House postpones floor fight over FEMA

A plan for House floor debate next week on a controversial bill that would remove the embattled Federal Emergency Management Agency from the Homeland Security Department was put on hold late Thursday, according to House sources.

The bill has language backed by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don Young, R-Alaska, and House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., that would remove FEMA from the Homeland Security Department and make it an independent Cabinet-level agency under the control of the White House, an aide to Young said.

It was not immediately clear when floor action on the bill will be rescheduled.

Lawmakers have been debating how to overhaul FEMA since the agency's multiple failures in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina last year. A separate bill backed by House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y., and ranking member Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., would keep FEMA within the department. King said in an interview that he plans to introduce an amendment when the bill goes to the floor that would keep FEMA within the Homeland Security Department but give the agency special status comparable to the Coast Guard and Secret Service, which also are in the department. Lawmakers have insulated those two agencies from having their budgets stripped or powers diluted.

"That will be a real fight and a fair fight," King said.

He said staffs from both the Homeland Security and Transportation committees have been meeting this week to reconcile other parts of their two bills into the single bill. He said he wants to ensure that no matter what happens to FEMA, the department would retain control of about $3.5 billion in first-responder funding, such as money for local grants and interoperable communications.

"My understanding with the leadership is that the funding will stay in DHS no matter what," King said.

But he added that the idea of merging preparedness and response activities within the department has been taken off the table in negotiations. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced last year that FEMA would be in charge of response activities while a separate Preparedness Directorate would handle preparedness activities.

King had hoped to keep FEMA in charge of both missions.

Chertoff has said, however, that FEMA should remain within the department. King vowed Thursday to fight to keep the agency in the department, all the way through conference negotiations if he has to.

"I'm going to do everything I can to mobilize support with the first responder organizations. We'll be stepping that up over the next couple of days," King said.

"The first major battle will be ... on the House floor," he added. "But it's a long way from now to the end and I will keep the fight going for as long as I have to."

King said he plans to huddle with Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, Monday, who also supports keeping FEMA inside the department.

An aide to King noted that the Homeland Security Committee has received multiple letters of support over the past months from first responder organizations, police unions and firefighters to keep FEMA inside the department.

"One of the biggest things we have going for this is our very strong first-responder support, and I expect a number of the organizations to be actively engaged on the Hill in the next days," the aide said. "A lot of these guys are pretty fired up."