that triggers fema. during the pandemic, fema and the private sector coordinated the delivery of 600 million rest raters, 2.5 billion surge k58 masks, 1.1 billion gowns and 56 billion gloves to state and local departments. well done. additionally, fema has distributed more than $80 billion in covid relief. they have helped to support 2,100 community vaccination centers and assisted in the delivery of 371 million vaccines. i applaud the work of fema and all the work they have done over the past several years and during the pandemic. these are certainly unprecedented times. despite the many successes of fema during 2020, i think this fema is facing multiple challenges today and will in the years to come. with the many undertakings, including now a mission at the border, with us must ensure we have an adequately staffed, well-trained and forward-thinking fema that is not only prepared for hurricanes, but for whatever challenges lie ahead. so think about it for a moment, if you will. it's a first time in fem

the it for fema. i have concerns with fema's readiness as well as approach to dealing with state and local territory and tribal entities and will highlight it later in my statement. first would like to note what i hope to hear in your testimony today. i'd like to hear your vision for the following. how would you make sure that fema is adequately staffed due to staff burnout. how can they revamp this for applicants, bureaucrat particular and takes too long. how does fema plan to view grants going forward and does fema think any changes should be made as we approach the 20th anniversary of 9/11. what role can fema play in shoring up the community of securities which funded law enforcement critical to the mohammed security mission. how does fema view its role in future pam, should fema take the lead or a support role. how does fema plan for the flood insurance program. what is the future for the brick program and how do you make sure it's the program that congress envisioned and interested how fema will

thank you to fema for that. good administrator, my district in california has suffered from wildfires this last year as well as yesterday we had a 4.1 earthquake and so we face a range of natural hazards. we found that climate change is exasperating may of these disasters in effect and i know you understand is a fellow firefighter the importance of resiliency and predisaster medication. congressional action of the past few years has emphasized predisaster mitigation fema has greater emphasis on predisaster mitigation. the building infrastructures and communities. a total of 500 million was available in 2020. president biden's approval to provide 1 million for this fiscal year. is been in the second way to support predisaster mitigation but we are only able to fund 500 million of the proximally 3.6 billion requested. what you thank you so best way to address the pre- disaster funding read. .deanne: i am sorry, i don't think we were unmute it and i apologize predisaster mitigation forut the get is a critical compo

i want to complement fema -- compliment fema and might add all those folks risking their lives to save lives. but also holding out hope that those will be found. hope springs eternal. when i talk to those first responders, i pointed out that they're under a great deal of stress and we should take advantage -- they should take advantage of the mental health facilities that are going to be available. because, you know, we talk about our military suffering from posttraumatic stress. seeing what they're seeing, doing what they're doing, understanding how much trauma is involved, i just don't want them thinking that they should walk away from help if it's needed. you know, they stand together and it's really impressive. and there's also the need, in addition to state and local assistance, to determine the cause of this collapse. and the adjacent buildings, how safe they are. there are two outstanding concerns. first, remaining buildings may collapse. the remainder of the building may collapse. we need to determine if it's safe for first responders to return to the site, to continue their re

is fema spread too thin? will fema be able to respond as hurricane season bears down on the gulf coast? i represent southwest houston, southwest texas and hurricane season is coming. will fema be able to handle that with the responsibility i believe they have at the southern border? mr. izzard: i certainly understand that question and i appreciate it. we will continue to conduct our oversight work to ensure the issues that arise, we will address those. i don't know that we would opine on whether they are spread too thin, but we will address any gaps that do arise. rep. nehls: i yelled back. >> missed titus is recognized for five minutes. i believe your microphone is muted. rep. titus: is that better? excuse me. i am addressing this to mr. cur rie. there were several reports alleging orders for supplies were getting redirected. the chairman and i raised concerns with the former administrator and it seemed the former president's son-in-law was heavily involved in some of the coordination efforts under fema. one

i want to thank our fema director for their effort. governor desantis, senator marco rubio and scott, congressman schulz, mayor, they have all cooperated in ways i have not seen in a long time. it is really a testament to how difficult things are down here. it is what, quite frankly, we miss a lot. we have all been working in tandem from the moment we got the news of the collapse of the building. i think my colleagues will tell you, we cut through the bureaucracy, the one order i gave, the federal folks, was no bureaucracy, just cut through and get to what they need. that is why we decided to cover 100% of the search-and-rescue costs for the first 30 days. that is necessary here, in my view. and fema is going to provide temporary housing and other urgent needs for the device -- survivors. state department are expediting visas for family members from other countries. latin america, south america, europe, israel. want to give a special shout out to first responders, the international association of firefighters, one of the best organizat

we have another group coming from fema today, how many people? >> by the end of the day there should be 500 on the ground. president biden: 500 on the ground. again this is your show. we want to make sure that whatever you need, you know, including money. >> all right, mr. president, we cannot thank you enough for being here with us, for showing your extraordinary support from day one you've called me that morning. we hustled into a little room at the family reunification center, you said whatever we need and you said -- and i said bring fina -- fema and here they are on the ground. we had our florida emergency management director, kevin guthrie here, immediately. the governor has been here every single day. the senators, i believe, the same. and our state and municipal leaders as well. the collaboration from elected leadership to the police department, all the municipal supports under the leadership of our incredible miami-dade police department and freddie ramirez, the director and without a doubt the fired and fire chief alan kaminski who has

this grant is part of fema's bric program -- building resilient infrastructure and communities.administration doubled bric funding to support local efforts to strengthen resilience. and because sonoma knows all too well the devastation wrought by fires, they were the first to apply for fire mitigation funding. i encourage more communities to do so next year. and finally, i want to note that the extreme heat we're seeing in the west is not only a risk amplifier for wildfires, it's a threat in and of itself. people are hurting. it's more dangerous for kids to play outside. roads are buckling under the heat. i need not -- again, i need not tell all of you. we need people to check on their neighbors, especially seniors who may need a helping hand; outdoor laborers, like our farm and construction workers who are going to need frequent water breaks and shade. i want to thank the governors and local leaders for providing information to citizens and the resources like cooling centers where people can go to get relief from the heat. and to our utility leaders: we are ready to work with y

fema is going to provide temporary housing and other urgent needs for the survivors. state department is expediting visas for family members from other countries from latin america, south america, europe, israel. i want to give a special shout out to first responders. international association of firefighters, one of the best organizations in the country. i particularly want to thank the president that came down from boston. he is here from the entire group. these folks are always showing up no matter what. they are risking their lives. there is that old expression. i know the press that travels with me is tired of hearing me saying it. god made man and then he made a few firefighters. they are remarkable people. they are always risking their lives to save lives as well as the police and other first responders. i got to meet with a whole bunch of them. we are able to deploy nearly 500 personnel including five other search and rescue teams on the ground today here because of our fema director. i want to complement fema and i might add all those folks risking their live

do you have any thoughts about the reinforcing of fema, strengthening of fema, giving the administratorinet status and as well, the problems we have after that where fema cannot work directly with local communities? could someone take that point up, please? >> sure, i'll go ahead and try. i think you're absolutely right that the role that fema has been playing and is likely to play in the future is going to be bigger and more central than the role than it's played in the past. one of the things i think is actually a success story of the existing dhs is how far fema has come in terms of developing processes and systems, and what i envision long-term is a fema that functions almost like a federal quarterback to augment the departments and agencies and to build kind of institutional capacity that it could be used so that we are constantly relying on our military to aid in non-military and non-defense related emergency response. and if we can build more capacity within fema, i think it will be to the good. in terms of whether fema needs to be at cabinet level agency itself, i actually think

fema only targeted ten communities for special technical assistance were they deployed fema personnel to leverage an increase that capability we need to see more of that as we target these communities that we see underserved in these mitigation resources. >> do you have anything with this new brand of funding? >> i think she says everything i go back to that technical assistance part. there is a designation for distressed communities i don't think comprehensively looks at all the areas that could use support so we need to be more expensive how we provide technical assistance and guide folks through the whole grant development process. and the management as well. with a consistent impacts of disasters and we need more support. >> i appreciate that. has a republican cochair for the climate solutions caucus, i would love to work with all of you the idea that the caucus could get behind but your testimony mentions actions need to take place but preparedness and mitigation began at the individual and local level how do communities prepare a future whether systems and what mitigation techni

i want to compliment fema.ir lives to save lives but also holding out hopes those will be found. hope springs eternal. when i talk to those first responders, i pointed out they're under a great deal of stress and they should take advantage of the mental health facilities that are going to be available. i don't want them thinking they should walk away from help. they stayed together and it's really impressive. those that survive the collapse as well as those who are missing loved ones. i realize i'm a little late because i spent a lot of time with the families, a whole lot of time and i apologize for taking so long to get here because i thought it was important to speak to every single person who wanted to speak to me. so after what you all covered when i opened up the meeting, i spent the remainder of the time and such incredible people. i sat with one who had just lost her husband and her little baby boy. didn't know what to do . my husband, my cousin, my mom and dad. how can i have closure without being able

through fema.what we are what we are arguing is that doing what we are those missions are arguing is that those missions are being de emphasized being the and and emphasized and the deep prioritized, or have for our ties been in the past and have been in the. and past and in a disproportionate amount of disproportionate amount of headquarters focus headquarters focus has is [inaudible] on whatever essentially one are really essentially political political priorities. pry enforcement at the southern priorities. border enforcement at the southern border, and this and this focus on focus on counter-terrorism counter-terrorism that we think is that we think a bit out of is about sync with is a bit out of today's sync with today's threat picture. and so, threat picture. so it it seems seems very very right at this right at this point, point during the nearing the 20 year 20 year anniversary anniversary dhs's of dhs's creation to bring creation to bring its mission its missions and priorities into and pr

strengthening to gave the administrator cabinet status and the problems we have where fema cannot workh local communities? can somebody take that point up? >> i will go ahead and try. i thank you are absolutely right the role of fema has played and will play in the future will be bigger and more central than in the past one of the things is how far fema has come in terms of of what i envision long-term is a fema that functions to augment department and agencies and to build institutional capacity to be used so we are not constantly relying on our military to aid in nonmilitary and nondefense emergency response if we build more of that capacity within fema it would be to the good weather it needs to be cabinet level agency itself come i think a strengthened dhs component could be effective without a cabinet level role. but i am 100 percent agreement the role needs to be larger in a reimagined dhs. >> with a response to the diverse workforce tsa officers to be diverse across the board how valuable is it to have a more diverse workforce? can someone give a quick answer? does anyone want t

anything more you learned from investigators or fema? >> it's underway.ector of fema is with me here. we don't have any firm proof of what happened. there's all kinds of rationale speculation about whether or not rebars were rusted, whether or not the cement, whether it was limestone or not, whether or not -- a lot of the families that survived talked about how upset that they were that in the last years that they had been here there was one condominium complex built across the street and a road was purchased. while they were listing there, they would hear the drilling and feel their building moving and shaking. discussions about whether or not they thought that water level rising what impact it had. interesting to me, i didn't raise it, how many survivors and families talked about the impact of global warming. they didn't know exactly but they talked about sea levels rising and how -- and the combination of that and the concern about incoming storms. incoming tropical storms. so i don't think there is at this point any definitive judgment as to why it co

we're also working with fema and the defense logistical agency to get ahead of this emergency supplyenges and we still have some supply chain challenges related hoses and a number of other >> the president also praised the work of frontline firefighters. and he spoke with officials from electric companies about ways to secure the electric grid as these fires continue reporting in washington. i'm trevor shirley. now for 4 zone forecast as we give you a live view of the fog enveloping the top of the transamerica building. >> yeah, that's a great look at that fog. lawrence. that just kind of comforting. we yeah. i love seeing the fog rolling in. and that's a great sign. of other parts of the state not seen that fog. and that's unfortunate because they are dealing with the fires and they continue to burn and that's an issue with more lightning strikes over the sierra nevada. the monsoon again, look at all the lightning again, just erupting over the sierra nevada. now we have had some rain drops to go along with that. of course, that cuts down the chance of some of those fires. and you se

it's getting from fema to help prepare for wildfire season.well, normally, all that green stuff is good. it will send more fire marshals out to show property owners how to create fire breaks and defensible space for the current fire season. the county will also pay for some of that work to be done. a lot of people are familiar with the dangers of wildfires. bob bambi says he lost his home in the 27th between tubbs fire. it says he's now worried about fire conditions at his temporary home, drive up cross creek, the next street over and dead trees all the way up, and that's scary, because if there another five here comes through all that dead fuel. sonoma county supervisors say they were surprised to found out they were the first to receive a fema grant when president biden announced it during the western states video conference yesterday. the rent requires the county to also invest more than $9 million on fire prevention project. fema will announce more such grants over the next few weeks. pg and e wants to charge its customers higher rates sta

is there anything more you learned from investigators or the fema administrator?nder way. the director of fema is with me here. we don't have any firm proof of what's happened. there's all kinds of rational speculation about whether or not rebars were rusted, whether or not the cement, whether there was limestone or not. but a lot of the families who survived talk about how upset they were that in the last -- how there was one condominium complex built across the street and a road was purchased and while they were living there they would hear the drilling and feel their building moving and shaking. there are all kinds of discussions about whether or not they thought that water level rising, what impact it had. and interesting to me i didn't raise it, but how many of the survivors and how many of the families talked about the impact of global warming, how much and about sea levels rising and the combination of that and the concern about incoming tropical storms. and so i don't think there is at this point in definitive judgment as to why it collapsed and what can b

so far, fema has approved 25 management assistant grants totaling up to one had a million dollars toelp states pay for the cost of fighting these fires. we are also working with fema and the defense logistical agency to get ahead of this emergency supply chain challenges. we still have supply chain challenges related to hoses and other things. we have tapped additional aircraft in the department of defense to aid in the fire detection and firefighting. we also welcome the support of our allies from australia, for example, sending large air tanker to begin flying missions this week. last month, i also noted that the epa would be launching an upgrade app for mobile phones to easily share location-specific information with the public about the effects of fire and smoke on air quality for them. it's now even more important, because smoke from many of these fires burning in the west and along the canadian border, is affecting air quality in states across the country. as of today, the upgrade app - the upgrade airnow app is live and ready for use. folks in affected areas should download th

sonoma says the 37 million dollar grant from fema wilr outlying areas prone to wildfires that include mark west lower russian river and the sonoma mountains. we really want to take a strategic approach. >> starting from the building and working out in from the wild london working it so structural defensible space. clearing of education or managing that station around residences and businesses. and then vegetation management. the grant is part of an overall 1 billion dollar building resilient infrastructure. it is a 50 million dollar project. so the 37 million lightning will be matched with about 13 million dollars or settlement funds, local dollars for sonoma county. so we're looking at 50 million dollar project to try to keep >> from the wildfires. the money will also help preserve current fire breaks. look at a livestock grazing crop, planting crew management. >> and prescribed burns. well, the grant is focusing on specific areas. the goal is to secure future grants. we can show how to do this. >> strategic coordinated way in sonoma county. it can scale up to other communities in th

the county's getting 37 million dollars from fema we have kron four's. gayle ong reporting now on how county officials say they'll spend the money. >> it's not often that the president comes on awards are granted life. an effort years in the making from 2017 through 2020 fires have burned more than 300,000 acres in sonoma county. >> destroyed nearly 7,000 structures and killed 24 people. tennis week director of permits. sonoma says the 37 million dollar grant from fema will outlying areas prone to wildfires that include mark west lower russian river and the sonoma mountains. we really want to take a strategic approach. >> starting from the building and working out in from the wild london working it so structural defensible space. clearing of education or managing that station around. >> residences and businesses. >> and then vegetation management. the grant is part of an overall 1 billion dollar building resilient infrastructure. it is a 50 million dollar project. so the 37 million lightning will be matched with about 13 million dollars or settlement fun

from fema, who has been on site with us from the very beginning of this disaster.m the regional administrator from fema, region four, who has been embedded in our incident command. she has a line that she tells us regularly, that we are truly one team, one mission, and one family. united in the service to surfside families. thank you, greysha. >>> earlier this afternoon, president biden called me to check in on our community and to ensure that federal government is continuing to do everything that it can to provide all the support that we need for the families and survivors here in surfside. and he continues to send his prayers and love to all of the families and all of the first responders and we are so thankful for his nongoing leadership and support. last but not least, to you, the members of the media who have been working so hard to cover this story and to tell the world what is happening here in surfside since day one. our team has worked hard to facilitate a closer site visit for you this afternoon. so anyone who is interested should meet here at 6:30 p.m. a

the county's getting 37 million dollars from fema.r's, gayle ong reports, county officials say the money couldn't come soon enough. >> it's not often that the president comes on awards are granted life. an effort years in the making from 2017 through 2020 fires have burned more than 300,000 acres in sonoma county. >> destroyed nearly 7,000 structures and killed 24 people tennis week director of permits. sonoma says the 37 million dollar grant from fema. will outlying areas prone to wildfires that include mark west lower russian river and the sonoma mountains. we really want to take a strategic approach. >> starting from the building and working out in from the wild london working it so structural defensible space. clearing of education or managing of that station around residences and businesses. and then vegetation management. the grant is part of an overall 1 billion dollar building resilient infrastructure. it is a 50 million dollar project. so the 37 million lightning will be matched with about 13 million dollars or pg. so the fen

sonoma says the 37 million dollar grant from fema.outlying areas prone to wildfires that include mark west lower russian river and the sonoma mountains. we really want to take a strategic approach. >> starting from the building and working out in from the wild london working it so structural defensible space. clearing of education or managing at that station around. >> residences and businesses. >> and then vegetation management. the grant is part of an overall 1 billion dollar building resilient infrastructure. it is a 50 million dollar project. so the 37 million lightning will be matched with about 13 million dollars or pg settlement funds, local dollars for sonoma county. so we're looking at 50 million dollar project to try to keep sonoma county state from the wildfires. the money will also help preserve current fire breaks. look at a livestock grazing crop, planting crew management. >> and prescribed burns. well, the grant is focusing on specific areas. the goal is to secure future grants. we can show how to do this. >> strategic

fema will be deploying mobile vaccination clinics in north carolina and today hhs secretary is traveling to nevada where we have deployed federal resources and 100 personnel from fema and hhs to support local health officials as they work to mitigate the spread of delta and increased vaccinations. in closing the whole of government response continues to do everything we can to get more americans fully vaccinated and protected from the virus to help states and communities curb the spread of the delta variant. as the president said last night it's up to each and every american to do their part. we know everyone's vaccination journey is different. we are ready to get more americans vaccinated where ever and when ever they are ready. so please consider vaccination today. it is free it is available it works and is never been more important and with that i turn it over to doctor murphy. >> thank you so much and it's great to be with all of you today beside acknowledging the obvious it is troubling to see a rise in covid cases and a reminder we are not out of the woods yet that cases are down d

been deployed earlier, but she said ron desantis the republican governor of florida delayed asking femacompletely false. officials, democratic and republican rushed to explain the resources been used were already on the ground in miami-dade, those are nothing more than could've or should've been done. but of course it was too juicy of an opportunity for the media to take a shot at one of the favorite targets of republican in one particular who is the subject of endless attacks over the last year end who continued to earn high praise from floridians for the job he's been doing. i have to say this is a terrible moment in development american media, on both sides it's true but vertically on the left, as i see everything in the political terms the twist into destroyed the truth in line with their own partisan interest. it's an incredibly destructive force that helps corrode trust in the very idea of objective reporting facts and truth. the rest of this can offer our thanks to those who worked so tirelessly in miami ambon. and above all we offer our prayers and deepest king condolence to tho

is it your sense that this is something we have to make sure fema addresses? >> yes we definitely do. just the fact that we have already dealt with the floods. the flood has wound down we are trying to get back to some normalcy of life. we are a strong community and we support each other fully but we ourselves don't have the funds to help these individual families get back on their feet. and fema denying them this because of an alert, it makes it even more devastating. we need this help and it seems he continues to be overlooked. >> we are having the same problem in oregon right now for families that were routinely denied help after the devastating labor day fires of last year, families that don't have the same documentation that wealthier families might so thank you for pointing that out. mr. rexford in your testimony you note that the 2016 report included three recommended steps the first of which is just getting a comprehensive inventory of these i think 650 sites so that a plant can be developed. has that inventory been completed yet? >> not to my knowledg

he also announced that fema will provide temporary housing for those who need it. >> all right. reshad hudson live for us tonight in washington. reshad, thank you for that. the record high temperatures and washington, oregon and even into canada are now being blamed as the probable cause for hundreds of deaths. so far. officials in oregon and washington state say at least 80 combined deaths are linked to the hot weather and medical crews in the canadian province of british columbia are investigating close to 500 potential heat related deaths. the preliminary cause of death. this hyperthermia when the body gets so hot, it cannot cool itself off anymore. health officials are crediting cooling centers and outreach for saving lives. >> california, the combination of heat and drought like conditions have officials on alert as several fires are burning cross the state. the lava fire burning in siskiyou county. it has so far burned. nearly 20,000 acres and it continues to force thousands of people to evacuate and that fire is only 19% contained. firefighters are battling the flames fro

[indiscernible] coming from fema today. how many people? >> at the end of the day there should be about 500 on the ground. president biden: 500 on the ground. again this is your show. we want to make sure that whatever you need, you know, including money. i want to hear from you. >> well, mr. president, we can't thank you enough for being here with us, for showing your extraordinary support from day one. you've called me that morning. we hustled into a little room at the family reunification center, you said whatever we need and you said -- and i said bring fema and here they are on the ground. so it's been an incredible collaboration from the beginning. we had our florida emergency management director, kevin guthrie here, immediately. the governor has been here every single day. the senators, i believe, the same. and our state and municipal leaders as well. the collaboration from elected leadership to the police department, all the municipal of course under the leadership of our incredible miami-dade police department and freddie ramirez,

and then vegetation management. >> now the fema grant will arrive in phases. the first phase is expected to take 18 months. happening today, president biden and first lady jill biden will travel to florida to visit the site of the condo collapse that has so far killed at least 18 people search crews pulled the bodies of 2 children from the rubble yesterday. a 145 people still missing. brian entin has the details. >> chilling audio from the night of the surfside disaster. i this voicemail recorded by a survivor inside as the condo look at this moments before the building went down. bystanders recorded water pouring into the garage miami-dade's mayor says the death toll is now at 18. it is also with great sorrow. real pain. >> that i have to share with you that 2 of these were children. aged 4.10. we sat down with florida governor ron desantis. governor, i know you've been meeting with the families. i can't imagine how heartbreaking that is. what you say to them to give them hope, but also, of course, to to represent the reality that, you know. >> things might n

of the importance of inclusivity and representation initially fema said that the cap was not approved it did not follow the natural form of the head. thousands of people will be watching a springstmen in tokyo this summer. but. >> they won't be checking out a concert by bruce. we're talking about his daughter, jessica. she is on the u.s. equestrian team and the summer olympics who's been riding horses and she was 4. she is ranked 3rd in the country right now. just because making her olympic debut after being chosen as an alternate for the 2012 games. and just in time fix a gigantic 3 d cat. >> this is cool affected this appeared on one of biggest billboards. very realistic. it comes to life on a 1600 square foot curved led screen. it is startled awake every morning at 07:00am, by afternoon. it can be seen standing up and yelling at people going by and night it lies down falls asleep with its little head on its paws. i think this is a very cool the billboard being tested right now. it will officially launch next week. >> still ahead, a search effort stalled by severe weather. how recov