[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 6 (Monday, January 13, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H103-H104]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROMOTING OPPORTUNITIES TO WIDEN ELECTRICAL RESILIENCE ACT OF 2025
Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 164) to amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and
Emergency Assistance Act to authorize Federal agencies to provide
certain essential assistance for hazard mitigation for electric
utilities, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 164
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Promoting Opportunities to
Widen Electrical Resilience Act of 2025'' or the ``POWER Act
of 2025''.
SEC. 2. ESSENTIAL ASSISTANCE.
(a) In General.--Section 403 of the Robert T. Stafford
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C.
5170b) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(e) Electric Utilities.--
``(1) Hazard mitigation activities.--An electric utility
may carry out cost-effective hazard mitigation activities
jointly or otherwise in combination with activities for the
restoration of power carried out with assistance provided
under this section.
``(2) Eligibility for additional assistance.-- In any case
in which an electric utility facility receives assistance
under this section for the emergency restoration of power,
the receipt of such assistance shall not render such facility
ineligible for any hazard mitigation assistance under section
406 for which such facility is otherwise eligible.''.
(b) Applicability.--The amendment made by subsection (a)
shall only apply to amounts appropriated on or after the date
of enactment of this Act.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Missouri (Mr. Graves) and the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Hoyle) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Missouri.
General Leave
Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that Members have 5
legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert
extraneous material into the Record on H.R. 164.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Missouri?
There was no objection.
Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, following a natural disaster, electric utilities work
tirelessly to restore power to their customers. However, because of
FEMA's problematic interpretation of section 403 of the Stafford Act,
once power is restored, even with temporary measures, electric
utilities are deemed ineligible for reimbursement for permanent work
and mitigation efforts.
As a result, electric utilities are treated differently from all
other critical infrastructure, even though building mitigation into our
power systems reduces the costs of future disasters.
H.R. 164 is going to address this by clarifying that electric
utilities may build in mitigation measures that provide essential
assistance and that it does not disqualify electric utilities from
permanent work eligibility later in the disaster recovery process.
Mr. Speaker, I urge support, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. HOYLE of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 164, my legislation with
Representative Ezell. This bill empowers publicly owned electric
utilities to implement hazard mitigation improvements during disaster
recovery.
When disasters strike, they leave a trail of destruction, including
damaged energy infrastructure that needs to be immediately repaired to
restore power. At the same time, this can present an opportunity to
improve the resilience of power infrastructure to reduce the risk of
outages or fires in the future.
I have spoken with many FEMA employees, and they feel like they have
their hands tied because of rules that are in place that prevent them
from being able to fund investments in resilience and infrastructure.
As we are seeing more extreme weather because of climate change, we
need to step up and spend taxpayer dollars more efficiently and better.
That means that we have to change this law because the current law
prevents FEMA from reimbursing utilities for hazard mitigation as they
make temporary disaster repairs. This leads to wasted opportunities,
more frequent power outages, and higher costs passed on to ratepayers.
Commonsense solutions, like H.R. 164, are more critical than ever to
keep energy costs low for American families. This bill maximizes FEMA's
resources and helps communities protect critical infrastructure,
leading to lower costs for utilities and families in the wake of future
disasters. More importantly, it allows us to use taxpayer dollars to
invest in resiliency as we are seeing more extreme weather coming at us
every single day.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I want to publicly thank Representative
Hoyle for her work on the bill. It is a great bill.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr.
Ezell).
Mr. EZELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in favor of H.R. 164,
the POWER Act, which would allow public electric utilities to implement
cost-effective hazard mitigation activities as part of power
restoration.
Public power utilities are essential in ensuring our communities have
access to reliable and resilient electricity, especially in the
aftermath of major disasters. Current law says that if States and
localities get cost reimbursements from FEMA for certain disaster
recovery activities, like restoring power, then that could make them
ineligible for future hazard mitigation funds. Our communities should
not have to make either-or decisions when it comes to restoring
critical infrastructure in the wake of natural disasters.
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to co-lead this bill alongside Representative
Hoyle, and I encourage my colleagues to support its passage.
Ms. HOYLE of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, the costs of recovering from
increasingly frequent severe weather events often raise the price of
Americans' electric bills. This bill would help public power make their
systems more resilient at the time of repair, increasing efficiency and
cutting overall costs.
I can't think of a more important set of bills to be passing at this
time as the first bills coming up on suspension. These bills invest in
our infrastructure and help FEMA be more transparent and utilize
taxpayer dollars more efficiently.
Again, I thank my colleague, Representative Ezell, for prioritizing
and moving this bill forward.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, in closing, this legislation is going to
provide a whole lot of needed clarity to ensure that electric utilities
are not penalized
[[Page H104]]
for acting quickly to restore power to those impacted by natural
disasters.
This legislation passed the Chamber under suspension of the rules by
voice vote last December, and I look forward to the House approving it
again.
Mr. Speaker, I urge support for the bill, and I yield back the
balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Graves) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 164.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.
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