[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 46 (Thursday, March 15, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H1618]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        CALLING FOR FEMA REFORM

  (Ms. JACKSON LEE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, it is 8 months since Hurricane Harvey 
devastated parts of the State of Texas and the United States.
  We are engaged in an assessment, and I will tell you, after 88 people 
died, people are still in hotels, houses are still in disrepair, and we 
are still in need. We are a strong State and a resilient city with 
great leaders who work very hard.
  But I think it is important that, as we try to recover, we work to 
restructure FEMA, as we are assessing right now in a hearing, so that 
we can address the questions that 300-plus of my constituents on March 
5 in Kashmere Gardens--heavily hit, along with northeast Houston--asked 
the questions: Why were there so many FEMA denials? Why did the 
inspectors see 4 inches of rain in your house and it was 4 feet? What 
is the structure that we can utilize to allow people to come out of 
hotels and get into housing when they don't have a down payment or they 
don't have the first month's rent?
  This is a holistic approach. We need to reform FEMA from the 
perspective of housing and the Stafford Act. We need to structure FEMA 
in the rescue part and the recovery part. We need answers, and my 
constituents need answers now regarding the many, many denials that 
have stopped them from proceeding with their lives.

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