The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s vote to remove FEMA from DHS and reestablish it as a stand-alone agency has prompted the chair and ranking members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to state that the issue is closed.
The Senate committee’s ranking member Susan Collins, R-Maine, said removing the agency now would unravel months of what she called “impressive gains,” citing “successful” responses to Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, the California wildfires, flooding in the Midwest, and winter storms in Maine.
Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., introduced the 2009 FEMA Independence Act in February. In May DHS secretary Janet Napolitano stated that the administration did not intend to remove FEMA from DHS.
Collins further defended reforms under the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act — signed into law in 2006 – which she authored with committee chair Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn.
