House lawmakers seek to remove FEMA from Homeland Security
Key senators object to making the emergency response agency an independent entity.
On Thursday the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved legislation that would remove the Federal Emergency Management Agency from the Homeland Security Department and return it to independent, Cabinet-level status.
The 2009 FEMA Independence Act (H.R. 1174) was first introduced in February by Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., and has 29 co-sponsors. The idea of returning FEMA to the independent status it held in the 1990s, before the formation of Homeland Security in 2003, gained traction after the government's bungled response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
"Putting FEMA in DHS hasn't worked," said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., the committee's ranking member. "The department has bled FEMA dry of resources, personnel and the authority to manage a large disaster. Elevating FEMA as an independent agency will ensure a clear and direct chain of command from the president."
It's not clear if the full House will act on the legislation this session, and it faces an uphill battle in the Senate.
Key senators immediately dismissed the idea of moving FEMA out of Homeland Security. A statement released by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee following the House panel's vote said the dispute about whether FEMA should be moved was settled in May, when DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said the Obama administration had no intention of doing so.
"FEMA is exactly where it belongs," said committee chairman Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn. "Hurricane Katrina exposed a number of weaknesses within the agency, but those weaknesses are being addressed through the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act, passed out of our committee, through Congress and signed by [President Bush] in 2006."
Lieberman said FEMA now has a renewed sense of mission, greater stature and more resources.
Ranking member Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said removing FEMA from Homeland Security "would ignore the input of first-responders and unravel all the impressive gains made in recent months since we passed our FEMA reform law."
"It would take us backward, not move us forward," Collins said.