SPEED Recovery Act

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Graves for yielding time.

Today, I rise in support of H.R. 5641, the SPEED Recovery Act, which is bipartisan legislation introduced by Ranking Member Graves with the support of Chairman DeFazio, Chair Titus, and Ranking Member Webster.

This bill aims toward updating disaster recovery procedures. I can talk about that at length.

During Puerto Rico's recovery from Hurricane Maria, many municipalities on the island faced the situation where, because of the rising costs of materials and labor, relatively simple projects such as a repair to a street or a minor building exceeded the current threshold for what is defined as a small project.

That threshold today is around $123,000, which really only covers some minor work. This means that a lot of the work for which municipalities may have had the resources to cover their non-Federal share to start and finish promptly instead had to go through the full procedural chain for major projects to qualify for FEMA reimbursement.

Those processes themselves have taken longer than expected. It took almost 4 years in the case of Puerto Rico after the 2017 hurricanes for those municipalities, FEMA, and the Puerto Rico Recovery Office to be able to agree just on the measures to make the processes faster.

That is years in which the people wondered when they were going to see the promised reconstruction. When a community does not see at least small things being taken care of, that weakens our communities and promotes displacement.

Increasing the threshold to $1 million, including adjustments for inflation, would allow more recovery projects to proceed under simplified procedures, reduce administrative burdens, and provide more certainty for all. This is a major step, and that is the reason I am supporting this bill.

Most disaster claims are on a small, local scale where there is no need to navigate the same procedures over larger, more complex projects and tie up the resources of FEMA and other agencies just looking at those papers. Although FEMA and other agencies have been open to using the administrative flexibility the law provides, in many real-world incidents, that is not enough.

These updates make the Stafford Act language match the realities of construction costs in our States, territories, and communities, which FEMA and the local authorities can then use in order to facilitate approval of the small projects.

Believe me, this is the biggest burden we have in the case of Puerto Rico. Four years after the hurricanes, we are still dealing with this.

Many heads of agencies, Cabinet members, and administrative positions from FEMA and the rest of the Federal agencies still travel to the island to see how they can do this faster, and it is not just red tape. It is amending this kind of language that will provide for those projects to be sped up.

I support this commonsense bipartisan legislation and urge all Members to support it, and I thank the ranking member for doing this.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to sponsor H.R. 5641, the SPEED Recovery Act. It is a bipartisan bill that cuts red tape and helps expedite disaster recovery efforts, especially in small and rural areas that we have throughout the country.

This legislation updates the threshold of what FEMA considers a small project. It updates it to $1 million under the Stafford Act; $1 million under the Stafford Act. This is the first statutory adjustment under the Stafford Act for inflation and rising repair costs in nearly three decades.

Historically, small projects have accounted for about 95 percent of all the recovery projects, but the prolonged failure to increase the cost threshold now means that 25 percent of these projects no longer qualify as small projects. That puts a huge burden on small rural communities that simply don't have the same kind of resources to deal with the bureaucracy at FEMA. For places like Craig, Missouri, or Brunswick, Missouri, both of which got hammered by the flood of 2019, it has meant more delays and headaches just trying to get the help that they need to recover and to rebuild.

Updating the small project threshold is going to allow these communities to have more control over their disaster recovery efforts and to allow FEMA to focus more of their time and resources on larger and much more complex projects, which represent 90 percent of all disaster costs.

After hearing directly from the communities in my district about the paperwork burdens and the increasing denials over technicalities, my hope is that this commonsense adjustment to the small project threshold is going to improve the process and speed up recoveries for many, many of our communities. We have also received a lot of support for this bill from emergency managers themselves.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a joint letter of support from the National Emergency Management Association, the Big City Emergency Managers, and the International Association of Emergency Managers.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Puerto Rico (Miss Gonzalez-Colon).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa).

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

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5641, the SPEED Recovery Act, is a commonsense, bipartisan bill that is going to help many small and rural communities respond to and recover from disasters with less delay and much less bureaucracy.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support of this very important piece of legislation. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5641) to amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to increase the threshold for eligibility for assistance under sections 403, 406, 407, and 502 of such Act, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 5641, as amended.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5641, the SPEED Recovery Act. This bill will expedite the approval process for FEMA's small projects within the public assistance program.

The public assistance process is often slow and impeded by bureaucratic red tape, so FEMA offers a simplified approval procedure for small projects that cost $139,000 or less. When this program was implemented over 40 years ago, it was intended to capture 95 percent of public assistance project worksheets. There has been a little inflation since then.

Today, as we noted earlier, many disasters are more widespread and more expensive. Today only 75 percent of projects are being captured by the $139,000 threshold. This legislation will ensure that, once again, 95 percent of project worksheets are eligible for expedited review by raising the qualifying project threshold to $1 million.

By updating the threshold for what qualifies as a small project, barriers to relief and recovery will be alleviated and so will the time it takes communities to get back on their feet post-disaster, and it will allow the limited staff at FEMA to turn their attention to more difficult, expensive, and problematic programs.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to join with me and support this legislation. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Titus), the chair of the subcommittee.

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

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

This is a needed adjustment in the cap, very long overdue. It will expedite assistance to individuals, but it also will free up FEMA staff for more meaningful chores and work on ongoing and future disasters, mitigation, recovery, et cetera.

It has tremendous merit, and I urge that all of my colleagues support this legislation.

It will pass by voice vote, and then someone on that side will jump up and call for a recorded vote because that is why they think they are supposed to be here.

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding.

Today, I rise again in support of H.R. 5641, the SPEED Recovery Act, which is bipartisan legislation introduced by Ranking Member Graves that passed the House in April.

This bill cannot be timelier as Puerto Rico is once again dealing with the effects of yet another major disaster, Hurricane Fiona, while also communities in Florida are facing Hurricane Ian as we speak.

We do have a lot of experience in those small projects that are never done because of the red tape or the long procedures that need to be dealt with between municipalities and FEMA.

Too often, cities and municipalities face the burden of rising costs of material and labor, which means that the cost estimate for relatively simple projects, such as street repairs, now surpasses the threshold for what is defined as a small project.

Today, $123,000 hardly covers the most trivial work, and we can talk about that. I mean, we still have a lot of those small projects since Hurricane Maria that are not being done, and now, many of those projects were hit by Hurricane Fiona. Although the money is there, the process is so big that even the initial amount won't cover those repairs.

We have had cases where there may have been resources to start and finish promptly, but because of the price tag, we are forced to go through a more complicated process with FEMA, which can take years, years in which the people wonder when they will see the work.

When a community does not see even small things taken care of, that weakens the social fabric and promotes displacement.

We cannot afford to keep going through that again. We have a responsibility to make the Federal Government more efficient, particularly in times of need.

By increasing the threshold for eligibility for small projects, including adjustments for inflation, this bill will simplify that process, reducing administrative burdens, resulting in faster start of work and allowing more recovery projects to move forward.

Mr. Speaker, I support this commonsense bipartisan legislation, and I urge all Members to support the Senate amendments and send them to the President's desk. Across the Nation, our communities will need it.

Madam Speaker, I was unable to cast votes on the following legislative measures. If I were present for roll call votes, I would have voted Aye for the following votes:

Roll 461, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass S. 4900--SBIR and STTR Extension Act of 2022.

Roll 462, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, As Amended, H.R. 8466--Chai Suthammanont Healthy Federal Workplaces Act of 2022, as amended.

Roll 463, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass S. 3470--End Human Trafficking in Government Contracts Act of 2022.

Roll 464, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass S. 2551--AI Training Act.

Roll 465, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass S. 958--Maximizing Outcomes through Better Investments in Lifesaving Equipment for (MOBILE) Health Care Act.

Roll 466, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, As Amended, H.R. 6965--Visit America Act, as amended.

Roll 467, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, As Amended, H.R. 7321--Global Aircraft Maintenance Safety Improvement Act, as amended.

Roll 468, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, As Amended, House Amendment to S. 3662--Preventing PFAS Runoff at Airports Act.

Roll 469, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, As Amended, H.R. 8888--Food Security for All Veterans Act.

Roll 470, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass S. 2794--Supporting Families of the Fallen Act.

Roll 471, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, As Amended, H.R. 8446--Global Food Security Reauthorization Act of 2022, as amended.

Roll 472, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass H.R. 8463--Millennium Challenge Corporation Eligibility Expansion Act.

Roll 473, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass Certain Bills and Concur in the Senate Amendments on H.R. 8956, H.R. 6967, H.R. 8163, H.R. 4081, H.R. 6889, H.R. 1638, Senate Amendment to