Norton Hearing Monday Will Examine Whether US Is Prepared for Next 9/11 or Hurricane (7/26/09)

Norton Hearing Monday Will Examine Whether U.S. Is Prepared for Response and Recovery from the Next 9/11 or Katrina Hurricane

July 26, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Subcommittee of Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management, chaired by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), will hold a hearing to investigate whether the President as well as federal agencies need additional authority to cope with super-sized terrorist or natural disasters that wipe out major parts of cities or areas, incapacitating large numbers of people and services. The hearing, entitled, "Post-Katrina: What it Takes to Cut the Bureaucracy and Assure a More Rapid Response After a Catastrophic Disaster," will be held Monday, July 27, 2 p.m., room 2167, Rayburn House Office Building. Witnesses will offer testimony to help the Subcommittee define a "catastrophic disaster," the role of the federal government after a huge disaster, and whether current federal authority is sufficient to address timely response and recovery from a catastrophic disaster.

The hearing Monday afternoon will mark the first time the new administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Craig Frugate, will testify before Congress. "After FEMA's failures, we expect an overhaul of the agency by the new administration, and big things from the new administrator, who brings emergency management experience that is both wide and deep, and years of success on the ground that

FEMA needs," Norton said. "This hearing will allow Administrator Frugate to testify concerning his plans for the agency, and we are asking him, as well, to tackle big unanswered questions: Did Hurricane Katrina crossed the line from "disaster" to "catastrophe?" Has the federal government sufficiently defined when that line has been crossed? Is FEMA prepared for outsized disasters of various varieties, from earthquakes and hurricanes to biological attacks and loss of vital services, such as water, electricity, and computer systems?"

Hurricane Katrina has become a benchmark for a new dimension in disasters because of its huge and unprecedented devastation, but the federal government lacks explicit standards for application to other disasters. What is known is that catastrophic disasters are complex, unusual, hard to predict and expensive. Among their characteristics is a very extended period after the event that is necessary for response and recovery that has stretched the temporary assistance now authorized by the Stafford Act. The Subcommittee will investigate whether new or extraordinary authority should be delegated to the President in advance of an event and whether additional authority is necessary for FEMA for response and recovery.

Besides Administrator Frugate, witnesses will include Joe Becker, senior vice president, Disaster Service, American Red Cross; Jane Bullock, principal, Bullock and Haddow, LLC, former FEMA Chief of Staff; Russ Decker, president, International Association of Emergency Managers; Donald P. Dunbar, adjunct general, State of Wisconsin; David Maxwell, vice president, National Emergency Management Association; Francis McCarthy, analyst, Congressional Research Service; Mitchell Moss, professor of Urban Policy and Planning, N.Y. University.