[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 71 (Monday, April 26, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S2195]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                Confirmation of Deanne Bennett Criswell

  Mr. PETERS. Madam President, I rise to recognize a historic 
confirmation that took place last week. On Thursday, the Senate 
confirmed Deanne Criswell to serve as the Administrator of the Federal 
Emergency Management Agency. I would like to thank Senator Portman for 
his support and for working closely with me to see that Ms. Criswell 
was swiftly confirmed for this critical position.
  Ms. Criswell is an experienced, crisis-tested leader, well deserving 
of the unanimous bipartisan support that her confirmation received. As 
she takes the helm of FEMA, Ms. Criswell brings more than 25 years of 
emergency management and disaster response experience at the Federal, 
State, and local level.
  Having served as an emergency management commissioner for one of the 
largest and most diverse cities in America, Ms. Criswell knows what it 
takes to ensure the coronavirus vaccination distribution is efficient 
and effective and that every community has the resources that they need 
to recover from this pandemic.
  As a former member of the National Guard and a firefighter, she 
understands the needs of our heroic first responders as they 
continuously protect Americans on the frontlines.
  However, the pandemic is just one of many challenges that FEMA faces, 
and Ms. Criswell understands that there is no one-size-fits-all 
approach to disaster response and every crisis, from hurricanes to 
historic flooding and wildfires, to the COVID-19 pandemic, requires a 
coordinated strategy.
  There is no doubt that Ms. Criswell's experience in emergency 
management, extensive record of tackling crises on a local and national 
level, and the desire to work on a bipartisan basis to improve our 
Federal disaster response in every community are exactly what is needed 
to meet the challenges that we are facing now and those challenges that 
lie ahead.