects of climate change, which we know is the most pressing factor in all of this. annapolis took the last 50 years has experienced incredible increase in nuisance flooding, which closes roads, over alms storm water drains -- overwhelms storm water drains, damages infrastructure. it is one of the most extreme impacts we see in the country. today, annapolis expects over 50 flooding events every year, up from an average of four annual flooding events 50 years prior. we are very focused on this, thank you for your good work, thank you for recognizing that climate change is a huge impact we have to prepare for and have resilience for chair maloney: the gentleman yields back. the gentlewoman for massachusetts, miss presley, is recognized. representative: thank you, madam chair, for convening this important hearing. natural disasters are disruptive and traumatic life events. suddenly lose your home, savings, family heirlooms or the lives of loved ones as devastating impacts on survivors. when the trauma isn't addressed, survivors can develop drastic mental health consequences. experiencing a natural disaster by age five is associated with a 16% increase in mental health or substance abuse issues in adulthood. again, experiencing a natural disaster by age five is associated with a 16% increase in mental health or substance abuse issues in adulthood. a study of earthquake survivors found one in four had ptsd. fortunately, the administrator of fema has a program in place to address the immediate mental health impacts. administrator criswell, can you tell us what the crisis council program is and how fema has worked with localities to help survivors in communities across the country. ms. criswell: thank you. mental health is important for both disaster survivors and my employees as well. our crisis counseling program is a tool available to help crisis survivors manage the stress and cope with losses they experienced from this disaster. it is available under the individual assistance program when that is authorized for major disaster declarations, and executed by the states. it is an important resource to help individuals impacted ia disaster. -- impacted by a disaster. representative: i thank you for including your staffing that. we have to heal the healers as well-paid this program has been deployed nationwide in response to covid-19, and in puerto rico following hurricanes and in new york following the september 11 terror attacks, to name a few. however, many people survive disasters, terror attacks, violence and natural disasters that can't take advantage of this program. there are two types of disaster declaration -- major disasters and emergency declarations. is the crisis counsel program currently available following emergency declarations? ms. criswell: no, it is not currently available for emergency declarations. representative: i would like to implore you to make that change. it should be available under both declarations. over the past decade, there have been more than 4000 emergency declarations in the united states. i represent boston. the boston marathon attack, the ripple effect of that trauma, some of the was immediately manifested, but some manifested later. it is time to ensure survivors of all disasters can access counseling and be connected to long-term until health services. i appreciate your agency working with me already on my proposal to expand the program to emergency declarations, and that fema does not foresee any hindrance to providing crisis counseling to help more people. we would love to follow up with you beyond this hearing and hear your response to that. ms. criswell: yes, ma'am, we would happy to provide technical drafting assistance on making that change. it is so important we are taking care of the mental health of people impacted by traumatic events. representative: i always seek to engage those closest, and a survivor of the boston marathon bombing shared her story and said she wishes assistance provided under the crisis counseling program had existed for her eight years ago. it is to ensure survivors of all disasters can access counseling and be connected to mental health services. i look forward to being in touch with you about that. if you could respond -- what are the provisions and plans for those that are disabled, those that are incarcerated and those that are hospitalized, when it comes to a major disaster or emergency declaration? are there any protocols in place? ms. criswell: i don't know i am understanding specifically what you are asking, but our disaster response programs, when we respond to incidents, it is to help all people impacted by those disasters. we have an entire unit here that focuses on planning and preparedness for individuals with disabilities. we work closely with state partners to understand unique situations within each community once a disaster has happened with those who may have been incarcerated. representative: we will follow up on that as well. thank you. chair maloney: without objection, mr. troy carter from louisiana is authorized to participate in today's hearing. louisiana was greatly impacted by ida. mr. carter: thank you for the opportunity to present. on august 29, hurricane ida made land file is a category four hurricane with sustained winds at 150 miles per hour. coastal louisiana experience 16-foot storm surges and significant flash flooding, 16 years to the day of hurricane katrina. the government's substantial investments in shoring up our levee system made a big difference in this hurricane. we are hopeful that going forward under build back at her and other resources will do the same, like burying our grid to make sure people never have to suffer weeks of being without power. it is very difficult in the psaltery months of august to be without power for senior citizens, people disabilities and for our young people. it adds insult to injury. we are hopeful that we continue to build on mistakes of the past. hurricanes come every year. we don't know the name yet, we may not know the intensity, but we know that with climate change, warmer waters bring stronger storms and we should endeavor to do better than we did then we get after katrina. administrator criswell, i want to thank you, president biden and senior advisor richland for coming to my district in louisiana, walking streets of the community and seeing it firsthand. i can't tell you how much that meant to the people of louisiana to have you on the ground to see firsthand that level of devastation. hurricane ida caused major damage in my district and across louisiana, devastating homes, knocking out the electric grid and leaving trails of damage along the gulf coast. there are two points i would like to get across quickly. the storm showed the value of federal investments in her texting community in areas like new orleans and the river parishes. the flood protection system stayed dry after investments after katrina. we have to do better going forward to make sure these communities are weatherproofed for the future. having lived through storms, i have seen recoveries that work on recoveries that don't. the biggest factor is how fast we get money back into pockets and start people getting back to some semblance of normalcy. we need a federal recovery process that recognizes this. far too many of our programs take months to kick in. you instituted several policies and granted waivers for people that mischecked the box and as a result, many people were denied. what can we do to create an appeal process, so a person who made an innocent mistake in the filing are not rejected? ms. criswell: the program you're talking about is our critical needs assistance program, an amazing tool that gets money into the hands of survivors quickly. we were able to get money into the hands of survivors faster than we have in any other disaster. we did hear that some individuals were having difficulties with how they answered the questions, so we did go back and look at what we were using as quick. to approve those for critical needs assistance. and we were able to give funding to an additional 120,000 families. we are now taking a look at our systems to see if there is anything else we can do to improve that. we are always trying to improve delivery of our services to help give money to those eligible. representative: i want to thank you, because you want your people have been incredible. we have challenged you in every possible way, pushed the envelope to make things more seamless for the people and have been on the one yard line of fema to make sure they do that. i want to thank you as well as your people on the ground for doing a great job in that regard. the blue roof program is very effective. can you share with me things you are putting in place to advance them more quickly? we have rain and the ability to mitigate existing damage will be valuable if we can do it faster? chair maloney: time is expired but you may answer the questions. >> the blue roof program is a partnership with fema and the army corps of engineers to provide temporary repairs to homes. i spoke with lieutenant general spellman to talk about the status of the program. he assured me he has made improvements into how they are executing their mission. and i think from numbers i have seen, they have significantly increased the number of blue roofs they have installed. but that is never fast enough and i am pushing our people as well as the army corps to continue to find ways to get those on homes as quickly as possible, so we can get people back into their homes sooner. chair maloney: i recognize mr. higgins for a closing statement. mr. higgins. representative higgins: thank you. administrator criswell, thank you for being here. we have more work to do. my office will deliver a letter to you by the close of business to a documenting specific, urgent requests to fema on behalf of my constituency, who has been suffering for over a year from hurricane laura and hurricane ida. i would like your personal commitment that you will receive our letter and be involved. you have been very gracious today, and professional. thank you. i am going to lean on you for a commitment to personal involvement, and the letter that we deliver today. finally, regarding rural areas and small towns, i beg of you -- let's make sure that our small towns, rural areas, poor communities, get adequate attention and adequate response and they don't get left behind. can i get your commitment on receiving our letter documenting urgent requests, and can i get a commitment that our rural areas and poor communities don't get overlooked and left behind? ms. criswell: you have my commitment to be personally involved in that sponsor to your letter. i would like to thank you and congressman carter for your leadership in supporting people impacted by recent events in louisiana. representative: thank you, ma'am. congressman carter is an amazing complement to the louisiana delegation. i commend him for the work he continues to do. he had big shoes to fill with our friend and colleague congressman now in the white house as a senior advisor. we are louisiana strong in congress and the white house, so we are joined together. madam chair, thank you for your gracious allowances of time during this hearing. thank you. i yield. chair maloney: i now recognize myself. i want to thank administrator criswell for testifying today. add thank all the fema employees who are working tirelessly to respond to disasters around the country and visiting sites perfectly to -- visiting sites personally to oversee and help. i wanted emphasize survivors of hurricane ida and previous disasters still need help. they need to learn how to apply for financial assistance, they need information about what all if eyes for financial assistamce and they need quick processing. administrator criswell, i appreciate your commitment to work with communities so flood maps can be more accurate with community input. it is important to emphasize your testimony that communities can apply for fema grant money for disaster mitigation even when they are in an area that has not been declared a disaster. as we heard from you today, we need to invest in climate-resilient infrastructure, and we are investing in front-line communities who are disproportionately impacted by severe weather. i urge all my colleagues to support the federal agency climate prep act, a bill i introduced today that would ensure the federal government has a comprehensive plan to tackle climate change, coordinated by the white house in partnership with local communities. i also call on my colleagues to support the build back better act, which would make critical investments to upgrade our infrastructure so that we can be better prepared for future disasters. these investments are critical so that states and local governments are not left dealing with the cost of recovering from disasters on their own. i want to thank all our panelists for their remarks and commend my colleagues for participating. without objection, all members have five legislative days within which to submit materials and additional written questions to the witness, which will be forwarded to her for her response. i asked our witness to please respond as promptly as you are able. this hearing is adjourned. k at what congress can do to address the issue. >> thank you so much danielle, it's a pleasure to be here today for someone to introduce both of our panelists. starting with senator jones, welcome former u.s. senator from alabama, doug jones, who will be one of our two panelists in today's conversation at the u.s. attorney for alabama, senator jones

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