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Member Day hearing spotlights FEMA reform, paused reimbursements and risk to state recovery
Summary
At a Homeland Security Subcommittee Member Day hearing, Representative Moskowitz warned that FEMA has paused reimbursements and that discussions to remove or break up FEMA could leave states unable to respond to large disasters. Chairman and ranking member agreed to follow up, including potential additional hearings.
Representative Moskowitz told the Homeland Security Subcommittee during a Member Day hearing that FEMA has paused reimbursements and that ongoing internal changes at the Department of Homeland Security risk undermining the agency's ability to coordinate federal disaster response. "FEMA has paused all grants, all of them," Moskowitz said, adding that the agency is conducting "an additional review" that in practice has halted reimbursements to states.
Moskowitz said he has introduced legislation to move FEMA out of the Department of Homeland Security and restore it to the White House, restoring how the agency was arranged before the post‑9/11 reorganization. "We have a bipartisan bicameral bill to try to do that with FEMA," Moskowitz said, naming Representative Byron Donalds and Senators Tom Tillis and Alex Padilla as cosponsors in the House and Senate.
The subcommittee was told that the pause affects multiple categories of reimbursement under the Stafford Act, including long‑term categories such as roads, bridges and beach renourishment. "They're talking about getting rid of those as categories of reimbursement," Moskowitz said, warning of economic harm to Gulf and East Coast states if beach and tourism recovery were not reimbursed.
Moskowitz described FEMA’s coordinating role across agencies during major incidents and said that without a single federal coordinator, states could be left without needed assets. "If there's no one coordinating federal assets from different agencies, states are dramatically in trouble," he said, citing past responses to Hurricane Dorian and Katrina.
Ranking Member Underwood raised constitutional and programmatic concerns about how DHS has executed funding Congress provided, citing terminations and reductions at offices such as the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and certain ombudsman offices. "These are non negotiable priorities," Underwood said, urging oversight of how appropriated dollars are being implemented.
Chairman and members agreed there is more work to do. The chair said committee staff would follow up with homeland officials and that the panel could hold a hearing that includes both FEMA and members who have proposed statutory changes. "If it helps you in those discussions... our staff will get a hold of the homeland people," the chair said.
No formal committee action or vote occurred during the Member Day segment. The discussion centered on oversight and possible legislative options, including Moskowitz's bill and proposals to consider block grants and other structural reforms.
The witnesses and members stressed a distinction between the need for FEMA reform and the potential harm from abruptly eliminating reimbursement categories or dismantling federal coordination. Moskowitz summarized the position: "FEMA needs reform... but this idea that we've switched from reform to removal... states are gonna dramatically suffer."
