WASHINGTON – For nearly 50 years, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, has been the source for disaster relief. Now, it’s under political and performance fire.

This week, county emergency management officials from around the country, including Texas, were in Washington asking lawmakers to support changes to FEMA in legislation working its way through the House.

Wise County supports FEMA reform

SACRAMENTO, CA – JANUARY 27: The dome and exterior of the State Capitol building is viewed on January 27, 2015, in Sacramento, California.

Cody Powell is the Wise County emergency management director. He’s representing the county this week in Washington as part of the National Association of Counties Governmental Task Force on Disaster Response Reform.

Powell is among the Texans lobbying lawmakers to pass legislation to improve FEMA, which has dealt with staffing shortages and a clunky system that, in some cases, delays aid getting to communities.

The Fixing Emergency Management for Americans Act, which easily passed out of a House committee, would streamline reimbursements, ease the application process, increase transparency with a public dashboard — so anyone can trace requests for help to FEMA — and allow counties to know sooner how much funding they will get from the government for recovery.

‘Front lines of disaster response’

What they’re saying:

“Counties are really on the front lines of disaster response, and especially recovery, which lasts for a long time after the disaster,” Powell said.

Powell said Wise County, along with other Texas counties and leaders, hope to sway federal lawmakers in supporting states. 

“We’re here to show our support to the FEMA act, fixing emergency management for Americans,” Powell said. 

The emergency management director says the aid is paramount to disaster recovery. 

“What is often lost in the stories is the months-long, in some cases, years-long recovery that a lot of those local communities are having to go through,” Powell said. 

Potential FEMA shutdown

Dig deeper:

President Donald Trump has said he wants to either shut down FEMA or reduce its disaster response footprint and let individual states handle response and recovery.

“As a task force, we have never felt like just completely abolishing FEMA has ever been a good idea. We need that federal backstop to support local jurisdictions whenever these disasters do happen,” Powell said. 

The Source: Information in this article came from a FOX 4 interview with Cody Powell. 

U.S.Wise CountyNatural Disasters