[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 13802-13803]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           JUNE FLOODING IN NORTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL OHIO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to discuss the need for 
changes at FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and how our 
Nation approaches disaster response in general.
  I am one of the Members here that voted not to move FEMA from being 
an independent agency into the new Department of Homeland Security, and 
every day that goes by and every disaster that happens proves that was 
the wiser course of action. FEMA should be restored to its former 
status as an immediate national response, emergency response agency. It 
should not be buried five levels down in the Department of Homeland 
Security, now the second largest agency in our government after the 
Department of Defense. It simply is too burdensome, and the American 
people are suffering as a result of it. If New Orleans was not a 
lesson, if Katrina was not a lesson, if Rita was not a lesson, then 
what kind of students are we?
  Today, I visited areas in my own congressional district in northern 
Ohio that have been declared national disaster areas now because of the 
flooding that occurred June 21 through June 23 in northern Ohio. Water 
rose as high as 6 to 7 to 8 feet, 25 homes were completely destroyed, 
317 received major damage, 1,064 received minor damage and 3,262 had 
cosmetic damage; and that is as of just today.

[[Page 13803]]

  The local response was rapid and top notch, the best they could do. 
FEMA's Federal response has been what I would term somewhat timely and 
not overly effective.
  As I have visited with elected officials and residents affected by 
flooding over these last few days, outlining key Federal help that we 
can bring to them, I was struck by how disjointed the assistance is and 
how we try to help people at the local level to apply for what they are 
eligible for. They simply do not know.
  I explained to officials and constituents that Federal assistance 
might cover losses not addressed with their own personal insurance and 
that they had to file an insurance claim form with their private 
insurance company before contacting FEMA. But let me tell you what they 
require down at the county level.
  If, in Ohio, you were affected by the recent flood, they tell you, Go 
to the FEMA office that we have temporarily established in an adjoining 
county. So people from the affected county have to go to an adjoining 
county. When they get to the FEMA office, they are told, Oh, we can't 
help you fill out the application here. We can just talk to you about 
it. You have to go to your local library. They have to go back into 
their home county, go to the main library to try to get into the 
computer program to apply for the FEMA program.
  Well, guess what? The local librarians do not work for FEMA. They do 
not know all the Federal assistance. I sat with one gentleman today at 
a computer in the library where he tried to get into his password and 
code that he had gotten last week, as FEMA had instructed him, and 
guess what? The password didn't work.
  And he was a computer techie. He knew more about computers than I 
did. He was not a senior citizen who was not familiar with computers. 
We could not get into his records to find out if FEMA had even received 
his application from a week ago when he filed it.
  What happens in Ohio is that, assuming you can file, if you can 
really get it done at the library, which I do not think is right, FEMA 
ought to have the computers right at the temporary FEMA office, then 
you get an envelope in the mail from the Small Business Administration. 
Well, nobody in my area has gotten them yet, but the average person 
says, Well, if I applied at FEMA, why am I getting a letter from the 
Small Business Administration?
  The reason is because SBA will establish your income eligibility for 
grants, or for loans if you do not qualify for grants, and if you do 
not submit the SBA paperwork, you cannot get the FEMA assistance. But 
the average person who is scraping mud out of their living room and has 
had their basements totally destroyed and has had to take time off work 
in order to try to find a place to live, how do they have time for all 
of this?
  Twenty-five years ago, FEMA had trailers that were under the purview 
of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. They moved those 
trailers in. If you lived in a home that was in bad shape and had been 
damaged, you could go live in a trailer. They had their own generators. 
You could at least live there while you fixed up your other house. FEMA 
changed all of that back during the Reagan administration during the 
1980s, and we have created a much less ready FEMA to respond to 
national disasters.
  One of the other things that has happened is that our people, our 
mayors, our county commissioners, who have spent hundreds of thousands 
of dollars trying to help people, that have had to put personnel on 
overtime, that have had to use their equipment, that have had to buy 
fuel that isn't cheap, they have now been told by FEMA that that is not 
covered in the Federal assistance to local communities. All that is 
covered is an individual's damage.
  What kind of Government of the United States is this that we cannot 
respond to people who are in need, whether it is in the gulf or in 
northern Ohio?
  Assistance could include up to three months' rental payment for 
temporary housing; grants for home repairs and replacement of essential 
household items not covered by insurance to make damaged dwellings 
safe, sanitary, and functional; grants to replace personal property 
(including vehicles) not covered by insurance; and unemployment 
payments up to 26 weeks for people who temporarily lost jobs because of 
the disaster and who do not qualify for state benefits, such as self-
employed individuals.
  This is all well and good, but it is limited. Most relief comes in 
the form of loans, not grants. People suffering property-loss or damage 
from flooding or sewer backups can apply for low interest loans 
administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA) to cover 
residential losses not fully compensated by insurance. Loans are 
available up to $200,000 for primary residence and $40,000 for personal 
property, including renter losses. Loans are available up to $1.5 
million for business property losses, both property damage and economic 
injury, not fully compensated by insurance.
  This is all well and good for those people who can afford to get the 
loans and have the know-how and wherewithal to apply. But these are 
often those hardest hit by disasters of this type Mr. Speaker.
  Today, as I visited areas in the Eastern portion of my Congressional 
District, it became clear that the process for applying for assistance 
is a quagmire.
  For starters, there isn't even a FEMA field officer in Erie County--a 
county recently listed as eligible for disaster assistance. Folks have 
to travel over to an adjoining county to register to speak to a live 
FEMA person. And that person can't help them apply for assistance--they 
have to go somewhere else for that.
  Moreover, they cannot do it in person. They can travel to these 
locations to get advice, but are then required to submit the 
information via computer at their local library.
  The FEMA process is too cumbersome Mr. Speaker. People need immediate 
help, not help weeks from now. People hardest hit need more personal 
assistance, not less. They need more grants and fewer loans. They are 
the senior citizens and low-income families who could not afford, or 
may not have even been aware, that they needed flood insurance.
  And why, Mr. Speaker, is a property-owner saddled with the 
responsibility of assuming a loan when it is a city or county sewer-
system that overflows--resulting in massive flooding or an unacceptable 
drainage rate?
  It doesn't make any sense to me.
  Mr. Speaker, we need to expand the criteria for grant assistance, not 
lessen it.
  More importantly, though, the formula for reimbursing municipalities 
for their response must be re-evaluated. The City of Toledo spent 
almost $275,000 responding to last month's disaster. And they have been 
told not to expect one cent in reimbursement costs. This is 
unacceptable.
  FEMA officials say that the City did not spend enough money to 
qualify for public assistance. A city of similar size would need to 
spend, approximately, $1.5 million before reimbursement costs would 
kick in.
  Why such a high number? Does this administration think that any city, 
much less a city the size of Toledo, can absorb such a loss? It's mind-
boggling.
  Local municipalities have seen their budgets devastated by the down-
turn in the economy. If Federal Government is going to pass the buck on 
program after program--unfunded mandates sapping at the local budgets--
then the government must step up when emergencies like this result in 
unanticipated costs spiraling out of control.

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