POWER Act of 2024

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 9541) to amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to authorize Federal agencies to provide certain essential assistance for hazard mitigation for electric utilities, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material into the Record on H.R. 9541.

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

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 9541, the POWER Act of 2024, addresses FEMA's problematic interpretation of section 403 of the Stafford Act by clarifying electric utilities are classified as essential assistance.

This legislative fix allows electric utilities to work quickly to restore power following a disaster and maintain eligibility to later implement permanent fixes that include mitigation measures.

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

Mr. Speaker, I don't have any more speakers, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in the aftermath of a disaster, oftentimes communities will lose power. This legislation simply allows the utilities to come in and put temporary fixes in place so power can get stood back up and power can get turned back on for these recovering communities. It will help ensure that electric utilities are not penalized for those temporary, interim actions to act quickly to restore power for Americans impacted by natural disasters by clarifying their eligibility for mitigation assistance.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support of H.R. 9541, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 9541, the bill I cosponsored with Representative Ezell. This bill empowers publicly owned electric utilities to implement hazard mitigation improvements during disaster recovery.

When disasters strike, they leave a trail of destruction, including damaged energy infrastructure that needs to be immediately repaired to restore power.

At the same time, this can present an opportunity to improve the resilience of power infrastructure to reduce the risk of outages in the future. Unfortunately, current law prevents FEMA from reimbursing utilities for hazard mitigation as they make temporary disaster repairs. This leads to wasted opportunity, more frequent power outages, and higher costs passed on to ratepayers.

Commonsense solutions like H.R. 9541 are more critical than ever to keep energy costs low for American families. This bill maximizes FEMA's resources and helps communities protect critical infrastructure, leading to lower costs for utilities and families in the wake of future disasters.

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

Mr. Speaker, the cost of recovering from increasingly frequent severe weather events often raises the price of America's electric bills.

This bill will help public power make their systems more resilient at the time of repair, increasing efficiency and cutting overall costs.

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