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GAO testimony calls FEMA system fragmented, understaffed and in need of targeted reforms
Summary
A Government Accountability Office witness told a House subcommittee that federal disaster recovery is fragmented across agencies, FEMA is understaffed and many reforms should focus on streamlining programs, improving survivor-facing services and fixing root causes rather than top-to-bottom renaming or reorganizations.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office told the House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee that the federal disaster recovery system has grown “increasingly complicated, fragmented, inflexible, and lengthy,” and that targeted reforms are needed to make FEMA and related programs function more effectively.
The witness identified duplication among more than 30 federal programs, outdated FEMA technology, chronic staffing shortfalls and lengthy recovery timelines as core drivers of slow recovery. “FEMA and the rest of the federal government have spent over $500,000,000,000 in the last 10 years on disaster aid,” the GAO witness said, adding that overlapping program…
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