[Senate Hearing 117-365]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]






                                                        S. Hrg. 117-365
 
                    NOMINATION OF DEANNE B. CRISWELL

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               before the

                              COMMITTEE ON
               HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS


                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

         NOMINATION OF DEANNE B. CRISWELL TO BE ADMINISTRATOR,
    FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY, U.S DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 
                                SECURITY

                               __________

                             MARCH 25, 2021

        Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov

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        Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
        
        
        
        
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        COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                   GARY C. PETERS, Michigan, Chairman
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware           ROB PORTMAN, Ohio
MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire         RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona              RAND PAUL, Kentucky
JACKY ROSEN, Nevada                  JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma
ALEX PADILLA, California             MITT ROMNEY, Utah
JON OSSOFF, Georgia                  RICK SCOTT, Florida
                                     JOSH HAWLEY, Missouri

                   David M. Weinberg, Staff Director
                    Zachary I. Schram, Chief Counsel
         Christopher J. Mulkins, Director of Homeland Security
                      Claudine J. Brenner, Counsel
                Pamela Thiessen, Minority Staff Director
    Andrew Dockham, Minority Chief Counsel and Deputy Staff Director
       Kirsten D. Madison, Minority Director of Homeland Security
        Trey E. Hicks, Minority Senior Professional Staff Member
           Andrew J. Timm, Minority Professional Staff Member
                     Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
                     Thomas J. Spino, Hearing Clerk
                     

                            C O N T E N T S

                                 ------                                
Opening statements:
                                                                   Page
    Senator Peters...............................................     1
    Senator Portman..............................................     3
    Senator Hawley...............................................    11
    Senator Carper...............................................    13
    Senator Scott................................................    15
    Senator Hassan...............................................    17
    Senator Ossoff...............................................    20
    Senator Lankford.............................................    21
    Senator Sinema...............................................    25
    Senator Padilla..............................................    27
    Senator Rosen................................................    28
Prepared statements:
    Senator Peters...............................................    33
    Senator Portman..............................................    35

                               WITNESSES
                        Thursday, March 25, 2021

Hon. Kirsten Gillibrand, a U.S. Senator from the New York........     2
Deanne B. Criswell to be Administrator, Federal Emergency 
  Management Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
    Testimony....................................................     4
    Prepared statement...........................................    38
    Biographical and professional information....................    41
    Letter from U.S. Office of Government Ethics.................    62
    Responses to pre-hearing questions...........................    66
    Responses to post-hearing questions..........................    88
    Letters of support...........................................    97


                    NOMINATION OF DEANNE B. CRISWELL

                              ----------                              


                        THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 2021

                                     U.S. Senate,  
                           Committee on Homeland Security  
                                  and Governmental Affairs,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:15 a.m., via 
Webex and in room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. 
Gary Peters, Chairman of the Committee, presiding.
    Present: Senators Peters, Carper, Hassan, Sinema, Rosen, 
Padilla, Ossoff, Portman, Johnson, Lankford, Scott, and Hawley.

            OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN PETERS\1\

    Chairman Peters. The Committee will come to order. Today we 
are considering the nomination of Deanne Criswell to be 
Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency 
(FEMA), a critical part of the Department of Homeland Security 
(DHS). Welcome, Ms. Criswell, and good to see you, and your 
sons, RJ and Eddie, who I had the opportunity to meet here a 
few minutes ago. Great to see both of you here as well. 
Congratulations on your historic nomination and thank you for 
your willingness to serve your country once again.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ The prepared statement of Senator Peters appears in the 
Appendix on page 33.
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    FEMA is charged with helping people before, during, and 
after disasters. The Administrator leads the Agency's efforts 
to respond to disasters, from hurricanes to historic flooding 
and wildfires to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) 
pandemic. The FEMA Administrator coordinates closely with State 
and local partners to provide emergency assistance and save 
lives in time of crisis, and to help communities across the 
country rebuild and become safer and more prepared for the next 
disaster.
    This is an immensely challenging job, one that demands an 
experienced and tested leader. Ms. Criswell, you have over 25 
years of emergency management and disaster response experience 
at the Federal, at the State, and local levels, a record that 
shows you are well prepared to lead this critical agency. You 
have the support of multiple emergency management and law 
enforcement groups, as well as former FEMA administrators who 
served under both Democratic and Republican Presidents.
    If confirmed, you will take the helm while the Nation still 
faces a historic public health crisis, and FEMA is actively 
engaged in response and relief efforts. You will play a key 
role in ensuring vaccine distribution is efficient and is 
effective, and that every community has the resources that they 
need to recover from this pandemic.
    As you know, the pandemic is only one of the many 
emergencies that FEMA is facing, and will face in the months 
and years ahead. We are in the midst of a spring flooding and 
heading into hurricane and wildfire seasons, while many 
communities are still trying to recover from severe winter 
storms.
    From our earlier conversation, I know you understand that 
there is no one-size-fits-all approach to these disaster 
responses, and I also know that you understand that we must do 
more to invest in mitigation to reduce the risk before a 
disaster strikes. As communities across the Nation continue to 
experience the impacts of climate change, we must work together 
to mitigate this growing threat.
    Ms. Criswell, I look forward to hearing more about your 
plans to lead this critical agency, and thank you for your 
willingness to serve, and for being here with us today.
    I think as we are waiting for Senator Portman for his 
opening remarks we have a virtual introduction by Senator 
Gillibrand. If that video is available we could play that 
video.

 OPENING STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, A U.S 
               SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK

    Senator Gillibrand. Challenges we face as a nation are 
serious and ever-evolving, from the growing threats of climate 
change-fueled natural disasters to global diseases like COVID-
19. During those crises, we rely on 20,000 women and men of 
FEMA to form the front lines of our response. They, and the 
American people, require competent, qualified, permanent, and 
Senate-confirmed leadership.
    Ms. Criswell is the experienced leader FEMA needs at the 
helm. Ms. Criswell is crisis tested. She served in the Colorado 
Air National Guard for 21 years, deploying to support overseas 
operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, where she responded to 
crises in a high-stakes environment.
    At her day job as Emergency Manager for the city of Aurora, 
Colorado, she gave key experience at the local level. During 
her tenure as the senior leader at FEMA, she led Federal 
response and recovery operations for emergencies and disasters, 
including flooding in North Dakota and South Carolina, 
wildfires in Colorado, and tropical storms and typhoons in 
Florida and Guam. She also coordinated key stakeholders during 
the development of the national response to the Ebola outbreak.
    She currently serves as the Commissioner of New York City 
Emergency Management, where she made history as the first woman 
to hold that job. In that role, she has coordinated the city's 
response to COVID-19, tropical storms, extreme summer heat, 
large fires, and power outages, including the July 2019 
blackouts.
    As evidence by her vision as Emergency Management 
Commissioner, Ms. Criswell knows that the best way to manage 
risk is by taking a proactive approach to reducing risk, 
increasing resiliency, and creating the capability to respond 
to new and emerging threats. She knows, from her experience as 
a first responder and local emergency manager, that State and 
local leaders know their community best, and a disaster 
response should take a coordinated approach that supports their 
efforts.
    This forward-thinking, collaborative mindset would be an 
asset to all of FEMA's operations. Ms. Criswell, if confirmed, 
would be the first woman to lead the Agency, is also the leader 
FEMA needs to tackle its internal challenges.
    A 2018 Rand report estimated high rates of harassment and 
discrimination within FEMA's ranks. As the New York State 
Emergency Management Commissioner, she has worked to 
proactively address racial and gender inequalities, and 
encouraged employees to share their concerns. She knows that a 
team is only made stronger by its diversity, and that welcoming 
a variety of experiences and perspectives leads to better 
ideas.
    If confirmed, Ms. Criswell will bring a wealth of first-
hand knowledge and experience to the role that will leave FEMA 
and our country better prepared to meet the challenges that lie 
ahead.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you. Ranking Member Portman, you are 
recognized for your opening comments.

            OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR PORTMAN\1\

    Senator Portman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thanks to my 
colleague, Senator Gillibrand, for introducing Ms. Criswell. I 
enjoyed our conversation, and as we talked about, FEMA plays an 
incredibly important role always, but particularly now, not 
just with the natural disasters we have recently encountered 
but with the work that FEMA is doing along the border as we 
deal with the influx of unaccompanied kids and others.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Portman appears in the Appendix 
on page 35.
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    You have a lot of experience, 25 years of experience 
working in emergency management at the State, local, and even 
the Federal level. I am glad you had that time with the 
National Guard in Colorado as well, because you led emergency 
management units while being deployed in Afghanistan, Iraq, and 
Qatar, so that experience is very important.
    The next FEMA administrator will lead more than 21,000 
staff, so it is a big management job. The budget is $74 
billion, and again, we have plenty of natural disasters that 
need to be coordinated. The COVID-19 pandemic has made that 
more difficult. We just had a historic hurricane season, and 
then again what is going on on the Southern Border, to name 
some of the important issues.
    One of the things that I want to focus on today is how 
every State is different and how we need to be sure that, at 
the FEMA leadership level, there is an understanding of that. 
Ohioans have been provided significant COVID support, thanks to 
FEMA, $100 million in emergency protective measures, $1.4 
billion in lost wages assistance. Last week, FEMA launched a 
mass vaccination clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, to administer 6,000 
doses a day, prioritizing high-risk Ohioans and underserved 
populations. So again, FEMA is playing a big role, some are not 
aware, even with regard to COVID-19 vaccinations.
    The tragic attacks that we have seen at synagogues and 
other places of worship over the past decade, which have 
increased, have led FEMA to play a bigger role in what is 
called the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP). Senator 
Peters and I have spent a lot of time working on this and 
increased the funding, but also managed to pass an 
authorization for another 5 years.
    This is an area where, as you know from our conversation, I 
have a strong interest, and my hope is that this Nonprofit 
Security Grant Program is something that you will focus on 
personally to ensure that the appropriate funding continues to 
be there for these purposes--there is a lot of demand, sadly, 
right now for this--but also to be sure that the appropriated 
funding comes increased responsibility for guarding against 
fraud or waste, or certainly abuse of taxpayer funds.
    Commissioner Criswell, I look forward to hearing what you 
will do to address these issues, should you be confirmed. I 
appreciate your willingness to serve again at a time when our 
country is facing some of these unprecedented challenges, and I 
look forward to the discussion today regarding your thoughts on 
the role FEMA can play in response.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate you allowing me to 
give an opening statement.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you. Thank you, Ranking Member 
Portman.
    Ms. Criswell, now, it is the practice of this Committee to 
swear in witnesses. If you would please stand and raise your 
right hand.
    Do you swear that the testimony you will give before this 
Committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but 
the truth, so help you, God?
    Ms. Criswell. I do.
    Chairman Peters. You may be seated.
    Ms. Criswell, you may now proceed with your opening 
remarks.

   TESTIMONY OF DEANNE B. CRISWELL,\1\ TO BE ADMINISTRATOR, 
    FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF 
                       HOMELAND SECURITY

    Ms. Criswell. Thank you. Good morning, Chairman Peters, 
Ranking Member Portman, and distinguished Members of this 
Committee. I am honored to appear before you today as President 
Biden's nominee to be the next Administrator of the Federal 
Emergency Management Agency. I would like to start by thanking 
Senator Gillibrand for her very kind introduction. It has been 
a true honor to serve New York City as their Commissioner for 
New York City Emergency Management.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ The prepared statement of Ms. Criswell appears in the Appendix 
on page 38.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    I would also like to thank my family and friends for all 
their support throughout this process. In particular, I would 
like to recognize my two sons, RJ and Eddie, who are here with 
me today. They have sacrificed much over the years and have 
supported me throughout my service to our country, and I am 
very happy that they could join me here today.
    I believe in FEMA's mission of helping people before, 
during, and after disasters, particularly as we seek to bring 
an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pathway to a ready and 
resilient nation requires a shared vision and takes a proactive 
mindset. We must reduce risk through system-based mitigation; 
we must increase the resilience of our communities so they can 
adapt as threats change; and we must scale our response to 
minimize the consequences of disasters and emergencies.
    I understand this is a challenging mission, and if 
confirmed, I welcome the opportunity to meet this challenge and 
lead FEMA in its efforts to create a more prepared and 
resilient nation.
    This last year has been the most challenging of my career. 
As New York City responded to the impacts brought on by the 
COVID-19 global pandemic, I led a team that worked tirelessly 
to prevent the collapse of the health care system. We worked to 
ensure no one went hungry. We stood up a first-of-its-kind 
program to provide sheltering operations for vulnerable 
populations. Sadly, we also implemented a mass-fatality 
operation to meet the scale and severity of the impacts of 
COVID-19. We had to have the ability to make decisions with 
imperfect information and pivot as more details become 
available. This was a critical skill that emergency managers 
across this country bring to bear every day.
    As FEMA responds to the COVID-19 pandemic, it must also 
support communities in preparing for future challenges and 
adapting to a changing world. The 2020 Atlantic Hurricane 
season brought a record 30 named storms, and we also saw 
wildfires cause significant damage.
    I believe the best way to balance the competing demands is 
to make risk reduction investments to build more resilient 
communities and infrastructure, including against the threat of 
climate change. FEMA has developed robust preparedness and 
response capabilities, and now we have an incredible 
opportunity to invest in our ability to reduce risk.
    As we look to the future, I believe emergency management 
across the Nation is at a pivotal point. As an emergency 
manager, I have always focused on keeping families and 
communities safe. There is nothing more rewarding than being 
able to help the people of this Country, and I am deeply 
grateful to be nominated for that important role.
    Finally, I understand the importance of working closely 
with Congress and the Members of this Committee to make sure 
FEMA is responsive to your communities and the people you 
represent. I have appreciated the opportunity to speak with 
Members on both sides about the importance of emergency 
management, and, if confirmed, commit to working in a 
bipartisan manner at all times.
    Thank you for your consideration of my nomination, and I 
look forward to answering any questions you may have.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you, Ms. Criswell. Before we get 
started there are three questions the Committee asks of every 
nominee for the record.
    First, is there anything that you are aware of in your 
background that might present a conflict of interest with the 
duties of the office for which you have been nominated?
    Ms. Criswell. No.
    Chairman Peters. Second, do you know of anything, personal 
or otherwise, that would in any way prevent you from fully and 
honorably discharging the responsibilities of the office for 
which you have been nominated?
    Ms. Criswell. No.
    Chairman Peters. And lastly, do you agree, without 
reservation, to comply with any requests or summons to appear 
and testify before any duly constituted committee of Congress, 
if you are confirmed?
    Ms. Criswell. Yes.
    Chairman Peters. Ms. Criswell, according to multiple 
studies, minority and impoverished communities feel the impact 
of natural disasters far more severely than others, and we have 
certainly seen that time and time again in my home State of 
Michigan. These communities often have difficulty obtaining the 
assistance that they need from the Federal Government, and 
therefore, they do not recover as quickly as they could have 
otherwise, or certainly to the same level pre-disaster.
    My question to you is, if confirmed, specifically what 
steps would you take to make sure that these communities have 
the same access and the same assistance as others affected by a 
disaster?
    Ms. Criswell. Chairman, thank you very much for that 
question. It is incredibly important to make sure that we 
provide programs and services to communities in an equitable 
way. I think, as you mentioned in your opening remarks, that a 
one-size-fits-all does not fit every community.
    I have seen, first-hand, the devastation that communities 
have experienced across this country, and, if confirmed, I am 
committed to working with our leadership team, FEMA's 
leadership team, as well as our regional leadership to ensure 
that programs are delivered consistently and equitably across 
the Nation.
    Chairman Peters. Last Congress, I introduced the Achieving 
Racial and Ethnic Equity in Disaster Response, Recovery, and 
Resilience Act to establish a dedicated office to help to 
address the disparities that we see in disaster response, to 
make sure there is a focus on it, to make sure it not 
occurring. Can I receive your commitment today to work 
together, and particularly with this piece of legislation which 
I intend to introduce shortly here in the Congress, to help 
address the unacceptable gap in Federal assistance?
    Ms. Criswell. Chairman, I have not had a chance to see your 
legislation but I, again, think it is incredibly important that 
equity in how FEMA delivers its programs is incredibly 
important. If confirmed, you have my commitment to work with 
you as this legislation gets introduced again to see how FEMA 
can be a part of that.
    Chairman Peters. Great. Good to hear.
    Studies have also shown that our nation can avoid $6 in 
future disaster costs for every $1 that we spend on hazard 
mitigation today. That is a pretty good return on investment, 
regardless of your perspective. However, mitigation projects 
have historically made up only a small part of the nation's 
disaster spending. Communities in my home State of Michigan are 
facing serious challenges due to shoreline erosion and rising 
water levels, destroyed homes and public property, and it has 
even forced some residents to relocate.
    A bill that I authored, the Safeguarding Tomorrow Through 
Ongoing Risk Mitigation Act, recently was signed into law, and 
will allow States to really access revolving loan funds for 
mitigation projects in their States, such as protecting 
coastlines from further erosion.
    If confirmed, would you support the expansion of mitigation 
programs such as these revolving loan funds to help protect our 
local communities?
    Ms. Criswell. Chairman, mitigation is so critically 
important in today's time, as we see an increase in the number 
and severity of disasters. The best way for us to protect 
against that is to try to reduce risk. If confirmed, I am 
looking forward to learning more about the resources that will 
become available through that act, and working with you and 
your team to see how we can make sure communities across the 
Nation understand the new resources that might be available to 
them.
    Chairman Peters. I appreciate your understanding of the 
issue and your willingness to work on that issue. We passed the 
authorizing language, and now we have to get the funding and 
appropriations. But I can assure you local communities are 
looking forward to having this opportunity to invest in their 
communities and put in the kind of mitigation dollars necessary 
to protect their residents and also reduce costs in the long 
run.
    Ms. Criswell, as I am sure you are well aware, the suite of 
FEMA preparedness grants was developed following the attacks of 
September 11, 2001 (9/11). These grants help secure our 
nation's buses, trains, and ports from the threat of terrorism, 
among other efforts. In many ways, these grants were designed 
to prevent a large-scale terrorist attack on our country, like 
we saw on 9/11. Twenty years later, I think we can all agree 
that our threat landscape has certainly changed dramatically 
since that time. Our communities must now be prepared to 
prevent an attack from a white supremacist with an assault 
rifle, a ransomware attack by a criminal organization, as well 
as large-scale attacks by international terrorists, which 
continues to be something that we need to be prepared for.
    If confirmed, what changes would you undertake to FEMA's 
grant programs to better align with these modern threats that 
we face?
    Ms. Criswell. Chairman, you raise a really great point, and 
the preparedness grants, as you mentioned, started after 
September 11th, and they have done a tremendous job at 
increasing the capabilities and the preparedness of 
jurisdictions across this country.
    As the risk and threats do continue to change, the grant 
program also must change with it. It is my understanding that 
Secretary Mayorkas has also asked FEMA to do an assessment of 
the current risk formula to make sure that we are addressing, 
that FEMA is addressing the current risks across the Nation. If 
confirmed, I look forward to seeing where FEMA is at with that 
current assessment and seeing how we can always make sure that 
we take the opportunity to improve our programs to make a more 
prepared and resilient nation.
    Chairman Peters. Extreme weather events, such as 
hurricanes, floods, wildfires, they are likely to become more 
frequent and intense due to climate change. We are already 
seeing that. These events lead to a rising number of human 
casualties, economic losses, and there does not seem to be any 
abatement in that. In fact, we are likely to continue to see it 
escalate in the years ahead.
    If confirmed as Administrator, what would you do to ensure 
that the entire country, from the Federal Government to State 
and local partners, are actively considering climate change in 
their disaster planning?
    Ms. Criswell. Chairman, we are definitely seeing the 
increase in the impacts from climate change. As I said in my 
opening remarks, if we look back last year, with the most 
number of named storms and a record-breaking wildfire season, 
and the time is really now to make sure that we are making 
investments for this future risk, and looking out 5, 10 years, 
to try to reduce that risk as much as possible.
    If confirmed, I really do look forward to understanding 
more about how jurisdictions utilize the newly implemented 
Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program to 
continue to buy down that risk, but also to make sure that the 
plans that they have in place are taking into account this 
changing climate, and that they are looking forward to the 
future of what those impacts might be in addressing those in 
their plans and their responses.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you, Ms. Criswell, for your answers 
to my questions, and I now recognize Ranking Member Portman for 
your questions.
    Senator Portman. Thank you, Chairman Peters. Commissioner 
Criswell, we had a chance to talk about some of this during our 
conversation, but as you know we have made efforts here in this 
Committee to ensure that FEMA's Nonprofit Security Grant 
Program is effective in providing protection to synagogues, 
other places of worship, nonprofits. We have increased the 
funding. We have ensured that it does not just go to urban 
areas.
    Have you had much experience with the Nonprofit Security 
Grant Program?
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, I have not had personal experience 
with the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, but I do understand 
the importance of having a program like this, as we continue to 
see more soft target attacks across our country. The Nonprofit 
Security Grant Program is an excellent tool to help these soft 
targets and these nonprofit organizations build their 
resilience and harden their infrastructure to be better 
prepared for them.
    Senator Portman. One of the concerns that I have had is 
sustainability and the need for local communities to work with 
the local police departments in coordination with FEMA, so if 
you will focus on that. Also, this notion that it is not just 
about money. I do not think the funding is all this is about. 
It is also about providing good counsel, advice, 
recommendations. As an example, ensuring that there is proper 
hardening of the facilities, that the cameras are in the right 
place, and so on.
    I hope you will work with us on that too, to make sure that 
this is about providing best practices and expertise, and be 
sure that those States and areas, rural and suburban, that are 
not using the program yet understand the use of the program. I 
assume you would be committed to trying to do that.
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, absolutely. It is my understanding 
that the funding for that program was recently increased, and 
so I think it is incredibly important that outreach is done so 
communities do know that this resource is available to them, 
and then provide technical assistance so they can make the most 
advantage of it.
    Senator Portman. Let me ask you about the Southern Border. 
We talked again a little about this. FEMA has now been called 
into service to support the response to the ongoing crisis that 
is occurring at the Southern Border. Although no disaster 
declaration has been issued, is it your understanding that the 
Stafford Act requires the President to first declare a disaster 
before public assistance can be used to care for migrants?
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, my understanding of FEMA's role in 
the Southern Border is providing support to the Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS) and U.S.Customs and Border 
Protection (CBP) in the execution of their mission. I have not 
been briefed on their specific activities that they are 
performing, but through the Economy Act, Federal agencies can 
provide support to one another as they execute their missions.
    Senator Portman. Yes. My feeling is that--and I was just 
down at the border--is that FEMA's role can be advisory, but 
the public assistance is not appropriate unless there is a 
disaster declaration. If migrants are arriving with COVID, 
which seems to be, I guess, the hook for FEMA to be there, 
isn't the best way to address this stopping the surge rather 
than warehousing arriving children in close quarters?
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, again, I am not familiar with the 
details of exactly what supports FEMA is providing, but I do 
understand that they are providing assistance with a small 
footprint to assist HHS and CBP with their mission, in 
particular, of trying to identify locations to provide the 
sheltering for the migrants.
    Senator Portman. We will have to talk about that more once 
we understand better what the mission is.
    In terms of opening schools, I am a big fan of reopening 
our schools. According to Congressional Research Service (CRS), 
all 50 States have now had some schools reopen. My home State 
of Ohio has opened a lot of schools. Thus far, FEMA has only 
made reimbursements for schools reopening and operating in this 
year, 2021. If confirmed, would you commit to reviewing the 
decision to leave behind these schools that reopened back in 
2020, and report back whether there will be a change in 
eligibility for all schools that have safely reopened under the 
new COVID-19 protocols?
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, my experience in New York City has 
been very similar to what you just explained, really trying to 
make sure that schools are opened. It is one of the first 
things that we can do as a nation to really move toward 
recovery. The guidance that has come out of FEMA throughout 
this time has changed and been kind of vague at time. If 
confirmed, I am committed to seeing where the current policy is 
with reopening schools and what is reimbursable, and working 
with you and your staff to understand better your challenges 
and issues.
    Senator Portman. OK. I think that is really important, 
again, not to leave the schools behind that made the decision 
in 2020 to go ahead and continue educating our kids, and did so 
in a safe manner.
    Many of the recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) 
and Inspector General (IG) reports covering FEMA highlight 
significant challenges in managing risks inherent in any 
emergency and disaster response. Specifically, the GAO reports 
that FEMA is too focused on eligibility and compliance and too 
little focused on fraud prevention. As an example, the 
Inspector General recently reported that FEMA made more than $3 
billion in improper and potentially fraudulent home repair 
payments since 2003.
    What are ways that you have mitigated the risk of fraud in 
your programs, as Commissioner in New York City, and will you 
commit to me that should you be confirmed you will prioritize 
fraud prevention in program design and in every response during 
your tenure at FEMA?
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, it is an incredibly important topic. 
With the amount of contracts and funding that is distributed 
during the initial phases of a disaster, it always opens up the 
opportunity for the potential for fraud.
    During my time in New York City, and in particular during 
our response to COVID-19, we executed more emergency contracts 
than we ever had, and we put in place internal controls and 
auditing measures to make sure that we were trying to mitigate 
fraud as much as we could. In fact, we even reached out to the 
City's Department of Investigation to engage them early on so 
we could help identify potential issues ahead of time and put 
appropriate mechanisms in place to try to prevent fraud.
    If confirmed, Senator, I am certainly committed to making 
sure that we have the appropriate internal controls and 
measures in place to audit the programs, while being very good 
stewards of the taxpayer dollar.
    Senator Portman. I hope you work with your IG, and we 
certainly work closely with GAO in that. We will continue to 
have oversight over that. By the way, the Committee has 
oversight over a number of things, including the response to 
COVID, and we hope that you will be responsive to legitimate 
requests from the Committee. We talked about that, and you said 
that you would be. Can you just confirm that here, in the 
public hearing?
    Ms. Criswell. Yes, Senator, I commit to cooperating with 
any of the hearings and the investigations that you are doing.
    Senator Portman. A final thing for me is mitigation 
efforts, and along the shore of Lake Erie, unfortunately, we 
have more erosion as waters have risen. I believe it is cost-
effective--Senator Peters has the same issue, I am sure, with 
Lake Michigan, and he has talked about that. But we have a real 
interest in providing funding up front for mitigation, because 
we think it is more cost effective to be able to deal with the 
problem and prepare for it, rather than try to fight erosion 
once it occurs. Would you commit to working with us on that?
    Ms. Criswell. Yes, Senator. The new, again, Building 
Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, is an 
excellent opportunity for us to have a transformational 
approach to how we prevent risk and reduce risk ahead of 
disasters. With a committed funding stream and the larger 
Federal share, I think communities really have an opportunity 
to do widespread community-wide projects to really help address 
some of the things that you are talking about.
    If confirmed, I would really appreciate the opportunity to 
work with you and your staff to better understand the 
challenges you are facing, as well as making sure communities 
understand and can take advantage of this new, important 
resource.
    Senator Portman. Great. I look forward to working with you 
on that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Portman. Senator 
Hawley, you are recognized for your questions.

              OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR HAWLEY

    Senator Hawley. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Nice to see you, 
Ms. Criswell. I appreciate our phone conversation and I look 
forward to chatting with you more here now.
    We discussed yesterday, when we talked on the phone, the 
historic flooding that happened in the State of Missouri and 
other States, too, in the Midwest, but in Missouri very badly 
in the spring of 2019. One of the things we talked about was 
the difficulty that many residents of my State had in applying 
for and receiving individual assistance, and the inconsistent 
rules, the lack of information for local residents on the 
ground.
    Will you work with me and Members of this Committee, if you 
are confirmed, to get rid of the bureaucratic red tape, to 
streamline this process, and to make sure that local residents, 
who are in the midst of a disaster--the worst part about this 
is they are not sitting at home with lots of time on their 
hands, applying. They are out of their homes, they have lost 
their farms, they are in desperate need, and they have no idea 
where to go to or what to do, and they are getting conflicting 
information. Will you work to remedy that and to streamline 
this process, if you are confirmed?
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, I understand, being a local 
emergency manager at a small jurisdiction in Colorado, as well 
as even in a large urban area, the complexity of FEMA programs 
and how burdensome they can feel, especially to individuals as 
they are trying to recover. I am committed to, if confirmed, 
working with you to really better understand the challenges 
that you are seeing there in Missouri. FEMA has one of their 
strategic goals of reducing the complexity of FEMA, and I am 
committed, if confirmed, to continuing that and trying to 
streamline processes to the best of our ability.
    Senator Hawley. Great. What about clawbacks? We talked 
about this as well. In Missouri, we have had the unfortunate 
situation of folks who waited a long time to get individual 
assistance were then awarded, eventually, individual 
assistance, and then a number of them were told, ``Oops. We, 
FEMA, made a mistake and you either got too much or you didn't 
qualify, so we want it back.'' Again, when many of these people 
are out of their homes, their property is literally under 
water, and now they are told, ``Oh, you have to get back what 
we wrongly represented you could get.'' I mean, to say it is 
frustrating is a dramatic understatement.
    When it comes to these clawbacks that are a result of 
unclear rules, unclear procedures, inconsistent application of 
the rules, will you work with me and other Members of the 
Committee, if confirmed, on that issue, to make sure that 
residents get timely information, once they are awarded 
assistance they keep the assistance and they are not then told, 
``Oh, you should not have gotten it after all''?
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, I am committed, if confirmed, to 
making sure that everyone who is eligible to receive assistance 
gets that assistance. It is a very difficult time for 
homeowners and individuals as they are responding to their own 
disaster and trying to recover from this, and, again, the 
programs can be hard to maneuver. If confirmed, I am committed 
to working with you and your staff to better, again, understand 
the challenges you are facing and ensuring that everybody who 
deserves assistance or is eligible for assistance gets that.
    Senator Hawley. Very good. Beyond the individual assistance 
issue, do you have other ideas, from your experience at this 
agency before, in New York City recently, back in Colorado, 
about how FEMA can improve its communications with local 
stakeholders and can do a better job in terms of administering 
the important relief that is within the agency's purview?
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, I think the point that you made 
about communicating with stakeholders is the key to helping to 
improve programs, and without that communication to 
stakeholders at the State and local level, and truly 
understanding what their challenges are, then it is hard to 
make improvements in that program. If confirmed, I believe that 
my experience at the local level, again, at a small 
jurisdiction and a large jurisdiction, will really help to 
inform changes and improvements that could potentially be made 
to the program, and commit to working with you on that.
    Senator Hawley. Great. Do you have any specific ideas about 
changes you might like to see?
    Ms. Criswell. Right now I would like to, if confirmed, 
really get an understanding and a briefing of where the 
programs are at. They may have changed since my time at FEMA. 
Again, working with State and local and both you and your staff 
to understand some of the ideas that you may have.
    Senator Hawley. Great. Very good. I want to follow Senator 
Portman and ask you now about the Southern Border. As he 
mentioned, there is no disaster declaration. You talked about 
that FEMA is able, your understanding is to provide advice, 
potentially support. However, we have been briefed that FEMA is 
working to set up temporary influx care centers, and have 
assigned at least 67 personnel to work at the border. That does 
not sound like advisory to me. I mean, that is a significant 
number of people, and care centers, that sounds like disaster 
relief work.
    Can you give me a sense of what FEMA is doing, exactly, to 
your knowledge, and what are you going to do to get a handle on 
what precisely FEMA's role is at the border right now, in what 
seems to be a very chaotic situation?
    Ms. Criswell. Yes, Senator. I have not been briefed on the 
specifics of what FEMA is doing. I do understand, from a recent 
testimony from Acting Administrator Fenton that they are 
providing some assistance at the border. If confirmed, 
obviously one of the very first things that I want to do is get 
a better understanding of the role that FEMA is playing, the 
assistance that they are providing, to make sure that we are 
supporting HHS and CBP in the execution of their missions.
    Senator Hawley. Will you also, if you are confirmed, when 
it comes to the border crisis, make sure that whatever FEMA is 
doing it is within the bounds of the statute and the law, No. 
1, and then also, No. 2, make sure that we are not diverting 
resources, as we are about to enter flood season in my State, 
tornado season, disaster season in many parts of the country 
with spring weather coming, natural disaster season, that FEMA 
is ready to respond to those natural disasters, and what we 
know is going to be a difficult time, and is not being used to 
gap-fill at the border when, frankly, other agencies should be 
standing up and doing that work.
    Again, the administration's response so far is so chaotic 
and so uncoordinated, but we have really no idea what is going 
on at the border. They will not allow press to cover it. They 
are not keeping Congress informed. So really, you do not know 
what is happening. Really, nobody knows what is happening. But 
I want to be sure that whatever FEMA is doing is lawful, and 
also that FEMA is ready to respond to its other core mission 
sets. Will you commit to working on that, and ensuring that 
FEMA is ready to meet its core responsibilities in other parts 
of the country?
    Ms. Criswell. Absolutely, Senator. First and foremost, I 
will always follow the laws that direct FEMA in their 
activities. Second, our workforce, FEMA's workforce is our most 
valuable resource. The women and men of FEMA do incredible work 
every day, and they have been responding to multiple disasters 
for several years now. I do look forward, if confirmed, to 
understanding the current status of FEMA's workforce, what 
challenges they may be having, and what improvements we need to 
make to ensure we are ready for upcoming flood and hurricane 
season.
    Senator Hawley. Great. I look forward to working with you 
on all of that, if you are confirmed. Thanks for being here 
today. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Hawley. Senator Carper, 
you are recognized for your questions.

              OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR CARPER

    Senator Carper. Thanks, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member. 
Welcome to all of our witnesses. I have, for a long time, been 
saying the only way to get our economy back on track, to get 
our lives back to normal is to put the pandemic in our nation's 
rear-view mirror. Getting more vaccines in more arms is crucial 
for keeping ourselves and our communities safe.
    As FEMA continues to assist in the coronavirus vaccine 
rollout, how would you, if confirmed ensure that State, local, 
tribal, and territorial (SLTT) governments have what they need 
from FEMA in order to continue administering vaccines? Go 
ahead, please.
    Ms. Criswell. Senator Carper, thank you very much for that 
question. I believe that we all have a responsibility to make 
sure that America gets vaccinated, and the best way for us to 
move on to recovery is to get Americans vaccinated, and that is 
a shared responsibility at the Federal, State, and local level.
    It is my understanding that FEMA is setting up community 
vaccine centers in various sites across the country, but they 
are also providing assistance in other ways. Again, there is no 
one-size-that-fits-all, and jurisdictions know their needs best 
and what type of resources they need to help execute their 
vaccine missions.
    If confirmed, I am committed to engaging with our State and 
local communities to better understand what their requirements 
are, and working within the appropriate authorities that FEMA 
has to make sure they get the resources they need to get 
America vaccinated.
    Senator Carper. I have a follow-up, if I could. How would 
you seek to improve the coordination and communication between 
FEMA and State and local governments? I say this as a 
recovering Governor. I was the Governor of Delaware for eight 
years. But how would you seek to improve coordination and 
communication between FEMA and State and local governments to 
address each locality's specific needs during the pandemic?
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, coordination and collaboration is 
really one of the fundamental principles of effective emergency 
management, and if you are not doing that level of coordination 
and collaboration then it is hard to provide the assistance 
that is needed. It has been said often that disasters start 
local and end local, and it is important that we understand 
what the needs are of State and local communities.
    From my previous time at FEMA and my work as a local 
emergency manager, FEMA has ten regions that really work hard 
every day at trying to coordinate and understand the needs of 
the communities within their regions. If confirmed, I am 
committed to making sure that our regional offices as well as 
our headquarters staff are making sure that they are engaging 
with the stakeholders that they are serving, and the customers 
that they are serving, so we can have a more prepared and 
resilient nation.
    Senator Carper. Ms. Criswell, my sister and I were about 
10, 11 years old during the polio epidemic in our country, and 
at the time the percentage of teenagers who were willing or 
interested in being vaccinated was in single digits. One Sunday 
night, on the ``Ed Sullivan Show,'' a rock-and-roll sensation 
named Elvis Presley came on the stage, and he was vaccinated, 
and within a matter of weeks the acceptance rate among our 
nation's teenagers was about 80 percent or higher.
    There are a lot of people, and I talk to them in Delaware 
and in other places as well, who just say, ``I don't think I am 
going to get this vaccine. I am just not going to do it,'' for 
one reason or the other.
    There have been a couple of nonprofits set up, one in 
consultation with an ad agency, to address, to message to 
people who are reluctant to take the vaccination. I heard the 
number could be as high as a third, and that is not good, as 
you know.
    Any thoughts that you might have for helping to address and 
bring down that number in the weeks and months ahead, should 
you be confirmed?
    Ms. Criswell. Yes, Senator.
    Senator Carper. Aside from bringing Elvis back to life.
    Ms. Criswell. I do not know if I can bring Elvis back, but, 
Senator, you raised such a concerning point, actually, right 
now, because we do have this goal of making sure that all 
Americans get vaccinated, and vaccine hesitancy is a concern, 
and we have experienced that in New York City.
    What I have discovered throughout this vaccine rollout so 
far, is that the best way to do that is to provide trusted 
messengers, and we need to have the communities that are 
hesitant receive information from those that they trust. That 
is going to be the best way to help them get beyond their 
concerns over whether or not they should be vaccinated.
    If confirmed, I think, FEMA has an extensive network that 
they rely on to help provide information out to the public, and 
as much as we can to continue to build that trust with those 
communities I think will go a long way in helping to continue 
to get more Americans vaccinated.
    Senator Carper. Thanks for your service, in so many 
different roles. Thanks for the willingness to take this one on 
as well. Thanks to your family for sharing you with us.
    Ms. Criswell. Thank you, Senator.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Carper. Senator Scott, 
you are recognized for your questions.

               OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR SCOTT

    Senator Scott. Thank you, Chairman Peters. First off, 
thanks for being here. First off, I want to thank FEMA. I mean, 
I had four big hurricanes, I had floods. It seems like a very 
Old Testament problem in my years as Governor, and FEMA always 
showed up, and Gracia Szczech was outstanding. I hope she is 
somebody that sticks around for a long time, because she always 
showed up, she answered the questions, and she seemed like she 
was very fair and cared about not wasting dollars. I did not 
deal with all the other regions, but I dealt with her.
    Can you talk about what we talked about on the phone, about 
this idea that it seems like it is a little bit of a game of 
what percentage the Federal Government reimburses these States. 
How should it work, and how does it actually work? I mean, 
somebody would say, ``Oh yes, you can get 100 percent.'' Some 
States would get, after some disaster, 100 percent 
reimbursement, and some other State got 75 percent 
reimbursement. Can you talk about why that is the way, and 
should it be that way?
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, the application of the Public 
Assistance Program can often be complicated and confusing, and 
I understand that there is frustration at the local level. I 
have experienced it myself, as a local emergency manager, in 
what is going to be eligible and what is not eligible.
    If confirmed, I am committed to making sure that the 
programs are implemented equitably and consistently across the 
Nation and across all of the regions. I think oftentimes there 
can be opportunities for interpretation, and I think it is 
important that we make sure that that consistency happens, so 
jurisdictions know what they can expect, and really how they 
can maneuver and work with their local leadership, the local 
FEMA leadership, to help them apply for that assistance.
    Senator Scott. Thanks. My goal is just whatever it is 
supposed to be, that one State does not get treated better than 
another State.
    The next issue, and we talked about this a little bit, is 
that it did not seem like there was like a toolkit that said 
that if you have this problem, this is what FEMA can do, and if 
you have this problem. It was sort of like you sat down--and 
Gracia Szczech was great--you sat down and said, OK, can I 
organize a program to do these things, rather than this is the 
program that we have and these are your options.
    Does it make sense to have more options for people, rather 
than, it like almost a little bit like ``Let's Make a Deal?''
    Ms. Criswell. I think, Senator, it is a great question. 
There are tools that I believe FEMA does have. They have 
increased the number of tools that I have seen on their website 
on, what you can and cannot expect from different programs. In 
fact, I have seen some tremendous tools that they have put on 
there for what is eligible under the COVID-19 assistance.
    But I agree that sometimes it can be confusing. But I think 
it is also important that we strike a balance remaining 
flexible with what the Stafford Act has, so we can be creative 
and innovative, because no two disasters are alike. They may 
have different needs. It is important to be able to use the 
Stafford Act, as available and applicable, to meet those unique 
needs that we might see in the different disasters.
    Senator Scott. I talked to Chairman Peters about this thing 
yesterday, and we talked about this on the phone. The way that, 
in my State, after Hurricane Irma, we had this debris pickup, 
and if we had an existing contractor in place we used that, and 
reimbursement was like $7.50 or $8.50 a cubic yard, I guess it 
is. But then if we used the Corps of Engineers it was over $70, 
is my understanding. How can this happen? I mean, what is the 
process to make sure that does not happen? It does not seem 
fair to whoever is paying the check, and, for debris pickup, 
the Federal Government is going to pay the lion's share of 
that.
    Ms. Criswell. Yes, Senator. I have worked a lot with the 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in a variety of different 
disasters, and they are very good at what they do, but they 
also come with a price tag. I do believe that one of the ways 
that jurisdictions can be better prepared is by doing some pre-
existing contracts ahead of time. In New York City, we put 13 
different on-call emergency contracts in place, that we worked 
with FEMA to develop to make sure that they would be eligible. 
So that way we could expedite the response that we were going 
to have to those disasters.
    If confirmed, I think it would be really important to try 
to educate more jurisdictions on the value of this, and use 
maybe some of New York City's or some of Florida's emergency 
contract examples of how they can be better prepared.
    Senator Scott. I did not make any progress on this bill, 
but I proposed a bill--I have been up here 2 years, and I think 
it was the first year--that basically said that you are not 
going to get reimbursed if you do not do that. I mean, why 
should we--it is not that hard to go get a contract for debris 
pickup, right? I mean, you just go put out a bid, and there is 
a whole process you can do. FEMA actually has a process here 
they are required to do anyway, right?
    Why wouldn't we mandate that if they want to get reimbursed 
to do that, so we do not sit and put ourselves in a position 
that after the fact, that somebody can come in and say, ``Oh, 
now I am really busy. I want a higher price.'' I mean, why 
wouldn't we do that? Why wouldn't we mandate that? Doesn't it 
seem to make sense?
    Ms. Criswell. Yes, Senator. Again, I believe it is really 
important that we do everything we can to help communities be 
prepared, but again, I also think that we have to have a 
balance between what their own capacities are, and some 
jurisdictions have less capacity than others. But I do believe 
it is important and, if confirmed, would work to help educate 
and use some of FEMA's resources such as their procurement 
disaster assistance teams to help people understand how to 
better put those types of tools in place to help them.
    Senator Scott. One thing that surprised me up here, and, 
the Inspectors General have different reports, and GAO has 
different reports about waste, fraud, and abuse. I mean, you 
can call it all different things. We saw a lot of it in the 
debris pickup.
    When you were at FEMA, do you use that stuff to try to get 
rid of the waste, whether it is waste or fraud, whatever it is, 
to try to reduce the cost for the taxpayers, that we have 
found? Has that been helpful at all, the Inspectors General and 
GAO reports?
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, I have read some of the Inspector 
General reports and GAO reports, and, if confirmed, I look 
forward to working with the leadership at FEMA to better 
understand their goal, or where they are at in implementing 
them. I have found, again, during my personal experience in New 
York City, of bringing in the Department of Investigations, the 
City's version of Inspector General, to help issue spot and 
identify ways that we can put measures in place to help prevent 
fraud, waste, and abuse ahead of time. If confirmed, I am 
committed to really looking at where we are at and then what we 
can do to continue to improve that process.
    Senator Scott. So you guys do a good job with the problems 
in Florida. I mean, your teams always were there early, and, 
they were always very responsive. Everybody wants everything 
done like that, but, I mean, FEMA has done a good job.
    I worked a lot with Brock Long, because that is what my 
head and my heart thinks. But Gracia Szczech, I hope she sticks 
around, because she did a great job.
    Ms. Criswell. I have worked many disasters with Ms. 
Szczech, and you have a great resource there.
    Senator Scott. Good luck.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Scott. Ms. Criswell, as 
I mentioned, people are coming and going. We have a series of 
votes going on during this hearing. I am going to have to leave 
to vote now. Senator Hassan will now preside over the hearing, 
and you are also recognized for your questions. Thank you, 
Senator Hassan.

              OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR HASSAN

    Senator Hassan [presiding.] Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to 
thank you and our Ranking Member, Senator Portman, for 
convening this hearing. I also want to thank Ms. Criswell for 
coming before the Committee today, for the service you have 
already provided to this country and your community, and for 
your continued interest in doing this kind of work and serving.
    As our country grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, it is 
critical that this Committee and the full Senate work quickly 
to confirm a FEMA Administrator so that the agency has the 
leadership it needs to make our country more resilient to all 
hazards and threats, including pandemics, natural disasters, 
and terrorist incidents.
    Before I proceed to my questions I just want to say, too, 
that I echo Senator Portman's sentiments about ensuring that 
schools may receive FEMA funds for personal protective 
equipment (PPE) dating back to the beginning of the pandemic. 
This is truly a bipartisan issue, and I really look forward to 
working with FEMA on it.
    So now turning to my questions, Ms. Criswell, to put an end 
to this pandemic the Federal Government must, in partnership 
with State governments, quickly and comprehensively distribute 
vaccines to all parts of the country. To that end, I am pleased 
that FEMA has begun standing up the first of 100 federally run 
vaccine sites across the country, which are supported by 
Federal personnel and additional vaccine supply. However, based 
on its site selection thus far it is unclear what analysis FEMA 
is conducting when making decisions about site locations.
    Ms. Criswell, if confirmed, will you commit to ensuring 
that FEMA equitably considers locations in smaller States, like 
New Hampshire, for these vaccination sites supported by Federal 
personnel and additional vaccine supply?
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, thank you for that question. I think 
one of the things that we have seen with COVID-19 is that it 
has truly had a disproportionate impact on our underserved 
populations, and as we continue to roll out the vaccine it is 
incredibly important that we continue to strive to reach those 
communities and help them recover from the impacts of COVID-19.
    I know in New York City, we have taken that very seriously, 
and as the city has rolled out vaccine, taken a look through 
the social vulnerability index to identify the areas that can 
be used, or the areas that need to have vaccine sooner rather 
than later. I understand FEMA has also used the same index in 
some of their decisionmaking.
    If confirmed, I am committed to working with the leadership 
team at FEMA to better understand how they are making 
decisions, but I also think it is really important that the 
engagement with State and local is part of that conversation, 
because they know their communities best. They know where these 
vaccine sites should be, or the resources that they may need to 
support their communities. I am committed to working with you 
and your team and this Committee to better understand the needs 
of communities and using FEMA resources to address those.
    Senator Hassan. I thank you for that. I appreciate it. One 
of the points I want to make, though, is sometimes the Federal 
Government just makes calls on where to send resources based on 
sheer population, and in a small State, we have 234 towns for 
1.3 million people, right, so there are going to be population 
centers that really need the help that do not meet certain 
thresholds if the analysis is not careful.
    I just would urge you to look at that. I would look forward 
to working with you on that. The other point I would make is 
sometimes what happens is State partners are doing their best 
in some of these places, and then, at times, the Federal 
Government will come in and essentially supplant but not 
supplement what is happening. I think it is going to be really 
important to work closely with your State and local partners to 
make sure that you are not undermining the efforts that are 
already there, which I know you would not want to do, but just 
sometimes it happens.
    Ms. Criswell. I understand that completely, Senator, and 
again, if confirmed, I am committed to making sure that all 
efforts should be coordinated with the State and local partners 
to understand their needs and their requirements, and not 
pushing those requirements that may not meet their current 
situation.
    Senator Hassan. Thank you for that.
    Now I want to turn to the topic of the Strategic National 
Stockpile (SNS). When it comes to ensuring that the Strategic 
National Stockpile is adequately stocked, maintained, and pre-
positioned geographically, the Department of Health and Human 
Services is the lead agency. However, what we have learned in 
the COVID-19 pandemic is that there have been deficiencies in 
the availability and distribution of the assets in the 
stockpile.
    Given FEMA's experience in managing and distributing 
supplies during natural disasters, FEMA is a partner that could 
provide valuable advice to improve management of the Strategic 
National Stockpile before the next national crisis. Will you 
commit to coordinating with HHS to improve management of the 
Strategic National Stockpile?
    Ms. Criswell. Yes, Senator. The Strategic National 
Stockpile was a great resource for New York City during the 
beginning of this, and we understood the limitations of it as 
we were starting to see cases increase. I believe FEMA has 
always had a great partnership with HHS, and, if confirmed, I 
am committed to continuing to work with them to see how we can 
improve that resource to make sure that we have better 
preparedness in place and ready for the next pandemic.
    Senator Hassan. Thank you. Last question. Early in the 
pandemic, lack of clarity in the Stafford Act delayed FEMA from 
providing Federal assistance and funding to States and 
localities to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Toward that end, 
there has been some discussion in the emergency management 
community to clarify the definition in Federal statute of 
emergency eligible for Federal funding and assistance.
    During yesterday's Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight 
Subcommittee hearing, which focused on preparing for future 
crises, we heard testimony from General Votel and other members 
of the Business Executive for National Security Commission on 
the national response enterprise, and they were advocating for 
updating the Stafford Act.
    Ms. Criswell, do you support updating Stafford Act 
emergencies or disasters to include pandemics or major 
cyberattacks?
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, FEMA is an all-hazards agency, and 
they continue to respond to hazards, whether it is a pandemic 
or a natural hazard or a manmade event. I would welcome the 
opportunity, if confirmed, to working with Congress to see what 
authorities could help us do our job better, so we can, again, 
make a more prepared and resilient nation and help people.
    Senator Hassan. Thank you for that. I would look forward to 
that too. It is both the type of disaster and the extent of 
disasters that we have to be prepared for, I think, and realize 
that some of the situations on the ground are changing. I look 
forward to working with you very much.
    Now I can turn to Senator Ossoff, who is ready to take his 
round of questions next.

              OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR OSSOFF

    Senator Ossoff. Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate that, 
and thank you, Ms. Criswell. I enjoyed the conversation that we 
had, discussing some of the most urgent concerns in Georgia, 
when it comes to emergency management. I just, in the interest 
of everybody's time, have one question for you, which is, Ms. 
Criswell, will you commit that in your first year in this 
position, should you be confirmed, that you will join me in 
Georgia to meet with the farmers who are impacted by Hurricane 
Michael, and to engage in planning with local leaders and local 
officials to ensure that we have the plans in place to get 
swifter aid to Georgia's agricultural sector if and when 
another devastating tropical storm or hurricane strikes our 
State? Thank you.
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, thank you. I appreciated the 
conversation that we did have about the variety of challenges 
that Georgia faces, and, if confirmed, I would welcome the 
opportunity to come meet with you and your staff and better 
understand the challenges that you are facing across the 
variety of communities that you serve.
    Senator Ossoff. Thank you, Ms. Criswell. I look forward to 
welcoming you to Georgia, and, Madam Chair, I yield back. Thank 
you.
    Senator Hassan. Thank you very much, Senator Ossoff. We 
have a couple of other Members of the Committee who are trying 
to make it back from other committee hearings and votes, 
because they would like to touch base with you. While we see if 
those logistics work, why don't I ask you this.
    You have been through, over the last year of this pandemic, 
this critical frontline role in New York City. You have been 
talking with a number of Senators as you prepare for this 
nomination hearing and for taking on the work, if you are 
confirmed. Are there things we have not touched on yet, that 
you would like to bring up to the Committee, or update us on?
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, I appreciate that opportunity. New 
York City was really at the epicenter of the COVID-19 response 
from the very beginning, and I think it is important to 
understand that as we were going through that response in March 
and April, before it started to improve in May, is that, we 
were responding to the situation when we did not know how bad 
bad was going to get, and making decisions, literally, at times 
of, each day, do I have enough staff, do I have enough people, 
do I have enough resources to get through the next 72 hours?
    As we have discussed with the Strategic National Stockpile 
and other preparedness efforts, I think that we have such a 
great opportunity right now to learn so many lessons of the 
beginning days of this pandemic and how we can invest in 
preparedness going forward. I think, the Nation did a great job 
of investing in preparedness for terrorist attacks after 9/11, 
and I think we have another really great opportunity to invest 
in preparedness against a future pandemic.
    Senator Hassan. As the pandemic evolved in New York City, 
and as you had to make decisions on the ground in real time, 
thinking back to that experience now, are there ways of using 
technology now that you would like FEMA to work on, that would 
allow you to be more nimble in the field?
    Ms. Criswell. I think, Senator, technology is an incredibly 
important tool for us to use, and I think what I would say, 
what we have learned from the pandemic and the ability to do 
more of the work remotely, I think that there is also a really 
great opportunity right now to continue some of those lessons 
learned on how we can use technology to be more efficient in 
our support to State and local communities. If confirmed, I 
really want to look at some of the benefits that happened and 
how we can institutionalize those going forward, so when we 
have more efficient deployment of resources and we are serving 
communities better.
    Senator Hassan. Thank you for that. I appreciate it very 
much. I now see that Senator Lankford has joined us, and I will 
turn to Senator Lankford for his round of questions.

             OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR LANKFORD

    Senator Lankford. Thank you. It is good to get a chance to 
visit with you again. Thank you. Thanks for the time we could 
already spend before, to be able to talk through several of 
these issues. I appreciate you making yourself available, to be 
able to go through those. Let me talk through a couple of 
things we had talked about before and some additional things to 
be able to talk about.
    My State, we are overachievers with FEMA. We get frequent 
flyer points, because we have tornados, we have floods, we have 
wildfires. We are not a hurricane State, in the sense that you 
are going to hit a major urban area. It is hitting a lot of 
rural areas, and so there are some different dynamics there. 
But I want to zero in on a couple of things.
    One is the flooding issue, and specifically the issue of 
hazard mitigation. We have areas that are repetitive flood 
areas, and they would do buyouts except the process on a buyout 
takes 12 to 18 months, at least. Even when my State wants to be 
able to partner with the Community Development Block Grant 
(CDBG) disaster relief funds (DRF), and to be able to also 
partner out with some of the buyouts, the timelines are 
different on it. To be able to figure out how to be able to 
pull that together makes it incredibly challenging.
    What I am looking for is not what has been done in the 
past. How do we fix an issue where we have a neighborhood that 
is going to be flooded out, that it is obvious we should buy 
out this whole neighborhood, but we tell people, ``We will talk 
to you about buying this neighborhood out in 18 months,'' so 
basically live in a hotel for 18 months until we figure out 
what we are going to do. Does not work. How do we fix that?
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, thank you very much for that 
question. I have seen first-hand the devastation that flooding 
provides, it does to communities across this country, and the 
slow recovery initially as floodwaters are trying to recede, 
just even delays some of those response efforts initially.
    As you and I discussed, even in New York City, we are still 
having conversations about how to do buyouts from the 
experiences from Hurricane Sandy. I understand that the 
programs are complicated, they are cumbersome, and difficult to 
maneuver, and the frustrations that people feel.
    If confirmed, I am committed to really having a hard 
conversation with our mitigation team and understanding how we 
can continue to reduce the complexity of those programs and 
really help communities reduce their risk earlier, ahead of 
disasters, but more potentially, how we can assist afterwards, 
as needed.
    Senator Lankford. Right. We will get to the earlier part in 
just a moment, but the issue still comes back to, at the moment 
of a disaster, when people are having to make a life decision--
am I going to rebuild or am I going to try to move to somewhere 
else?--if you tell them, ``I will answer your question in 18 
months,'' that does not work.
    For the local community that is there, that knows, 25 years 
from now or so, this is going to flood again so let's buy it 
out and figure out how to do this different, people would say, 
``Well, you can't yet. We have to wait 18 months before we can 
make that decision.'' It does not work for them. It is just 
frustrating for everyone, and it definitely damaging for the 
taxpayer, because we end up paying for the same thing over and 
over again, because we were not able to make the decision the 
previous time.
    The preparation side is significant. There are some 
counties that have not gone through the process of preparation, 
the filings for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). 
There are lots of reasons why on that, but typically in rural 
counties especially, it is just personnel and paperwork and 
processing. Individuals within that county cannot get flood 
insurance because they are in a very rural county that just 
does not have the structure to be able to take care of that. 
How can we help those counties and those individuals to be able 
to finish out the process and preparation for them, so that 
those individuals can get flood insurance?
    Ms. Criswell. Yes, Senator. Hazard mitigation plans are a 
really valuable and important tool for communities to have, 
one, not to just help better understand their risk but also to 
make them eligible for flood insurance. I do understand that it 
is hard to develop those plans, that it takes a lot of time and 
effort.
    I do believe that there are programs that FEMA administers 
that will help with technical assistance and the ability for 
them to develop those plans, and, if confirmed, I am committed 
to--I would love to work with you and your team to better 
understand the communities within your area that are having 
difficulty, and what we can do to better assist them to get 
those plans done, because it not only helps individuals get 
flood insurance, but it helps jurisdictions better understand 
their risks so they can take the appropriate measures.
    Senator Lankford. Right. In a rural State like mine, we 
have some unique challenges. We had a wildfire in the northwest 
of our State, as we did several years ago. We not only had a 
wildfire larger than the State of Rhode Island. Folks in the 
Northeast did not even notice it, though, because it is not 
going to be on national news, but it was very significant to 
us. A lot of cattle were lost, a lot of grazing land was lost, 
a lot of fence line was lost. Thankfully, firefighters in all 
those areas worked hard to be able to protect homes, but we had 
a tremendous amount of loss.
    At the end of it, on the whole, FEMA would say, ``Not 
enough homes were damaged so you cannot get help.'' A wildfire 
the size of the State of Rhode Island does not count as a FEMA 
disaster because it is in a rural area, though there is a lot 
of loss there.
    We start working to the complexity. What is the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture (USDA)? What is an Farm Service 
Agency (FSA) piece? What is going to be FEMA issues? What is 
Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (DR)? And 
you start working through all the complexity of that.
    Two big questions that I have for you. How do we deal with 
this urban-rural challenge, which is getting harder, based on 
the redefinition of the size of a disaster and the amount for a 
disaster? How do we deal with that complexity, and how do we 
deal with the complexity of how many different agencies are 
involved in disaster relief, how many different deadlines, how 
many different forms, and for a county or a State, you better 
be an expert, and you have been on the other side of this. You 
better be an expert to be able to figure out how to be able to 
navigate all this. How do we help people navigate it, and all 
the issues, and how do we help determine what we are going to 
do on a rural versus urban assistance?
    Ms. Criswell. Thank you, Senator. To your first point, I 
understand. Even in my State of New York, the large urban area 
of New York City really has an impact on the ability of smaller 
jurisdictions within New York State to get assistance. I talked 
about the need to have equity in how we deliver programs.
    I think that there is an opportunity for us to really take 
a look at how those decisions are made and the factors that are 
used so we can take jurisdictions' needs into consideration. If 
confirmed, I am committed to working with you to better 
understand potential ways to improve that analysis and better 
serve all communities, so they can get the assistance that they 
are eligible for.
    On the second part, you are right, there are many different 
programs that are out there that provide assistance, and that 
is a good thing, right? We want to have different options for 
different communities, because again, no two hazards are alike, 
and jurisdictions have different needs.
    I do remember FEMA had a program called the Federal 
Disaster Recovery Coordinator, and one of their roles was to 
help bring all of those different programs to bear in a 
community that was recovering from a disaster and help 
jurisdictions navigate those different resources.
    If confirmed, I am committed to seeing where the status is 
of that program and how we can better support jurisdictions as 
they are trying to maneuver through the variety of different 
bureaucratic programs that are out there and make it easier for 
them to get the assistance they need.
    Senator Lankford. Thank you. Madam Chair, may I ask one 
additional question? Let me ask this additional question, just 
on keeping the rules consistent. If anything changed last year, 
it was everything, so we understand that full well. FEMA was 
very engaged in what was happening with the pandemic relief.
    But we experienced things with FEMA last year that are 
consistent with FEMA before, that is the rules changing midway 
through. I am just going to give you an example of what I mean 
by this.
    When protective equipment, was coming out to local law 
enforcement, it was, ``Have PPE. We know that you need it.'' 
Then a few months it was into, it was, ``No, actually, the PPE 
can only be used if you are actually dealing with a COVID 
case,'' so you need to document each location to make sure that 
it was actually used in a COVID case location. It is a 
bureaucratic nightmare for them to be able to do that, and 
obviously we cannot test every person to know when we walk up, 
so everyone had to assume everyone they interacted with, 
especially in the earliest days, was COVID-positive, because 
you did not know, and we did not have enough testing capability 
in the earliest days. But the change in rules midstream drove 
everybody crazy on this.
    You cannot answer this question for the days ahead, but I 
want to make you aware that if you are an emergency manager in 
any State, it is hard enough to be able to manage the 
emergency. It is harder to be able to manage the rule changes 
midstream during an emergency, and how we are going to respond 
back to FEMA--deadline changes, rule changes, what you need to 
keep, you need to have a picture of this pre-emergency, you 
need to have all this documentation.
    Would you be willing to be able to work with us to be able 
to make sure we have one set of rules that goes out, and if 
there is going to be a change there is enough time, 
retroactively, to be able to deal with this and it does not 
create the bureaucracy for local governments?
    Ms. Criswell. Yes, Senator. I experienced that in New York 
City as we were trying to manage the response to COVID-19 
through March and April, and, at the same time, really trying 
to understand the rules that were coming out from FEMA. I 
understand the frustration. We experienced that frustration in 
our own response.
    If confirmed, I am committed to working with you, and would 
welcome the opportunity to work with you and your team to 
better understand ways that that can potentially be improved, 
and information can be delivered more timely and more 
consistently.
    Senator Lankford. OK. Thank you.
    Senator Hassan. Thank you, Senator Lankford. Now we will 
move to Senator Sinema, who will be joining us virtually.

              OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR SINEMA

    Senator Sinema. Thank you, Chairman. Ms. Criswell, as 
Arizona's senior Senator and Chair of the Subcommittee on 
Government Operations and Border Management, it is important 
that I closely examine the management and effectiveness of 
Federal programs.
    You are entering FEMA during a time of crisis. In addition 
to the natural disasters that FEMA is accustomed to handling, 
you will also need to balance those priorities with the 
continued impacts of the coronavirus and a growing crisis with 
migrants and unaccompanied minors at our Southwest Border.
    Given the significant increase in the number of families 
and unaccompanied minors coming to our border, there is a 
critical need in my State of Arizona for Federal resources and 
personnel to manage the challenge, protect our communities, and 
ensure that migrants are treated fairly and humanely.
    The American Rescue Plan included funds through the 
Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) for non-governmental 
organizations (NGO's) and local communities to provide 
assistance to migrants. If confirmed, will you ensure that FEMA 
works with the EFSP National Board to get these funds allocated 
efficiently and fairly, ensuring that the program is as 
flexible as possible to respond to NGO needs, including 
providing advanced funds where appropriate?
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, thank you for the question. Yes, if 
confirmed, I am committed to better understanding the current 
status of FEMA's support through the EFSP program, and welcome 
the opportunity to work with you and your staff to understand 
some of the challenges you are facing and what might be done to 
improve them.
    Senator Sinema. Thank you. Secretary Mayorkas has recently 
tasked FEMA with stepping in to help manage the challenge of 
unaccompanied children arriving at the border. This was a good 
decision, and I believe that FEMA's vast experience in disaster 
management can help manage other aspects of the crisis as well.
    What further actions do you believe FEMA can take to assist 
with the ongoing migration challenges at the border, and will 
you continue to work with my office to explore opportunities to 
make sure that our nation is better prepared, moving forward?
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, FEMA is an all-hazards agency, and 
they are one part of the team. They have continued to provide 
support to other Federal partners and, as in this case, 
providing support right now to HHS and CBP in the execution of 
their mission.
    I have not been briefed on the specific activities of what 
FEMA is doing, but if confirmed, I look forward to getting a 
better understanding of FEMA's current role, and I would 
appreciate the opportunity to work with you and your team to 
see what we can do to better assist.
    Senator Sinema. Earlier in this hearing, Senator Hassan 
brought up the hearing that she held as the Chair of the 
Subcommittee on Emerging Treats and Spending Oversight, and the 
recommendation that the Stafford Act be expanded to include 
pandemics and cyber events. I believe that any such debate 
should include humanitarian crisis, such as the migrant crisis 
we are facing in Arizona and along our border.
    What guardrails would you recommend be placed on any 
Stafford Act expansion to ensure that our nation responds 
effectively and efficiently to emergencies, while not 
overburdening FEMA's response capabilities?
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, FEMA is an all-hazards agency, and 
they have provided support to humanitarian missions in other 
parts of the country and the world as well, and, if confirmed, 
I would appreciate the opportunity to work with Congress to see 
what authorities could potentially be given to FEMA to help 
them with their current mission.
    Senator Sinema. During our conversation last week we 
discussed the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) and the 
preparedness grants that are offered through FEMA's grants 
directorate. During our conversation, you noted Secretary 
Mayorkas' interest in reviewing the entire suite of 
preparedness grants to ensure that the United States is 
utilizing these programs wisely, and to make sure that we are 
increasing resiliency and not simply maintaining the status 
quo.
    You also noted the need for stakeholder engagement as part 
of any review. I would urge you to make sure that communities 
such as Phoenix, that utilize these programs, are brought to 
the table early and often to make sure that FEMA knows what 
works and what does not work on the ground, and to identify 
opportunities to increase the relevance of the data utilized in 
determining relative risk.
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, yes. As we discussed, Secretary 
Mayorkas, it is my understanding, has asked for a review of the 
risk formula being used for grant programs, and, if confirmed, 
I look forward to better understanding the current status of 
that review. But again, as we discussed, I think it is 
critically important that any part of a formal review like that 
should have stakeholder engagement, because those are the 
customers, and we need to understand their challenges and their 
needs so the programs can be more effectively delivered.
    Senator Sinema. On another topic, almost all of Arizona is 
experiencing severe drought, and this week the State reported 
that it expects fire season this year will be just as bad as 
what we experienced in 2020. Now last year, 2,500 fires in 
Arizona burned 980,000 acres of land, and worst of all, fire, 
tornado, and hurricane seasons all overlap in our country. When 
this is layered over our response to a pandemic that has 
claimed over 16,800 lives in Arizona, plus a humanitarian 
crisis at our border, it is a lot to handle.
    If confirmed, how do you plan to utilize the resources at 
FEMA's disposal to provide prompt and effective support for 
each of these crises while still maintaining sufficient 
readiness for additional disasters that could occur?
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, it is a really great point, and FEMA 
has consistently, across the years, responded to multiple 
missions at the same time. If confirmed, I currently do not 
understand the current challenges that the workforce is facing, 
but it is a priority of mine to make sure that the workforce is 
ready for this upcoming hurricane season and the multiple 
missions it is currently supporting.
    Senator Sinema. Thank you. Mr. Chair, I yield back, and I 
thank our nominee for being with us today.
    Senator Peters [presiding.] Thank you, Senator Sinema.

              OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR PADILLA

    Senator Padilla. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I assume you guys 
can see and hear me OK.
    I want to begin by just echoing and associating myself with 
the comments by Senator Sinema vis-a-vis the role of FEMA in 
helping address the situation at the border at this present 
time. We will be in touch with the agency if there are 
additional resources or anything else needed to continue to 
make progress there.
    But my main questions that I wanted to raise are inspired, 
as Senator Sinema just acknowledged for Arizona, by recent 
wildfire seasons in the State of California, the recent 
wildfire season being the worst on record. In 2020, the State 
experienced 10,000 fire incidents, with 4.2 million acres of 
land burned, and more than 10,000 structures damaged or 
destroyed.
    FEMA, specifically Region 9, has been an excellent and 
consistent partner with California, not just State government, 
but counties as well, to weather repeated, unprecedented 
disasters, year after year. In between, what seems to be like 
an expanding fire season, we want to take advantage of this 
time period to look for increased funding, support, and 
understanding of the unprecedented times that we are living in. 
After another dry winter, California is entering drought 
conditions once again, and expecting another extreme fire 
season.
    Ms. Criswell, how can we assure that FEMA is not just 
responsive to wildfires during and after an event but also more 
active in the off-season, in working with State and local 
governments, as well as other Federal agencies, to support 
mitigation efforts to reduce either the chance of devastating 
fires or the devastation, level of devastation from fires that 
do occur?
    Ms. Criswell. Thank you very much for that question, 
Senator. As we have seen, the number and severity of disasters 
continues to increase year after year, and the record-breaking 
wildfire season that we had last year was another example of 
why it is so important right now for us to be able to invest in 
pre-disaster mitigation.
    I do believe that the Building Resilient Infrastructure and 
Communities Grant that was released last year is an excellent 
tool for communities to now really have transformational 
progress at reducing risk across their communities.
    But it is often my experience that the technical assistance 
that is provided is only provided when the Notice of Funding 
Opportunity is released, and I think we have a real opportunity 
to make sure that we are doing outreach and engagement year-
round, on a continual basis, so jurisdictions can better plan 
and prepare for these events that are going to happen, not just 
next year but 5 years from now or 10 years from now. It takes a 
lot of work to put in the planning and scoping steps of these 
programs. By providing outreach assistance year-round I think 
that communities can build better projects, so when the funding 
opportunities are released they can have better projects to put 
in requests for.
    If confirmed, I am committed to this outreach and 
engagement. I think the time is now for us to really take a 
very proactive and deliberate approach to how we are reducing 
risk and using all the tools that we have available to do that.
    Senator Padilla. Thank you, and I think the same spirit can 
be expressed in a very similar question vis-a-vis earthquakes, 
much less frequent but more devastating, and it is only a 
matter of time before California experiences the next big one. 
I will assume that your response would also apply for other 
categories of natural disasters.
    I had another follow-up question. I know Senator Sinema 
also mentioned, or made reference to the Stafford Act, which 
governs FEMA's disaster efforts, which has not been explicitly 
inclusive of wildfires. Due to the unique nature of wildfires, 
California communities have too often experienced difficulty 
after recent catastrophic wildfires in accessing disaster 
assistance due to eligibility language, home insurance, and 
relocation assistance.
    If confirmed, will you commit to working with my office to 
ensure the needs of wildfire recovery and mitigation are fully 
supported by FEMA?
    Ms. Criswell. Yes, Senator. I believe that we have 
opportunity right now to really look at what the authorities 
are within the Stafford Act, and I would appreciate the 
opportunity to work with you and your team and Congress to see 
if additional authorities can be given that FEMA has the 
ability to address the current risk and threat environments.
    Senator Padilla. OK. Thank you, and just one last comment, 
and it is really a question for a lengthy response, but an 
acknowledgment that, FEMA has been working alongside the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other 
Federal agencies, in coordination with State and local and 
tribal and territorial authorities, and private sector partners 
to ramp up and improve vaccine distribution. Partnerships have 
been critical in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, including 
multiple mass vaccination sites in California. But I understand 
some of these contracts formalizing the partnerships are due to 
expire in the coming weeks. I would hope, if you are confirmed, 
and to the extent appropriate prior to your confirmation, we 
can count on your help in extending these agreements to 
continue the proven success of the vaccination strategy.
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, yes. I think, again, we all have a 
role to play in getting America vaccinated. It is one of the 
most important things we can do right now to move on to 
recovery from this COVID-19 global pandemic. If confirmed, I am 
committed to working with you and your team to understand the 
needs that California is facing, so we can get the resources 
needed to help get America vaccinated.
    Senator Padilla. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
    Senator Peters. Thank you, Senator Padilla. Senator Rosen, 
you are now recognized for your questions.

               OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR ROSEN

    Senator Rosen. Thank you, Chairman Peters, Ranking Member 
Portman, and thank you, Commissioner Criswell, for your 
willingness to serve. FEMA is an extremely important 
organization, to every State here in our Nation. I would like 
to thank you for talking with me yesterday about the Urban Area 
Security Initiative grants. It is a vital program that protects 
our people in Las Vegas, our critical infrastructure, and 
really our tourism-based economy. As we discussed, the city of 
Las Vegas depends on UASI funds as it builds the infrastructure 
it needs to defend residents and visitors against terrorism.
    You also need reforms to ensure that densely populated 
tourist destinations, like Las Vegas, have predictability and 
stability in funding over a period of years so it can make 
long-term security plans. In 2018, the Nevada congressional 
delegation urged FEMA to incorporate visitor and special event 
data into the risk assessment profile, to determine how much 
funding each urban area receives.
    You mentioned during our conversation you believe Secretary 
Mayorkas will be taking a look at the UASI program, including 
the funding formula. Can you commit to working with us and 
using any authority and influence you have to ensure that 
grantees and other stakeholders can participate fully and 
meaningfully in this process?
    Ms. Criswell. Yes, Senator. If confirmed, I look forward to 
seeing the current status of the assessment of the risk formula 
that is currently underway, and the only way to be successful 
with that is to make sure that we are engaging the stakeholders 
that are receiving this assistance. If confirmed, I would 
welcome the opportunity to work with you and your staff to 
better understand your needs and your ideas about how this 
could be improved.
    Senator Rosen. Thank you. I appreciate that. I am going to 
move on to some other issues we have in Nevada, of course, the 
wildfires, and Fire Management Assistance Grants (FMAGs). Last 
year's wildfire season unfortunately was one of the worst in 
our history. It burned more than 10 million acres across the 
country, devastating communities. FEMA, of course, has several 
programs to assist communities, both before and after the fire, 
and, in particular, Fire Management Assistance Grants program 
has been vital for our communities as they recover and rebuild.
    However, I have heard from a lot of my constituents that 
the current criteria for FMAG is just too restrictive for our 
rural communities. These areas are smaller in population, but 
they rely heavily on the land for income through mining, 
through ranching, outdoor recreation, and without assistance 
from FEMA it is much harder for these communities to quickly 
respond and recover from a wildfire.
    Will you consider working with me to change the FMAG 
formula to make it more accessible, more nimble for our rural 
communities that really need this in a time of devastation, and 
also talk about what other resources or ways that you might 
assist our remote rural communities in dealing with emergencies 
such as wildfire.
    Ms. Criswell. Thank you, Senator. If confirmed, I look 
forward to better understanding more about the FMAG criteria 
and the formula that is used, and I would welcome the 
opportunity to meet with you and your staff to understand how 
it has impacted, helped in the challenges that you face with 
the use of the FMAG grant to help you. If confirmed, I would 
love that opportunity to work with you.
    As far as helping communities help prepare against future 
wildfire, again, I believe we really have an opportunity right 
now to take advantage of some of the new resources that are out 
there, such as the Building Resilient Infrastructure and 
Communities grant, to help communities use this to reduce the 
risk within their neighborhoods, especially as we continue to 
see number of severity of disasters rise year after year.
    Senator Rosen. Thank you. I appreciate that. I would like 
to move on to, unfortunately we have a rise in domestic 
terrorism in our country, and we have a program, our Nonprofit 
Security Grant Program, that is really important to folks. Over 
the past few years, like I said, we have seen a dangerous rise 
in threats and attacks on at-risk communities, including the 
deadliest attack on the American Jewish community in modern 
history at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. We want to 
protect houses of worship and other nonprofits against 
terrorist attacks and targeted violence.
    FEMA's Nonprofit Security Grant Program, it makes grants to 
eligible nonprofit organizations for target hardening and other 
security enhancement. We know the threats are growing to these 
institutions, and the demand for grant money has far outpaced 
their availability in recent years. In fiscal year (FY) 2021, 
DHS budget, they failed to request a specific funding amount 
for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program. Fortunately, we have 
doubled it to $180 million, but, if confirmed, Ms. Criswell, 
will you advocate for future funding requests to include 
specific allocations for Nonprofit Security Grants for that 
program, so that the allocation meets the growing needs of the 
communities as domestic terror threats continue to rise?
    Ms. Criswell. Yes, Senator. We are continuing to see 
increased threats to soft targets, and they are becoming an 
increasing concern. I believe that this grant is a great 
opportunity to help reach out to those communities and those 
nonprofits, to help them improve their preparedness and their 
resilience.
    I am not familiar with the funding authorities in the past, 
but I appreciate Congress' support in getting it funded, and I 
understand that funding this year was even increased. I think 
it is incredibly important that we continue to do outreach and 
engagement with the nonprofit community and the houses of 
worship so they understand that this resource is available and 
how they can use it, so we can continue to help them build 
their own resilience for the future.
    Senator Rosen. Thank you. Houses of worship and the 
nonprofits, oftentimes they have small staff, and some of these 
grants, they are quite difficult, and they require some 
technical assistance in order to be able to fill them out 
adequately and receive the information.
    Do you have plans, or can you talk to some plans that you 
might consider to increase FEMA's outreach to these smaller 
nonprofits, houses of worship, with limited staff and 
resources, to be able to compete and get these grants to 
improve their security and safety?
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, if confirmed, I look forward to 
seeing the current strategies that FEMA has in place for how 
they are currently engaging in doing outreach, and working with 
them to see if there are ways that we can improve the outreach, 
and identify maybe some of the gaps that we might see across 
the Nation, of areas that we think could potentially utilize 
this but have not taken advantage of this.
    If confirmed, I am committed to working with them to engage 
with more communities. I think it is incredibly important that 
we do outreach so they understand that this resource is 
available, but that we also provide the technical assistance, 
because the grant programs are complex, and they are cumbersome 
and very hard to apply for at times, and not all communities 
have the same level of resources to do that. I believe 
technical assistance is an important part of this entire 
process.
    Senator Rosen. Thank you. I appreciate that, because we try 
to fund as many grants as we can. FEMA is an important part of 
much of our community response in a lot of these disasters, and 
having that technical assistance is very important.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Rosen, and Ms. 
Criswell, we are coming to the end here of this hearing. That 
was the last set of questions. But before I close out the 
hearing I just want to pick up on the point Senator Rosen made 
about the complexity of these grants and the preparedness 
grants. They are so important. The entities that need them the 
most, and they are impacted the most, are the ones that do not 
have the resources to actually put together the paperwork. 
Houses of worship are really a key area, but it is all across 
the board, smaller communities, et cetera.
    I hear you, if you are confirmed, you have to do a deep 
dive. It does not do any good for us to have these grants if 
the folks who need it the most simply are unable to jump over 
all of the hurdles that you have to jump over to get them. I 
look forward, and you can reiterate that you are going to be 
focused on that, because I think it is critically important.
    Ms. Criswell. Senator, absolutely. I think, those that have 
the resources take advantage of these grants all the time, and 
the grants have done a great job of increasing the capabilities 
and preparedness across the Nation. But I am committed, if 
confirmed, to making sure that jurisdictions across the country 
get the assistance they need to take advantage of these 
resources, and we have a shared responsibility to improve the 
resilience and the readiness of the Nation, and the grants are 
one way to do that.
    Chairman Peters. Thank you, Ms. Criswell. Thank you for 
your willingness to serve in this capacity. As I said in my 
opening remarks, it is clear from all of the questions you have 
this is an incredibly difficult job. It is incredibly complex, 
but also of vital importance to our country. Thank you for your 
willingness to serve. If confirmed, this Committee is actively 
involved with FEMA issues, and we will want to partner with you 
very closely to make sure that you are successful in your job, 
if confirmed. Your success means success for the country, that 
we will be a part of that.
    With that I will state for the record, Ms. Criswell has 
made financial disclosures and provided responses to 
biographical and pre-hearing questions submitted by this 
Committee.\1\ Without objection, this information will be made 
part of the hearing record, with the exception of financial 
data, which is on file and available for public inspection in 
the Committee office.
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    \1\ The information of Ms. Criswell appears in the Appendix on page 
41.
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    The hearing will remain open until 12 p.m. tomorrow, March 
26th, for the submission of statements and questions for the 
record.
    With that this hearing is now adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 11:52 a.m., the Committee was adjourned.]

                            A P P E N D I X

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