To amend section 327 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to clarify that National Urban Search and Rescue Response System task forces may include Federal employees.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge passage of H.R. 639, the National Urban Search and Rescue Response System Task Forces Act.

I want to thank the gentleman from the North Carolina (Mr. Meadows) and the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Mrs. Craig) for their kind remarks about this bill and their support.

I also want to thank Chairman DeFazio and Ranking Member Graves for bringing the bill to the floor today, as well as my colleagues Gerry Connolly and Blaine Luetkemeyer for cosponsoring this legislation and the International Association of Fire Chiefs for endorsing the bill.

My bill, as has been said, is a commonsense technical correction that makes clear that Federal employees can serve on FEMA Urban Search and Rescue teams.

Over the past three decades, FEMA has developed the National Urban Search and Rescue Response System, which consists of a network of task force teams of dedicated volunteers who respond quickly when disaster strikes.

Currently, 28 task force teams across the country utilize their unique skills and resources of local volunteers to act as a force multiplier for disaster rescue missions. These teams train constantly for a variety of situations, including rescuing survivors from collapsed buildings or giving airlift rescue operations.

They are ready to deploy within hours of being called up in response to floods or tornadoes, and they can be pre-positioned in advance of covering disasters, such as hurricanes.

I am proud to represent Missouri Task Force 1, based out of Columbia, Missouri. In September, they received a call to deploy to North Carolina to pre-position search and rescue resources for Hurricane Florence.

As the team prepared to deploy, one of their members, who had spent years training and working as a dog handler on the team, was forced to stay home not because of a physical inability or family conflict, but because he works out of a regional office for a Federal agency as his normal day job. Due to a new interpretation of Federal statute, a willing, able, and trained volunteer who could have helped save lives was forced to stay home.

Unfortunately, FEMA has interpreted the National Urban Search and Rescue Response System Act of 2016 to mean that Federal employees are not allowed to serve on Federal task forces, despite the fact that they did for years.

This goes against congressional intent. The 2016 legislation codified non-Federal employee benefits and liability protections, but failed to specifically list Federal employees. This was not intended to mean that FEMA should preclude Federal employees from participation.

Since passage, FEMA has issued mixed guidance on several occasions on whether Federal employees can serve, and this has created confusion and frustration for our dedicated search and rescue volunteers.

My legislation is a commonsense solution to resolve this problem by simply clarifying that Federal employees can serve on these vital task forces. Congress must resolve this issue swiftly so our dedicated volunteers can respond at full strength when the next disaster strikes.

So once again, I want to thank my colleagues who have spoken in support of this, for those who have cosponsored it, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 639.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 639) to amend section 327 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to clarify that National Urban Search and Rescue Response System task forces may include Federal employees.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 639.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 639 introduced by the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Hartzler).

H.R. 639 is a technical correction bill which will amend section 327 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to explicitly clarify that Federal employees are able to participate in the National Urban Search and Rescue Response System task forces coordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

FEMA has developed the National USAR Response System over the last several decades to act as a force multiplier for disaster rescue missions. The system is comprised of 28 task force teams from across the country and includes highly skilled volunteers who are constantly training for a variety of hazard scenarios, both man-made and natural.

Task force teams have proven their effectiveness time and again across this Nation.

Following enactment of the National Urban Search and Rescue Response System Act at the end of the 114th Congress, certain Federal agencies that employ members of some of these task forces have, unfortunately, been misinterpreting language that granted liability protections for non-Federal task force members equal to Federal first responders only when their task force was called into Federal service, resulting in an impediment to those Federal employees serving on a task force.

This bill will simply clarify that nothing in section 327 of the Stafford Act shall be interpreted to mean that a task force cannot include Federal employees and that, in instances where a Federal employee is detailed to a National USAR Response System task force, the sponsoring agency shall enter into an agreement with the relevant employing Federal agency.

The critical emergency services provided by the National USAR Response System and these highly skilled operators are too important for us to delay this fix any longer. I strongly support this bill and urge my colleagues to join me.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this, and I reserve the balance of my time as well.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Meadows), and I encourage all of my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Hartzler) for her leadership on this legislation. Nothing is so valuable as someone who looks at a problem, sees the problem, and then endeavors to fix it, and that is exactly what the gentlewoman has done.

H.R. 639 clarifies language that was passed in the National Urban Search and Rescue Response System Act of 2016 to ensure, as the gentlewoman was saying, that the Urban Search and Rescue Response Task Force can include Federal employees.

FEMA's National Urban Search and Rescue Response System was established in 1989. The system is composed of some 28 task force teams, and the teams include members from the Federal, State, local, and private sector, all of those personnel responding together to meet the needs in times of disaster.

The teams are locally supported but can be called up by FEMA when a disaster strikes. These men and women are the ones who head into collapsed buildings and conduct search and rescue missions to save disaster survivors.

For a long time, the committee worked to clarify protections for these team members who put their lives literally on the line to serve their community; and, in 2016, Congress passed the National Urban Search and Rescue Response Systems Act to do just that. However, there was one technical fix that needed to happen to make sure that Federal participants in these teams can continue to be deployed as part of these task forces.

I want to thank the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Hartzler) for her leadership there because this bill, indeed, does clarify this. I would suggest that it should have tremendous bipartisan support.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Hartzler) for her explanation of what this bill does.

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Hartzler) for her leadership.

It is a good testimony for all of America when we see the efforts of our first responders coming from Missouri to North Carolina, coming from North Carolina to California, and in between.

Mr. Speaker, we need to understand that they need our support. This is an important piece of legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.