mr. fugate. thank you. >> i would like now to welcome senator roger wicker from mississippi, our banking committee colleague to the committee. senator wicker has switched seats temporarily to testify before the committee. senator wicker, welcome. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman and mr. ranking member and senator tester. i have a a written statement, which i will not read in its entirety and ask that it be included in the record at this point. >> thank you. >> i would also notice that the states of montana and south dakota have sent a great deal of water down our way this year which we are experiencing right now. only enforces the fact that we are all in this together and we need a multi year reauthorization and i'm here today to agree with members of the committee in that respect and to speak for a few moments about my proposal, which i'm calling the coastal act. you were kind enough to let me testify last year before i became a member of this committee, to sort of talk about the unique pers

mr. fugate, [unintelligible] --have been told to evacuate for two months. you tell me what actions you are taking to insist to communities and residence in a disaster? can you tell me what resources are available while they are displaced and during the recovery phase? >> we are working with the governor and the team and there as we are getting more and more flooding, looking at the assistance. there are two pieces that can be provided. obviously, those people who have insurance would have that, but we also provide through other programs including individual assistance. we do provide housing assistance and those types of support to survivors in the event of a flood. we continue to work with south dakota as we go through the requests from the governor. assistance is being provided for housing and other assistance based upon impact to their homes. >> in your testimony, you outlined several ip groups policy alternatives that you're working group has been discussing. when do you plan to publish some of these alternatives? >> we looked at some very broad areas in

mr. fugate now being head of fema coming from florida. we know how to do it at the ground level. we make good decisions. we work with our partners but we work with our state partners to make those critical online decisions. this process was dysfunctional and broken. >> and stafford is clearly better? >> yes, sir. it gives the local government the ability to pull in the resources as necessary but to make on the ground feel decisions that we can intimate immediately. we had to go through and approval process to give a very poor analogy, like go ask your mom, go ask your debt. and i never could get a straight answer. it is a system that i think this group particularly in congress has to look at. there are lessons in homeland security. there are lessons as the governor indicated earlier. if we go off of cuba, china, et cetera, as bad as that was without a responsible party, where would we be? multi-jurisdictional lines has to be charge. one point i would like to me, i came a few months ago during the national association of counties, and met with intergovernmental affairs and request

mr. fugate now being head of fema coming from florida. we know how to do it at the ground level. we make good decisions. we work with our partners but we work with our state partners to make those critical online decisions. this process was dysfunctional and broken. >> and stafford is clearly better? >> yes, sir. it gives the local government the ability to pull in the resources as necessary but to make on the ground feel decisions that we can intimate immediately. we had to go through and approval process to give a very poor analogy, like go ask your mom, go ask your debt. and i never could get a straight answer. it is a system that i think this group particularly in congress has to look at. there are lessons in homeland security. there are lessons as the governor indicated earlier. if we go off of cuba, china, et cetera, as bad as that was without a responsible party, where would we be? multi-jurisdictional lines has to be charge. one point i would like to me, i came a few months ago during the national association of counties, and met with intergovernmental affairs and request

mr. president, for your commitment to rebuilding alabama. i want to thank your administration for responding so quickly. within hours fema administrator craig fugate was on the scene to survey the widespread damage. the emergency disaster declaration and the major disaster declaration were approved within hours. i also want to thank homeland security secretary janet napolitano, h.u.t. secretary shawn donovan and tom vilsack and s.b.a. administrator karen mills for traveling to my district days later. as a result of the april tornados, 67 lives were lost in my district alone and in the state of alabama, 238 people lost their lives. i want to extend my deepest condolences to those who lost their loved ones. i want to thank all the first responders who were on the scene to help so many of the victims. i also want to thank the volunteers who continue to work tirelessly to restore the lives of families who lost all that they had. the destruction and loss of lives has been absolutely heartbreaking. but out of this tragedy, we will triumph. we will recover, rebuild, and restore our communities. we will be better and stronger than before. i am inspired ev