fema administrator brock long was on capitol hill testifying about federal disaster relief funding. he gave members of the house appropriations subcommittee an update on the recovery efforts in texas, florida, puerto rico and the virgin islands.

we will call the hearing to order today we are welcoming the administrator of the federal emergency management agency to discuss the response recovery to hurricane harvey, irma and maria and the wildfires spread across california. thank you for being here to join us. the magnitude of the disaster we are experiencing this year is unprecedented. i want to thank you and the thousands of personnel who deployed and continue to work tirelessly to help the communities and families get back on their feet in the wake of every instance of the devastating events.

congress has passed to emergency supplementals that are providing an additional 26 public and to ensure the ability to respond to the aftermath of disasters. now it's time to shift focus is from response to recovery and while some of these efforts are already underway there is a long road ahead. please before i get to you i want to introduce the ranking member. welcome mr. administrator to your first appearance before the subcommittee.

the third emergency supplemental request in just the last few months but we are nevertheless eager to spend sometime with you to get your perspective on the response and recovery activities and challenges that lie ahead. the los closely behind irma and area and i would be remiss if it didn't devastate large swaths of california in my state. we want to help support the efforts of the personnel and make sure that the programs are working well to support the recovery efforts. particularly in puerto rico because of the level of devastation and fiscal challenges that it was already facing. we already appreciate you joining us this morning and i look forward to a productive

discussion. i appreciate the chairman holding this hearing. for the u.s. territories that suffered recently from natural disasters. there've been 50 major disaster declaration so far in 2017. 20 of them were for disasters that occurred since your confirmation including hurricanes harvey, irma and maria. i remember that very clearly.

with regards to puerto rico which has faced significant fiscal challenges for some time. we can help those impacted by ay harvey, irma and maria. water infrastructure, transportation and other important infrastructures. the traditional programs will only bring porter rico just so far. to understand the limits and what additional flexibilities might be helpful. we are recovering beyond the scope of the programs and need to understand the role in determining the unmet needs that will inform the systems from other federal agencies.

it's simply not acceptable to restore infrastructure and public facilities to previous conditions especially in puerto rico that suffers unprecedented damages. we must use the funding to mitigate the impact of the future disasters or else we will find ourselves in this exact decision in short order when the next hurricane blows through forcing the taxpayers to pay more because of the investment not made in the appropriate ti time. i look forward to the discussi discussion. thank you mr. chairman.

we have over 52 inches of rain and homes flooded, 200,000 apartment units come a number of people, tens of thousands in my district are livin looking on te second floor of their homes with the first floor turn out because they don't have anywhere else to go. we are also grateful to the work that is done to help the people of houston and southeast texas who suffered from this catastrophic event and to all the volunteers from all over the country one of the silver linings of the storm where the people thawere thepeople that sp spontaneously from all over the country with food, supplies, water and i'm grateful to the people of louisiana who just showed up with boosting food and jambalaya to help pull people out of their houses. i didn't know there was anything such as a caged navy. the caged navy. we found people doing what needed to be done and it is one of the many reasons i'm proud to

represent that wonderful community of people who will look first at each other, to our family, to our neighbors to help each other, but the role is the central and the administrator, we appreciate the work that you've done and we are grateful for the help that you have provided, but a lot more has to be done and without even directly addressing the disaster relief fund i want to say at the outset the office of budget management request is woefully inadequate. it's embarrassing, it is deeply upsetting to the people of texas to see the largest housing disaster in the history of the united states of america isn't a dime recommended for housing relief in the omb requests, so we are grateful to the speaker for opening up the process to ensure the appropriations committee is the one that makes the decision on what the people of our districts and the nation need in response to the hurricane. they invest that authority in congress and on this committee

we always have and we will once again make a decision on what is necessary to heal the people in texas and florida and puerto rico and the virgin islands, so thank you mr. cherry and her holdinholding the hearing and ik forward to working with you and my colleagues to the people that have suffered are made whole. >> at this time you were recognized to make a statement. we have a written copy and we ask you try to limit yourself to five minutes because we have a a lot of questions coming your way. >> members of the committee, thank you and it is an honor to be here. marking the end of the 2017 hurricane season, it has been the word unprecedented does not do it justice. i want to start by thinking members of the committee and congress who are quickly considering the first supplementals and pushing through it vital funding and here in the middle of a third

request i will get to minimum. in office about five months for 97 days we've been actively responding around the clock and just only to harvey, irma, maria, the california why don't -- wildfires, my staff is tapped out. out. they work around the clock to help those in need and we are doing the best we can do to move as quickly as we can. this has been the longest activation in history and i've got to say i am extremely proud to work with the members and we have a long way to go in the spirit of improvement. i have many ideas that i've not had a chance to catch my breath and come to you with. some of them i can do with the stroke of a pen and some of them are going to require changes to the stafford act to put this in context, just those infected

25 million people. and this time. we put almost 5 million in the individual assistance program, to put that into context an cont short a timeframe that is greater than sandy, katrina combines and it's a tenfold increase over. how do we utilize over to the federal emergency management agency and i didn't come up here to do the status quo. i'm ready to change it in a way to tackle resiliency and it's going to require your help as well.

to date we have received since august 25 roughly 24 billion when you include not only the funding but now you're asking for 23.5 billion. i get it and the third supplemental we are asking for special provisions i need the congress to consider. we need outcome based planning when we enter into the disaste disasters. we have an outcome in mind going into this. the next thing i'm also asking for additional authority particularly around the rico. the act allows me to rebuild communities to be predisaster standard which wouldn't be in this situation.

we are facing maximum amount of deferred maintenance and infrastructure at antiquated infrastructure. the average age of the powerplant is 44-years-old and if you look at it globally it is typically a 1 teen-years-old asi understand it so when they come into this situation, i will need additional authorities to be able to put back in a prudent manner so that we are not here again having the same meeting. the question for me is it is time to question their role in the disaster response and recovery. what can we handle as an agency versus what the role and responsibility of the community should be from state and local governments and let's hit the reset button and carve out every level of government in the whole community to be responsible for. they are never designed to be the only responder in the disaster that in many cases that is where we find ourselves and we've got to fix that problem.

doing so fixes the whole community issues that we face and brings up a level of resilience. i have numerous ideas starting first with recovery is too complex. funding comes from too many different federal agencies out of the state and local level and how to use the funding in concert with one another and it leads to the obligations, confusion or frustration on your part of the substance part and the disasters part. this is the time to fix this and work down to the local level them to achieve the goals and responsibilities. you have to get hit to get access to the funding.

we need to move the funding out of the act up front where people can plan out mitigation strategies rather than having to get hit. it needs to be changed and we need to make sure they have the ability to push out the life-sustaining commodity distribution. it can't be on the shoulders of the federal emergency management agency to push food and water out. every state should have the capability. our cities should have their own capable of. we should b be able to back fill the community can not to supplant it fully. we have to make sure we find low to no cost ways to truly implement a culture of preparedness within the citizenry. we don't have it and it's time to hit the reset button on how to become more resilient because the citizens were the first true responder to b an active shooter event and when a tornado hits were when a flood occurs and we need to give tangible skills

from cpr to how to shut off water valves to ho have to be properly insured. not only as a homeowner but as a business owner. we have to fix the business process. i run a program that is structurally broken every day. it goes into that every time we have a major event in the have to ask for supplementals. katrina forced into that harvey, irma forced into this and we've got to fix the structure of the framework and ensure affordability. i run a program that isn't financially solvent and i have more ideas i can share and i look forward to working with y you. >> thank you. that was very spectacular. let me remind our panel here i

will do a little courtesy over. i love the other ideas that god and let's hope we can figure out a way to do those things. you start off with kind of the big picture, and that is right where we need to start. a series of questions concerning the big picture. what is the status at this time and the impact of the states response and recovery to this year's hurricane, what you anticipate the biggest challenges will be in the coming months and how do you plan to address them with more than 80% of the workforce currently deployed and to support ongoing disaster response activities are

you concerned with the ability to respond of another catastrophic event occurs? with regards to harvey and irma, we are moving forward in the phases. the biggest challenges to face us are housing. there are not enough manufactured home and travel trailers and hotels to service and we will never be able to move fast enough to put people back in their homes. the bottom line we work with every day. housing is tremendously different not just from texas at the california wildfires which is the most disturbing i've been a part of based on the nature of held by fighters.

it's tremendously different because there's nothing to rebuild and it's been torn down versus where we have to go into harvey and understand what can be rebuil rebuild instead of manufactured homes or how we transition people out of hotels into other options, rent and if you've got them, apartments that may be available. so, this is the biggest issue that we face. in puerto rico obviously it is an antiquated power system we are trying to figure out. the complexities added to it. everything we do in puerto rico is hard. it's not a complaint is just the reality. so power and housing is also a problem when you try to fix homes in puerto rico you simply put a blue tarp on the house and that isn't easy because there is no structure to connect it to. you have to rebuild the structure before you put the

tarp on it and in many cases it is trying to figure out who owns the home are those issues that are there. the other thing i recognize is that we have to delicately deal with hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money. one thing we have to improve its oversight. the management is the responsibility of the whole community. there's more training to how the funding works and what we have to solve is the fragmented recovery from different types of money with different policies, different rules and exits everybody up for failure in the long run and we never train people how to utilize the funding that comes down from the federal government and the best

way possible. here's what you are entitled to and what the goals are let's put it to work in concert with one another in an efficient and effective manner. there's a lot to talk about. housing is going to be the most difficult mission ahead of us. the disaster activity and my understanding, 23.5 billion requested the supplemental for the hurricanes but only the fy15 teen costs. why is this and do you plan to submit another supplemental in addition to support these disasters?

>> that is another excellent question. we are performing our due diligence into this hard to project what the true cost is going to be. as we transition to the recovery and while we are asking them to have an integrated outcome based plan for the recovery effort it helps project what we need and also as we get into the recovery based on what the governor may ask for and the different programs that are available, we look at the trends, the programs and we deliberately go in and try to ask them i think if we go beyond 2018, i don't think that the estimates i could provide you with the accurate based on the work and that's why we decided to stay there. >> the administration has proposed giving you discretion to waive the condition limitation on public assisted grants and the repair over the

replacement in the public façade of thfacility components that we not damaged but replacing them is essential to restoring the overall facility. can you talk a little bit more about why this is needed in the case of puerto rico or do you expect that it will help speed up the recovery efforts and do you consider extending this to the u.s. virgin islands as well and if not, why not? >> i am concerned i don't have the authority to implement recovery in a manner that is needed.

if i fix a infrastructure that hasn't been maintained then it comes back and rightfully so and says wait a minute is this true of the federal government's responsibility or should this be on the back of the local and state government. we are running into so many deferred maintenance issues with the entire infrastructure and antiquated systems that i don't think you can put it back to the predisaster condition. those that i have to prevent public health emergencies and loss, future loss of life. but once we get into the permanent work that is required to actually rebuild a higher standard for example just putting the standard for the power grid on to puerto rico is greater than the condition we found the power grid in to begin with so this is why we are asking for those authorities.

i need protection when it comes to putting puerto rico back in a more resilient manner so that we are not sitting here and having this discussion. >> how will you decide when to use it and do you anticipate that you will probably use it or only in certain circumstances or certain kinds of projects? >> right now we don't have a full understanding. we are still in the response phase. but we know as we get into the permanent work or the different categories, category c. three g. like the debate for fixing the public infrastructure, we are already in the emergency work trying to get into the areas of the power grid where you're having to do the bridge removal and brush removal because of overgrowth and that's deferred maintenance, which delays the recovery time. we know we are going to see, we are anticipating it' that coming into the permanent forking issues of recovery.

>> under this authority or others, well fema be able to fully fund the federal share of the more modern efficient and resilient type of electrical generation and a great system for puerto rico or will puerto rico may be eligible to receive an amount sufficient to construct a brand-new version of the current system which would still be vulnerable to the future hurricanes in other words while the funding reflects the higher cost of the system that would mitigate against future disaster cost? ..

>> what is your understanding about other federal resources that could be available to puerto rico and the added cost? >> this goes back to fragmented recovery. everyday we have recovery meetings with our partners across the perspective. other agencies are in the office were having this meeting staley when it comes to how funding comes together. for example, when a detailed conversation with secretary of hud about housing and how fema can handle housing about 50% damage and after that it's more of a hud issue.

i believe that over the next time we can still do a better job streamlining these programs and assigning authority that is clear. >> thank you. >> thank you mr. chairman for holding hearing. after hearing from mr. brock, just want to say that i'm sleep better tonight. i'm so impressed. it seems to me you're handling this just right. the only question i have is when you're talking about rebuilding standards and other homes are the electric grid, i was there with the speaker not long ago, to help if we ever get the budget process going we can give

your number that will provide for adequate funding to do this. i understand you're saying you have to combine your efforts with hud and other agencies. knowing your there will help me sleep better tonight. thank you for your presentation. the first question, congress authorized the alternative procedures pilot program, supported the sandy recovery act to test a more efficient approach to awarding public assistance grants. how has the alternative procedures program worked with regard to super storm sandy. to anticipate puerto rico will choose this approach and if so, to anticipate changes on how the program will work for puerto rico. >> but i believe you're referring to section 428.

for large-scale events it makes sense to go the 428 row. the governor has to elect to go that route. the reason it's advantage versus just going back to the roadway system, there are thousands of problems within the roadway system which there are, instead of having to generate thousands of project worksheets for many years there seems to be no income of the 428 program as the governor agree to forces us to be outcome-based and we can work right one project worksheet for the grid. we have to do a better job in helping the city of new york or other communities, they have

concerns about when we do the cost estimate of front to we accurately estimate how much it was going to cost. that alone is frightening for community, this far as the efficiency go, the 428 program truly is the way we need to go forward to improve. >> so following up, what is the process of how fema and puerto rico find agreement on the cost estimates for the hurricane damage. i know you're in the process of evaluating it. how long will that take. i'm hoping the supplemental can reflect some of this. i think it's important we have a good and accurate idea. >> this process never moves as quickly as citizens wanted to move.

we have to be careful with the inspections and technical expertise. i don't know much about rebuilding the roadway system. we rely on others. it's a comprehensive process that requires many members to come in. to tackle this situation and producing accurate information. i be happy to provide several examples that were going throu through. >> i like to better understand how the alternative procedures approach can potentially help puerto rico with resiliency. how will they use other federal agencies to supplement what it receives from fema that can

better withstand extreme weather events? >> the 428 pilot program allows for things that can make things better. it also is more incentive base. if they command underneath the actual estimate, there are incentives for them to do so when it comes to retaining some of that funding. >> did i use up all my time i ready? are we flexible today or. >> you are past right now. >> i will hold the rest of my comments.

>> mr. culbertson. >> thank you. a lot your testimony is one of most encouraging and marvelous to hear your commitment to help the people of the united states and relying on the good hearts and good core values. the very best first responders americans themselves looking for their neighbors and friends. i'm thrilled to hear that you said. i will to make sure we get a picture of you. you're exactly right. your willingness to be creative and innovative. i encourage you to ask your staff to go through the statutes here responsible for nasa them, where do you have flexibility to

make decisions on euro. for example, one thing you have authority to do his extending deadlines because of the scale of the disaster in texas. it is unheard of what we have faced. your accommodating and extending those. another area is the, all of the major synagogues flooded, the number of churches were flooded. you have the discretion to allow fema disaster assistance funding to reimburse to the for the cost of rebuilding a religious institution. i encourage you to do so. that would help a great deal. is that something you'd be interested in and able to do?

>> there's a little bit of misunderstanding, houses of worship are eligible are available if they provide a critical service for the community. were under litigation right now so i need to be careful about what i put forward. we need to look at all 501 c-3 compliant organization active in disaster. were actively doing. >> your under an injunction that prevents you from doing so? >> no. when the middle of litigation. >> they need your help. another concern if you take a look at the buyout program we have previous floods the best

copiers were there were homes bought out by fema. under the rules the land cannot be developed even if the local community wants to buy the land is want to litigate it. i hope you look at that. i think you have discretion there. you have all these great homes and then finding a vacant lot that has weeds through 4 feet high. he can protect against hundred year flood or higher. >> let me get back to you. i'll be happy to look into that. >> you can also only elevate home if you elevate an existing structure. why not let the owner of the property terror one down and build a brand-new one. to be cheaper and less money to the taxpayers as well. you have a variety of flexibility in your authority things you could do that would

be a tremendous help. if i know better friend when it comes to helping you be creative then church john carter. he has been terrific and we deeply appreciate it. also on the premedication under 45 that could be used to protect an area for future flooding correct? >> at the money out front, then insurance available to protect against the next flood at least a hundred event would be a big help in protecting southeast texas for 80% of the refinery is in the port of houston they're extremely important. i look for to working with you on that.

mr. chairman i'm happy to work with you on this. >> may have a moment to, or two? >> when you opened up about your statement will talk about being innovative all my 30s are not, one thing we get beat up on in the media and congress and elected official is inspections when it comes to housing. you're too slow, you don't have enough inspectors. the magnitude of inspections from the california wildfire to the virgin islands is unprecedented. we have over 6000 inspectors in the field. after that you run out of resources. when you run into the problem is twofold. how do we reduce the need for physical inspector to be in the field without looking at flood

maps and going the houses flooded, do we really need to send an inspector out there to verify? the other thing is that we have a staff member named henry henrietta, she's a native louisiana and natalie does work for fema round-the-clock, her house was flooded. i was asking for ideas said the thing that killed me as the number of inspection the government requires for me to fix my house. individual inspection private insurance, how we get it to one inspection to cover the multitude of everything we need? what's in my authority to change the verses we will have to come back and say please consider this. >> my brother who is recovering

from stage four throat cancer is living his driveway in a trailer and has spent with his entire house destroyed, as are all of his neighbors. god bless you, were look forward to helping you. >> thank you mr. chairman. i've had legislation but i don't think fema followed up on this, redundancy, elimination of them happier talking about some of the things we need to address. i want to talk to you later about this legislation. the makeover couple of questions with governor abbott's office. think therefore appropriators from texas that a bill working on the issue.

how long is this disaster relief funding, how can it be used? we want to make sure that information is connected with the state and the locals. >> in general the two major programs are individual and public assistance. that's what we typically pay for. their multiple categories. emergency work and permanent work. emergency work offset the cost of response. it offsets the cost of debridement removal. but then fixing infrastructure and public facilities funding on the individual assistance edits could be other needs, mental needs as a result of someone who has had problems from the flood

to rental assistance, to critical needs assistance, $500 to help you buy groceries. that's just a small sample. >> what you think the goal should be? that's the way we look at the goal is disaster relief funding. >> in my opinion, that's tough save lives in the response, kickstart recovery. the other thing. >> texans was saved how do we prevent these and that's where

having a disagreement. >> out of the drf, the post- disaster funding were talking about a certain percentage becomes available for projects, that only through four oh four but four oh six. they can utilize funding and access becomes available to that after the disaster to do medication. what i would propose is you leave the 406 litigation funding there to fix the infrastructure that's damaged. let's rebuild it to a higher standard. the 404 money needs to go out front. we require community to design a mitigation plan but they don't have access to the funding. it's not fema's responsibility to create resiliency. i believe it relies and --

fema's plan to supplements the capability. if we move the 404 money to the front end reduces the complexity of recovery in the process of how long recovery takes. it allows communities to plan up front before disaster strikes. >> iso you continue to work with the governor's office on this. by two other colleagues from texas have been having different discussions and there's a difference of opinion from the state of texas in here which is basically i think you answer, is disaster relief antenna for long-term recovery to make communities hold? can you some of the resources.

>> again, i will never make a community hall. i don't believe fema has the authority to make a community hall let's just so you have a tornado go through a small community that wipes off a a majority of the infrastructure. theme is not trained, or should we be responsible for us to say how to recover that. for good at debris removal, saving lives according a response to do those missions. when it comes to long-term economic viability, i'm not so sure that's fema's mission. that may be other portions of the community. >> want to ask you to continue to talk to her governor's

office. texas has $10 million in a rainy day fund which unfamiliar because i'm in the state legislator we created that. so i think texas should use and i've said this publicly, when you have conversations make sure we talk to texas to make sure they do their fair share also. you just can't coming from the federal government. people attacked the federal government but when they need cash the federal government as their best friend. i want to make sure everybody has skin in the game. >> may i respond? >> let me be clear about the state of texas. regardless of issues that may

take place inside of texas from disagreements and saying this, texas is a model. here's why. they're owning their disaster recovery. the rick running the recovery housing commission and they're asking fema to support it. we have to get off 50 states to start this. my role should be a counselor saying here's what you're entitled to and what you will need to achieve the goals. i think congress should look at what states don't have rainy day funds. when a federal disaster declaration is not coming forward what is the application of a state to step up and serve their own citizen. are these funds designed to

handle public assistance on a smaller scale so it could be turned on? something to have a rainy day fund and another to understand how it set up. all of these states need to have rainy day funds designed similar to the assistance we put forward. >> thank you for coming before the committee. i showed enthusiasm over the direction that's been taken under your guidance. i will be brief. it looks like the lesson from puerto rico is that we have to put the bandage off.

it's probably too far greater extent than what we had man's chin. we need to come to a policy decision of how much are we can as the rest of the country to pay for neglected infrastructure far greater than anything we see in the 50 states. will grapple with that issue. how widely and efficiently we spend money on emergencies. the new york times wrote the story getting paid $63 now but the contractor getting reimbursed $319. for contract that were ultimately going to pay for. >> the power grid rebuild is being handled by the army corps of engineers.

there's two prime contractors and bringing subconsultants underneath. >> as part of the package so let me ask another question, when you repair infrastructure to think you could you could be more efficient if we carved out our spending and said with the structure rebuild, with for more disaster litigation. >> i be happy to work with the administration on the. >> to know how many do not to

the. >> there's many states that don't raskin citizens from around the country, we need to do these projects. but if a project is done in their states they don't have to pay this premium they make these contracts cost the organism to pay for repairs in a state like texas there are not subject to davis-bacon but a female comes in so forget your answer right if he comes in that this is described to davis-bacon roles.

>> ideal back. >> welcome apache note that you have to do very well including this latest assignment. we congratulate you on your appointment and on here handling a full plate. most notably three hurricanes in your in your early months of service. a mask about the white house approach to this. the administration believes its prudent offset spending.

top set increases the congress should also consider designated offsets to base appropriations. then they provided some cuts that totaled $59 billion. a menu of poison pills. things like programs, health inspections highway constructions, quite a list. supposedly helpful as we tried to have this urgent request. this came one day after house republicans with the backing of the president passed a package for the tax cuts exceeded these by $1.5 trillion. that would international debt. i will not ask you to comment on omb's approach to this i want to

confirm that every dollar of the 23 and have dollars does qualify under the law as emergency spending i'm not asking what they propose, i'm just asking does it break qualify as emergency spending? >> yes, to my knowledge. >> let me move on to how we might oppose the howard seen t the. we do have a vehicle for housing support that would be therapy the housing assistance program which we enter into after disasters and after hurricane katrina we've seen these agreements. there is not that such agreement with respect to the current

disaster. what can you tell us about that? would it d have program be helpful? is it appropriate in this situation? have you discussed the possibility of such an approach with the affective jurisdictions? >> each of the housing missions is incredibly unique. a one-size-fits-all solution will not work. what works for taxes will not work for others. we are in daily conversations with hud. for having discussions about where fema housing discussion begins and ends. that discussion was occurring ongoing yesterday i'll be meeting with todd as i go back to puerto rico on sunday and

monday of next week. when it comes to housing there is room for a permit. and how we implement this. if you want to talk about cost, the estimates are all over. we've run analysis were just to bring one manufactured home costs the taxpayer $202,000. think about it, i have to buy it, haul it, install it, make sure it's secure, watch over for 18 months in the dispose of it. so, how do we get -- how we do things better? manufactured housing will always have to be an option because in some areas there are no other options.

what we did in texas was innovative. instead of bringing in a manufactured home, if your house was less than 50% damage but have more than $17000 worth were trying to allow and grant the money through the land office to do $60000 for the permanent construction to the household pets to get people back in their homes. it won't move edison's work place if you lost your house but we have to find better solutions for housing across the board. bringing and travel trailers we have a lot of work. it's not a fun program to put forward. a lot of money to be saved and efficiencies to be put in place. >> i appreciate your perspective on that.

this program has been used commonly. you understand where i'm coming from as if this is a vehicle or tool that perhaps we should consider in this instance. >> we will get back to you. >> i appreciate you mentioning that because it is important to give people flexibility. we have tens of thousands of houston's living on the floor with sheet rock been pulled out. by the way, my brother bought that trailer. he wanted an rv, but not this way. >> thank you. thank you for having this hearing. i appreciate you being here

today reporting on puerto rico. as a join my colleagues you income to preserve the status quo and like to work on changing your words about resiliency are very good. in the spirit of improvement we like to hear those things. glad to hear there is progress being made in puerto rico. i've been on some hearings learning about it. a lot of work to do but were making good progress. as you continue your work i want to make sure were focusing on rural areas as much as urban areas. the next few years we've had

historic wildfires in our stat states. we have received major disaster declarations the my state over the last few years over 2 million acres something like 400 homes have been consumed. fema denied individual assistant to these disasters. while we have found in states like mine where we have large population centers in rural areas the current formula to determine disaster aid leaves us out. so the words concentration come up in conversations with officials from fema. my question relates to looking

at how the determinations are made or how can we work with you to consider changes to make them more workable? and to clearly define those at least in my opinion urban and rural are treated equitably. >> you raise a sensitive issue. i'm familiar with having been director of the agency whether it's a wildfire or tornado, in some cases the most rural communities can sustain a lot of damage that does not meet the public assistance indicators. because the role of nature versus the state indicators they are somewhat penalize. we need to find a balance.

is it perfect? that's up for debate and discussion. but i have a question that comes to the community and the responsibilities of all levels of government, a federal disaster assistance is not coming while the state you to help the role communities as well? the majority of the disasters that occur nationwide, fame is not involved. i'm afraid there's a big what's on my plate from trying to work a smaller level of disaster approval. it puts us in a tough spot. i didn't get into this not to help people.

i have the spirits want to help people, that is why i am where i am. some point we need to figure out what the true capability of each states and local government can be to work with their own citizens. i agree it should be a concerted effort to work together, it seems to me were not quite to the place we need to be but i appreciate that and understand the wisdom it will take to find the balance. >> i look forward to working with you. i yield back.

>> administrator, this is your day. you receive compliments from both sides of the aisle, i think they're well deserved. unfortunately with government sometimes we have too many political appointments that don't have expertise, looking at your resume other than the fact they came from north carolina that's okay, i like my southerners. i appreciate your ability to work at problems and that's important issue. i was a former county executive during my tenure we had issues with waterfront properties. i agree on the issue that local government has to change zoning laws and ability to rebuild so they can be protected. i think that happened in florida.

i think it's important and i agree with you focusing on that issue. what i want to get into is the coast guard. it's probably getting more of a statement. further tremendous hurricane response they rescued more than 11500 merrick and's in the past three months. the branches facing a 914 million shortfall with that being said, a request in front of us turns his back on them only offering 500 million less than the admirals request. the coast guard is always doing more than less. i did not realize there are the stepchild of the army, navy, air force and marine.

they consistently get the job done. many times are taken for granted. and we rarely increase their funding. psych the better they do with less they keep getting blasts. is requested this can't be done. i know you don't have authority there. understand it comes through you and then you delegate that are paid that out. if we don't take care of the coast guard they won't be able to produce like the head. what can you do to make sure they get the request they ask for? and the elephant in the room is

sequestration. the subtest to do away with this law that makes us weaker. what would your recommendation be? >> the army corps -- u.s. coast guard to be able to do the life-saving mission may provide tremendous capabilities. in regards to specific questions about a mike coast guard advocate based on what i have seen. i'd be happy to go back to the department of homeland but i don't want to speak to the coast guard directly. >> we mission assignment and we can provide reimbursement for

the usage of equipment and disaster costs. >> we've had some really good questions, my colleague and friend wallace on the committee wanted me to ask the question, california request an increase to the 7525 cost share the debris removal. the state is a waiver on octobea response. can you tell us what the response of this is?

>> i need to come back to you on the status. it's probably under consideration right now. >> they do have the ability to have -- up to 90%. >> i like to talk to more about the process for public assistance. fema also makes assessment on a disaster by disaster basis to determine anything necessary to increase the federal caution how do they work with the effective areas to make sure the cost shares her inaccurate what factors have you considered? >> this is an area where congress needs to look at the

concept of the numeric indicators we use. typically we look at a formula of a dollar 33 per person based on state population which is weather that we believe public assistance should be made available to the state. for ten years that numeric indicators did not change according to inflation. if it had to be $2.27 purchase person which would shock the system to be a tremendous amount of money. high question whether they can handle disaster in its entirety.

this is the way business has been done. it's time to look at the entire formula on how we determine assistance. when it comes to be a 90/ten are 100% they laid out a formula that we typically follow to go to 90-10% cost share. that's what were following currently. >> i want to shift gears to something we talked about on the phone. the state of texas is taking the lead on the housing mission for hurricane harvey. it's the first time the state has assumed this role. while i'm sure were ready to take this on, it heavily comes of problems.

can you tell me about how the process has been working? have you seen deficiencies with the state? how is fema making should the need of disasters are being addressed? >> the governor made a bold and courageous decision to bleed. that only lead, but be innovative in a way that we try to address the housing issues. there are not enough trailers or hotels to service one disaster much less run and everything else. fema is running the housing mission as we would on behalf of the state. where the transition state to make sure they have the feet

underneath the can administer grant dollars. i wont allow the state of texas to fail. will move quickly? housing never does. it's complex when it comes to the type of -- we are working everyday. i was in texas two weeks ago before the thanksgiving holiday making sure we met with others on a transition and making sure it becomes a successful program. we will be with them every step of the way. we will not hand this out .. out. >> i have a lot of confidence and i think you'll do a good job.

anytime you try a new concept is thinking outside the box which government should do more and does not too well. i congratulate you in doing that. the next question been talking about, i've heard about delays and issues and some small communities with fewer resources on the coastline. what is fema doing to ensure the communities get what they need to access funding available to them? this is really down toward corpus christi, that devastated area. >> i'm not sure the exact issues but i know my staff is on the

ground in the manufactured housing units that are requested or mobilizing to close so many of them are in place. have a long way to go but there is movement down there. be happy to check back in directly contact the congressman and hear him out. >> okay, i will tell him that. >> want to go back to original question that had to do with the proposal to waive the predisaster -- on public assistance grants. goes to puerto rico you answered but have you considered extending that authority to the u.s. virgin islands? >> i will get back to on that.

the deferred maintenance issues the antiquated infrastructure puerto rico is different. i don't know the answer to that question. >> i understand that general buchanan has left the island. prior to this is charged with coordination of federal agencies in the puerto rican government. now my understanding is fema has that role. has this transition gone smoothly? how's coordination going generally? will fema be in charge of coordinating the long-term recovery efforts and do they have the resources in terms of staffing while maintaining the

ability to respond to disasters. >> the incident command system we've always had according officer is the lead authority in charge. general buchanan report to the canadian officer. as we transition start to demobilize some of the staff and increase staffing into long-term recovery. this is not something we do haphazardly. a very methodical decision to demobilize him in regards to the long-term disaster recovery what

we try to follows the national disaster recovery framework. it points out six different support functions. economic viability to housing. we been working with our partners to make sure third the primary agency in charge i believe all incident command decisions should be made there instead of back up here. that's a framework were following and how are staffing not going forward. >> the front supplemental request has language that would require puerto ricans to submit the recovery plan to congress. this would be developed in consultation with fema.

in other agencies. it's important that puerto rico has ownership of the plan. but they will need technical assistant. in what ways to they help support the creation of a plan and can you explain how this process will work? >> if i remember the language correctly in the supplemental doesn't just say puerto rican recovery plan is a plan of his with fema and are additional stakeholders. we understand this is the first time they've gone through a long-term recovery. we don't ever want to set up for failure. we want to be there for many years to come executing this disaster recovery framework.

the governor knows that. i'll be seeing him next week to put it on the ground to say where our way versus where do we need to be your writing your statement, the governor is willing to step up and on the long-term recovery. and i believe he's looking to rebuild puerto rico in a more resilient fashion. >> thank you mr. chairman. mr. long, i can't thank you enough for your innovative thinking and to trust instincts of americans and to put the command decisions as close as possible to the disaster itself and more importantly your willingness to put in the hands

of individual americans. the federal disaster program today is designed to mitigate future risks of flooding and minimize costs of federal government. to the individual homeowners in the bedrock of the system is private property rights. when unknown will take better care of that than the property owner. let me bounces off of you. i've met with constituents that have good ideas to help improve the federal program. the hud program comes at the tail end. of the process. refocusing the money up front. if we push the money out early and get in the homeowners hands as quickly as possible to mitigate damage to their, think

the government would save money. if a homeowner qualifies, the only option available is to raise an existing structure will participate in a buyout. the government owns the land. this makes no sense because the the homeowners association has to go in and it's taken off the tax rolls. it's a burden to everybody. what if we change the way the fema program works so doctor price is home flooded you can apply for assistance in the money would go to a front.

you have the option to either mitigate the property, right now you have to sell it or racist structure. why not limit the money, hire a contractor and decide to the turd on your home or build a new structure but it has to be mitigated so you're ready for the next five. you build a home that suits your new family and neighborhood. if the federal taxpayers money will be taken off the tax rules of local government. simply by trusting doctor price's ability to take over his own property. if we created that program it would fit with what you recommended. >> i'm all for renovation. what would be happy to do is discuss the pros and cons of what you're putting forward. i'm all for better in any

situation. i believe litigation is the key to future resiliency. we also have to tackle systemic problems. insurance is the first line of defense. those were insured recover quicker than those who aren't. in california it wasn't just a flood insurance program and problem, it's allowing the homeowners to let the home insurance lapse. in some cases we saw the insurance lapsed, the house was paid off any of a huge portion of homes that are uninsured now. that becomes my problem. i can never make them whole. we have to go back of this concept to teach people about insurance of their dwelling such

as mitigation tactics at the home, it's those that are low to no tax to schools, businesses and homes and offering the money up front. low or no cost. it does the greatest good down the road. . . .

>> >> in the way that suits them and their family much more quickly in the think we're on the right path. but with. >> mr. chairman live me turn to do the troubling aspect of most disasters we have had in recent years with reports of individuals increasingly vulnerable to sexual assaults during the chaos during the disaster and after words seems to be overcrowded understaffed

shelters the scenes to put people at risk. receives most assaults took place at the emergency shelter. to a of a safety plan and process in place? into cover emergency domestic violence so i have a couple of questions. are you aware whether this pattern has continued during the most recent state of disaster is? does fiume

track these assaults? and second what about the preexisting domestic violence shelters that are damaged? as of october 1st rehab reports that 23 domestic violence shelters have been damaged others moderately damaged the either need to be repaired or rebuilt after hurricane sandy congress provided $2 million for this specifically to repair domestic violence shelters so i am wondering if you have any plans for those in particular and if we have a specific proposal. >> first of all, anything we can do to provide a safe shelter environment for the whole community is all of our best interest. and i definitely would like to be part of that but it is

important 2.0 that fema does not pay for the shelter operations it is run at the local level and we would be happy to reach out to understand i cannot answer for the most recent events i have not been made aware of a disturbing trend but i would be happy to look into this but you are referencing domestic violence shelters in the second part of your question? if they are of our registered 501c(3) compliant organization and they sustain damage they should be eligible with other public assistance if

they are not maybe that is the discrepancy if they are not registered but weaver book into that. >> check of both of those of you will put on the last one first. there was a specific appropriation after sandy so that caught my eye. it may or may not indicated also with earlier reporting with katrina andrea with those assaults that followed so somebody somewhere should be monitoring this. i appreciate you getting back to the community and

with these current disasters. >> em with the oversight of funding and then to have tax payer dollars with procurement disasters and also with the inspector general. and also to have quarterly reports to be indebted those that take that multilayer approach with those policies as much as we can. >> anyone that comes down is the responsibility for the whole community with a lot

of training to do to set the expectation for those recipients. >>. >> to offer a major disaster declaration that was ravaged by the wildfires several fire management assistant declarations but the supplemental request does not specifically address for the fires but to provide aid to the communities what does that mean?. >> one of the most

disturbing events i have seen with the sensitivities is something we have to look into but if we look from maria was 7.$2 billion for harvey we have $6 million at this point the california wildfire is something we take into account for the normal disaster relief fund if we need additional funding and based on of the trend of california.

>> weekly encourage and excited with the question is this committee has had to make fema maurer it effective and efficient. >> this is a totally different matter if you pack up your gear to be the most

antiquated. [inaudible] >> there were plenty of of media interviews for meet state prepare for the power to be off for our many months. we do that before maria hit the governor do it of it is unfortunate we are moving as fast as we can. but the problem is you can only put food and water and fix emergency power issues to sustain an entire

hospital system nearly collapsed. and focus before you can start to rebuild the of grid. end you have to bring in the aircraft on a manual basis with 30 minutes between flights the digital want to exacerbate the problem. we recognize the problem so let's go ahead to work proactively with the governor to say do the initial power grid doing what we can to get the back of. but when it comes to

traditional emergency management and they don't mean to sound sarcastic but you cannot drive trucks and mutual aid assistance like to florida or texas but that handles the entire rebuilding this is a unique that the primary builder that is the only option we have. and with that request is a contract between governors so with those liquidity issues people are reluctant to go to porter rigo even with 100 percent reimbursement for time and materials that is also we are facing with the

financial situation. this is that a traditional disaster response. if anybody wants to rebuild puerto rico to the standards >> this is a government-owned system and it is clear. >> so the average age is 44 years and a and fema cannot control that. i am working with the governor to fix it. >> said to build the more modern up-to-date system are

they available half to train these systems but. >> this is a great question for the army corps of the vision years ago it is my understanding to build the electrical grid standard you're already making tremendous improvement. we will learn a lot as a result it is not the ideal situation.

>> we have those ripped creativity. [inaudible conversations]

[applause] were. >> and the correspondent for cbs news on behalf of the texas tribune wrote them to the texas tribune