The U.S. House Committee on Appropriations’ Subcommittee on Homeland Security held a hearing on May 25 regarding FEMA’s fiscal year (FY) 2023 budget proposal. The budget proposal requests nearly $29.5 billion, amounting to a nearly $600 million increase over the FY22 request. In her opening statement at the hearing, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell lauded the agency’s work responding to worsening natural disasters and improving the equity of agency programs.
Administrator Criswell informed committee members that $23 million of the amount requested would be used to hire 23 regional interagency coordinators at FEMA regional offices to ensure that the agency is addressing underserved communities. She also explained that $3.4 billion would be set aside for the agency’s mitigation grant programs, which help state and local governments decrease the risks of future disaster damage. The Disaster Relief Fund (DRF), which provides the bulk of funding for agency operations and assistance programs, would receive $19.7 billion through the budget.
Questions from committee members ranged across topics, from cyber security to utility transformer prepositioning. Chairwoman Roybal-Allard raised questions about how prior oversight and anti-fraud efforts may have created a disaster recovery system that is overly restrictive and fails to provide disaster survivors the assistance they need. Administrator Criswell responded by pointing to recent FEMA reforms regarding title documentation and stated that the agency was examining ways that definitions used by FEMA – such as the “safe, sanitary, and habitable” repair standard currently employed by the agency – prevent assistance from reaching those most in need. When asked by Ranking Member Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN) whether FEMA was doing enough to ensure that survivor needs are being verified before providing assistance, Administrator Criswell stated that she believed the agency had been too restrictive in the past and that agency efforts would be directed at ensuring that those most in need of assistance were able to receive it.
View a recording of the hearing at: https://bit.ly/39YJRIF