Improve Don't Remove FEMA

The current calls to “reform” or eliminate FEMA could have disastrous consequences for the nation and your community’s ability to recover from extreme weather events or other disasters. While there is certainly room for improving the way FEMA supports states and communities with disaster planning, response, recovery and mitigating future risk, these changes need to be made systematically based on input from a broad range of stakeholders.

Please use this opportunity to urge your Congressional delegation to consider the importance of the support that FEMA provides to the nation and your community when dealing with major disasters and striving to be more resilient to ever-increasing severe weather and flooding events.

We have provided text to help you lay out this issue and state what you are asking your Congressional Delegation to consider. While the language in the message is set up to provide a complete message, you can also add additional text to help explain why FEMA programs are important to you, your state or your community or highlight a significant beneficial service or interaction with FEMA. Your message should fit well between the second and third paragraphs.

650 Messages of 1000 goal

Dear [Lawmaker],

FEMA is at a crossroads: the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which is administered by FEMA, is in urgent need of reauthorization and reform after more than 30 short-term extensions, while proposed funding and staffing cuts threaten the agency’s ability to respond to disasters and hinder our collective effort to make the nation more resilient. The frequency of catastrophic disasters is increasing and flooding now costs the nation over $46 billion/year.

The NFIP’s core pillars—Floodplain Identification, Flood Insurance, Floodplain Regulations, and Flood Hazard Mitigation—align with the broader emergency management cycle of preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation. Any reforms must strengthen these cornerstones to ensure FEMA can assist when state and local capacity is overwhelmed. FEMA programs have provided critical support to community and state efforts to respond to and recover from flooding disasters, and help become more resilient to future events.

A more efficient approach to disaster response and recovery can be achieved, and capable states and communities can do more. However, there will always be a need for FEMA resources when state and local capabilities are exceeded, especially when facing a catastrophic disaster. We must ensure that FEMA reforms be done in a way that ensures customer service (in this case for disaster survivors) is maintained or enhanced. This will be impossible to achieve if FEMA’s budget is reduced by the amounts being contemplated by the Administration.

I urge you to: (1) Reach out to the White House to express your concerns about budget cuts impacting FEMA’s delivery of programs, (2) be engaged in protecting and improving the NFIP. [The Association of State Floodplain Managers has developed a detailed list of ideas to reform the National Flood Insurance Program at this webpage, https://www.floods.org/koha?id=7914], and (3) as FEMA reforms are contemplated, maintain an intact and robust FEMA that can deliver timely and efficient disaster assistance and recovery programs to Americans in their time of need.

Sincerely,
______

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